New MB recommendations

[Tony Alfrey]

C M Reinehr wrote:
> Tony,
> 
> I am far from being an expert on this (or any other subject) but I believe 
> these answers to your questions are correct:
> 
> On Tuesday 27 February 2007 12:54, Tony Alfrey wrote:
> <snip>
>> Ah, more complicated.  I have some apps that run on old distros and new
>> distros.  Like the CAD program that started this discussion.  And
>> besides, I'd like to keep the drives tweaked as they were, if possible.
>>
>>
>> So we have that initrd depends on the kernel, and the kernel is
>> pre-compiled with the distro.
>> So my question remains
>> a)  will a drive with a distro compiled for a P2 boot on a P4?
> 
> 	Unlikely--not because of the switch from P2 to P4 but because of all of the 
> other hardware changes. Whereas your kernel may load & execute on the P4, 
> your six year old distribution just is not going to have compatible drivers 
> for any of the various controllers.
> 
> 	Type lsmod from a command line and see what modules are running. I just did 
> so here and had 63 different modules loaded, i.e, serial & parallel ports, 
> network ports, cd/dvd, usb, ide, sata. A lot of this hardware wasn't even in 
> existence when your distribution was compiled.
> 
>> b)  what is the relevance of initrd to determining if a drive that boots
>> on a P2 will boot on a P4?
> 
> 	An out-of-the-box kernel shipped with a new distribution has modules for just 
> about everything plus the kitchen sink and, IIANM, will construct an initrd 
> on-the-fly using the necessary modules for your particular hardware 
> configuration. So, your old initrd just is not going to work, for the same 
> reason your old kernel won't work--it just will not have the correct modules 
> for your hardware.
> 
>> BTW, this is all very helpful information and I appreciate your time to
>> explain these things.
> 
> 	In short, it's going to be a whole lot easier to get your old applications to 
> run in a new distribution than it is to get your old distribution to run on 
> new hardware.
> 
> HTH
> 
> cmr


Yes, I think this is quite clear, now that I consider what is necessary 
to make a new MB work, even if I pull off the old SCSI controller and 
graphics card.  I will build/buy a new box based on a new/newer MB and 
try to pull apps off a piece at a time.  I'll have to put up with box 
clutter for awhile.


-- 
Tony Alfrey
tonyalfrey at earthlink.net
"I'd Rather Be Sailing"