[geeks] Low-cost Gateway quad-core

[Lionel Peterson]

   Well, the Gateway Quad-core Phenom-based desktop came yesterday, and I
   ran a few quick tests on it today.
   OpenSolaris ran fine, but the in-board NIC wasn't supported, but the
   Mfg. has Solaris x86 and x64 drivers available.[0]
   VMware ESXi Installable wouldn't install, it complains about
   unsupported microcode for step B2 of the processor (or similar msg.,
   from memory).
   Windows Hyper-V Server 2008 (the free Hyper-V only version of Windows
   Server 2008) works fine, but you have to load the proper driver (I
   loaded the Vista driver from Gateway website, and it worked fine).
   Ubuntu 8.10 AMD/x64 loaded and ran fine, but the wired NIC wasn't
   supported, but the wireless B/G NIC *WAS*!.
   The system is quiet - very quiet, while installing software the only
   noise I heard was the DVD-R/W drive. The troublesom NIC is a Marvell
   Yukon 88E8071 PCIe Gigabit Ethernet controller. The WiFi card is,
   oddly, in the PCIe 1x slot, with a USB jumper to the MB (I think the
   PCIe 1x connector is only for power). The PS has atleast one PCIe
   power plug, so this system was designed to be upgraded (I didn't
   notice the size of the PS, I'd guess 300+ Watt),
   The system is nice, and a pretty good deal, IMHO, but of course, YMMV.
   It's now $429 at jr.com[1]
   Lionel
   [0] http://www.marvell.com/drivers/search.do
   [1] http://www.jr.com/gateway/pe/GTW_GT5694/