[ale] Next Generation Linux Machine

[Vernard Martin]

Hello folks,

Recently, Myself and a a colleague of mine came to the harsh realization that 
newer machines are coming with no ISA slots and some with no serial or parallel
ports. Although Linux will boot and run on these machines fine as servers, this
presents a problem when doing desktop environments because the pci world is a
bit different than the ISA world in the case of modems and sound cards.

Can anyone recommend solutions to the following:

1) a $5-$15 pci 16bit sound card that is supported under linux?  I know that
the Sound Blaster Live! Value edition is supported and it costs about $30 but
is the el cheapo market just out of luck?

2) The brand name of a a $20-$35 pci modem that uses the lucent chipset.  I had
great success with one of these modems but it was a no name brand. Is there a
Brand name that I can look for and know that it has a the lucent chipset?

Also, what is the status of USB support for keyboards, mice and printers in the
2.2 series of kernels?  Is it still a backport that you have to add yourself or
is it officially integrated in now? I'd love to start using USB devices for
their physical ease of use but have no luck so far.

thanks for any help you folks can give.

V
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