Compaq Prosignia 300 SCSI-3 controller.

[Chris Bairstow]

I have today had the above server donated to me. The previous owners seem to have replaced the SCSI-2 drives with 2 x 4.3Gb SCSI-3 drives. What they have done before being charitable is remove the SCSI-3 controller. What is my best option for replacing this controller cheaply and what operating systems would I then be able to run? The machine has 120Mb worth of RAM and is the 150 Pentium Processor. The Drives are a Compaq 4.3GB Wide -Ultra SCSI-3 P/N 339506-B21 and a Seagate Barracuda 4.3 GB P/N 9A8003-021. Any help much appreciated. Rgds Chris.

[Bryan Eley]

Hi Chris,

I love getting free older systems too (as long as they're not too old). Ebay frequently has items for older systems, so I might try a search for something like "compaq scsi controller" and then fine tune from there.
For reference for your server parts/part numbers (if you don't have much parts documentation) see http://www.ambry.com/compaq/prosignia_300_parts.asp

With your particular system you could potentially get a linux server running on it without the X interface, or if you're more comfortable with Microsoft offerings, NT 4 (MAYBE Win 2000, but it would be slooooow. As an example for linux, check out Clarkconnect's free linux server software at http://www.clarkconnect.org/index.php
It has windows file sharing capabilities, vpn server ability, firewall, system monitoring and more via a pretty web-based GUI.
These are just my humble opinions...there might be wiser folk out there with better ideas.

Good luck!
Bryan