[plug] SiSsy chipsets

[Leon Brooks]

John Summerfield wrote:
> For text display, the concept is
> excellent;

Text, yes. Serious graphics (say 1Kx768x24bx70FPS) means it borrows
maybe 50 million cycles from your CPU each second, unless your M/B has
separate RAM for the video.

> I saw an ad mentioning a cheapish card that has onboard sound,
> video, LAN (100base) and modem.

The idea (likewise the motherboard) has many pros and cons. For example,
overall reliability is generally improved because less interface
componentry is required, a set of dodgy physical connectors are
eliminated, and power requirements are often a little lower as well.
OTOH, if one component fails it often kills the whole card
(motherboard), and if you want to upgrade just one part, say, the modem,
it's generally not as simple as whipping out an individual card and
replacing it.

> For Windows, no doubt an excellent choice,
> especially for SOHO use. For Linux, probably still a good choice, but the
> chances of everything working are not so good.

On apro, maybe.

Cheers