1. Which market is Terrasoft after? Individuals, small companies, something else?
Kai Staats: With the stand-alone Mai Teron motherboards: primarily individuals who are accustomed to and prefer to build their own systems.
With complete TSS Boxer systems, desktop for: home/office, K-12 schools, small/large companies, universities; our existing DOE/DOE user base.
2. Does the new mobo support all Linux-supported x86 AGP and PCI cards?
Kai Staats: A great deal of video and audio support has to do with the firmware (bios) and kernel mods, both of which are revised almost daily by the Mai development team. At this point, it is our goal to offer strong support for one or two mid-line, readily available video and audio cards and then work to support higher-end cards.
As both our companies (TSS + Mai) are strong proponents of the Linux community, we are eager to provide specs and support in order to gain reciprocal support of the Linux community and quickly advance support for as many cards as is possible.
3. What CPU MHz range are you offering with your prebuild computers?
Kai Staats: 600 is the speed currently offered. IBM has G3 CPUs that do run faster and offer an path of increased performance for later revs. It is important to note the 600 is fully functional as a desktop system. We recognize that it appears to be slow in comparison to today's advanced x86 and Moto (Apple) products, however, we desire to provide a relatively inexpensive product that does its job.
Server apps and client-side email, web apps, word processors, MP3 players, even DVD simply does not require a gigahertz of processing power to be snappy, efficient, and enjoyable. This mindset is a bit against the grain and will require some reverse education ... but even now, I am working on the same 350MHz Blue-n-White Apple G3 I have had for two years as my desktop and am completely satisfied.
Linux is that efficient and PowerPC is that good.
4. How much the entry level prebuilt PC will cost? how much the mobo costs?
Kai Staats:Mobo + CPU: $495.00
Tower, generic case: $799.00
Tower, Antec case: $889.00
1U rackmount: $869.00
5. Do you have plans on moving to the G4 architecture?
Kai Staats: Yes. And when we do, we will continue to provide the G3 for the reasons given above.
6. Does your motherboard or your default prebuilt computer runs MorphOS?
Kai Staats: The motherboard has not been tested with MorphOS.
7. What is the support you are offering for the machines/mobos?
Kai Staats: We have a multiple-tier support plan based upon our previous four years of experience in supporting our YDL user base on Apple computers. While paid, hourly support will be available, most support will be in the form of thorough, easily accessed, free online user documentation: owner manuals, FAQ, HOWTOs, a searchable knowledge base, and mailing lists. We will work during the month of December and early January to prepare the vast majority of this documentation for online presentation while some of it will grow over time with user feedback and our own, internal experience.
We will encourage the Linux do-it-yourself tradition by empowering individuals to seek and discover solutions to the best of their ability before we assist them directly.
As is the case with our pre-installed Apple computers, it is important to emphasize we are not the authors of nor do we support the 1000+ applications that ship with YDL, just as Apple does not support Word or Photoshop. Apache, Open Office, and XMMS (to name just a few) are well documented and supported by the individual authors or communities who maintain these open-source projects.
We offer the expected warranties and subsequent replacement policies for both motherboards and complete systems.
8. How about support for ATA-133 and SCSI? Is there a possibility for these to run in the future?
Kai Staats: The PCI slots provide for SCSI and ATA 133 cards, if required.
Check out MacRadio for an interview with kai Staats tonight at 8 PM PST.
- "Teron, Part I"
- "Teron, Part II"
