>Anyway,  I would like to bounce my proposed config off you all, to see if I
>have read all the right documents and picked the right hardware. 
>So here goes:

I'd question a few of the things in this system.

>	Pentium PT5 90, PCI (512K cache, 3 PCI,2 VESA 3(5) ISA)

I heard that both the PCI and VLB busses are slower on motherboards that
use both (as opposed to PCI/ISA or VLB/ISA) due to integration. It seems
a safe consensus to stay away from PCI/VLB mixes unless you want to use
some VLB cards off an older system.

>	Quantum 540Mb SCSI HDD

Is this a SCSI 2 drive or just SCSI? The SCSI drive would work on the
SCSI 2 controller, but it wouldn't take advantage of the controller's
speed. Also be aware of the difference between SCSI 2 and Fast SCSI 2...

>	2Mb Diamond Stealth PCI DRAM Graphics Card

I'd personally try for the 2M VRAM version (that's upgradable to 4M).
I think that adds around $100...

>	VESA Dual 16550 UART I/O Card (2S. 1P etc)
>	1.44Mb Mitsumi FDD
>	Creative Labs Quad Spin "Edutainment Pack" (SCSI-2 CD Drive and Card)
>	medium tower case, keyboard, monitor blah blah blah

>But what about Soundblaster/SCSI Card ??  Has anyone heard of, had any 
>experience with these?

I believe I've heard the soundblaster SCSI-2 is adaptec. I've also heard
conflicting opinions that the SCSI-2 is slower (due to 8bit bus on the
board or something?).

Do you really need another SCSI 2 card? Sounds like you don't need the
CD's either... Why not just by the plain-Jane 16 bit soundblaster, and
pick your own CDrom drive? It seems the money you save would be enough
to go from DRAM to VRAM on the video card.


Disclaimer: I am not a PC hardware or NetBSD guru.

-- 
                                                       J "Dudley" Hunkins
PGP info available through finger or email            dudley@weru.ksu.edu