Matthias Scheler wrote:
> 
> 1.) Does it work on Pentium Pro system (single CPU)? Has anyone actually
>     tried this?

Works _perfectly_ on my Dell Dimension Pro200.  With Thor Lancelot Simon's
patches, it even recognizes the cpu type. (for those warm fuzzies)
...
NetBSD 1.2_BETA (SHADOW) #0: Fri Jul 19 08:28:34 EDT 1996
    root@shadow:/usr/src/sys/arch/i386/compile/SHADOW
CPU: Pentium Pro (GenuineIntel 686-class CPU)
...

I have not had any panics or other anomalies, and it is very fast.
(not counting my IDE drive, SCSI on the way..)
With dhrystones 2.1, and using '-O6 -m486 -fomit-frame-pointer -static'
I am getting about 450k dhrystones/sec.  


> 2.) Does the i386-port support any kind of RAID hardware? AFAIK software
>     RAID isn't possible yet, or am I wrong with this?

Define "raid hardware"...  I'm assuming you're talking about an Adaptec
3985(??) or Mylex i960 based card for EISA or PCI?  None of this kind
of hardware is supported under NetBSD, though I seem to remember
someone over in the FreeBSD group talking about supporting the Compaq
RAID array controller.

Anyway, my suggestion would be to look into a SCSI <-> SCSI
RAID system.  At work we use the StreamLogic (formerly Micropolis)
Gandiva RAID controllers, and they work quite well.  They
connect like any other fast/wide SCSI device, but can have up to 28
drives connected via 4 fast SCSI-II channels.  I tested a 10GB Gandiva
array with a P100 NetBSD machine, and the performance was fairly good.
I wasn't sure what to expect from a RAID stack.  I was seeing > 3MB/sec
reads, and > 2MB/sec writes.  No where near what I am getting from a
straight fast/wide 4.3GB Micropolis drive, but still fairly good for
RAID 5.  (using 2.1GB fast/narrow drives on the array)

The Gandiva controller is US$2100, and the 4.3GB modules are US$1300.
So for US$6000 you can have 8GB of RAID5 storage.  About 3X the cost
of regular disk, though at 28GB it is only 2X.. :)

I have seen similar controllers for ~US$1000 in "DataComm Warehouse"
(or similar) catalogs.  I'm assuming the cheaper controllers could
run just about any drive, while the StreamLogic is designed for 
Micropolis drives. 

Anyway, I've drifted far enough from the topic for this group.. :)

-Andrew