Jonathan Stone <jonathan@DSG.Stanford.EDU> wrote:
> How about the Compaq Presario (same graphics chips as the Dells,
> but with ess audio?)

Earlier this year, I bought a Compaq Presario 1600-XL145.  One thing
that I'm not impressed with was that they don't provide the
pre-installed software on CDs.  Instead D: holds a compressed image of
C:.  If you trash/reformat the drive, the pre-installed software is
lost forever.  I want to put NetBSD on it, but I want the capability
restoring the original setup, in case I want to sell it later.

I haven't quite figured out how to make a backup of it yet, but I did
boot a 1.4.2 install floppy once.  The kernel saw two ISA busses and
panic'd...  It looks like it's going to require custom install disks.

If I had to do it over again, I'd buy Dell...