K Hinze wrote: > On 27 Aug 2002 12:23:04 -0500 > Brent Metzler <linux at bmetzler.org> wrote: > > >>I just noticed on the back of the latest Tiger Direct catalog that >>they were selling Via C3 processors. In fact, they were only $20 >>more then a comparable Duron mhz wise. >> >>I haven't heard of the C3 processor before. Does anyone know >>anything about it? What makes it special? Is it worth the extra >>money? >> >>Their product page (http://www.via.com.tw/en/viac3/c3.jsp) claims >>that it's Linux compatible. >> >>It looks like with the right hardware this could be made into a >>small quiet thinstation for the living room. >> >>Any thoughts? > > > Via bought Cyrix a while back and have tried to revive the > bargain-basement chip manufacturer. I had a few old CyrixInstead PR225 > and PR300 chips back then, PR standing for Pentium Rated. They were > socket 7 chips that ran incredibly hot. They weren't the stablest > chips on the block, and my boxes had a tendency to eat CPU fans. (one > fan warped its piece of spring steel so bad it lost its spring, and > the fan simply fell off). > I believe the via c3 is aimed at the settop/home appliance market and is designed to run without a cpu fan (as long as there is sufficient airflow through the appliance), it still needs a heat sink. Double check that though I don't want to be responsible for burning out a cpu. I've played with 3 of them before the c3 was officially released. The initial batch wasn't very stable, but the later ones ran without any problems I noticed. Initially they weren't supported by the linux kernel as they identified themselves by the core of another company that via bought out (Centaur I believe). That was in earlier 2.4 kernels. It should be supported now. The 600Mhz version was on par with a p3 450. Eric