[Sheflug] Newbie - H/W recommendations please

[Barrie Bremner <nospam [at] barriebremner.com>]

>>>>> "Ruth" == Ruth Gunstone <ruth [at] bolsterstone.demon.co.uk> writes:

    Ruth> Greetings!  I am very new to Linux. So new in fact, I
    Ruth> haven't even got Linux to run on my existing PC yet! I've
    Ruth> tried a couple of freebee versions (Mandrake and Corel) and
    Ruth> even suse, but have had no luck in getting a working
    Ruth> installation. I'm presuming that my aging PC just isn't up
    Ruth> to the job (it's an old Viglen P100). . . . or I'm just not
    Ruth> getting something right!

As Richard has already mentioned, it all depends what you want to do.

There is no reason why you cannot install Linux (distribution
shouldn't make any difference, however some are easier to install than
others, some install everything including the kitchen sink as default,
whilst others are minimalist through and through) on a old machine.

One thing Linux excels at is running on almost anything!

Of course, you can't expect a P100 to be exactly the same as the
latest systems....

When you do get around to installing a system, make the effort to get
the latest version of the Linux distribution you want - at least
you're going to be starting with the most recent versions of most
software.

    Ruth> Anyway, I've decided to spend some cash on a new PC, and as
    Ruth> a "learning opportunity", intend to build one from
    Ruth> scratch. The machine will need to be dual-bootable (Linux
    Ruth> and Win98/whatever). As I understand things, Linux
    Ruth> compatibilty with some hardware (sound/graphics cards, NICs
    Ruth> etc.) may be problematic, so I'd really appreciate
    Ruth> suggestions, hints & tips etc.  concerning hardware.

As well as the generic site Ross mentioned, RedHat have a hardware
compatibility list at http://hardware.redhat.com/ - if it runs on
Redhat, it'll more than likely run on other distributions - once
you've figured out the bits you want, you could always post it here so
people can tell you if they've had any experiences good or bad with
particular items.

Covering the basics - most of these are mentioned elsewhere, but just
to be on the safe side:

WinModems - avoid like the plague - a lot of the work is done in
Windows, and other operating systems cannot drive these bits 'o junk.
External modems will never go amiss, but there are internal modems
that will work under Linux, if you don't want boxes everywhere.

NICs are generally well supported, again, Alex has already mentioned
3Com cards - I've got stacks of older 3Com cards that I got for a few
quid each - perfectly serviceable!

Matrox video cards are probably the best supported card under X, and
have been for a while. I've got a G400, but the newer G450 is
available, and is slightly cheaper (around £60).  ATI cards are also
especially well supported, and are a little cheaper on the whole than
the Matrox range.

Harddrives are all much and such, but Maxtor and especially IBM drives
are good value, and highly regarded.


    Ruth> I'm certainly /not/ rolling in cash, but consider
    Ruth> performance and reliability more important than saving a
    Ruth> couple of pounds.

Depending if you want a 10/100 Mbit/s card as well as a 10base2, you
could buy a new NIC, or just stick with what you can dig out of a
parts bit at your local computer shop.

Building your own system, as you've mentioned you intend to do is a
great way to bit all the bit that you consider important, and skip on
others, or just choose something a PC manufacturer might not.

    Ruth> If it helps, my principle uses for my computer(s) are:

    Ruth> Website development

If you are just looking a full featured editor, rather than a drag and
drop type of package you could try vi, XEmacs, GNU Emacs, joe, and a
host of other editors - there will more than likely be a host of
choices to try once you install Linux.

Linux (and indeed other Free systems) have a great deal of choice -
maybe too many, until you settle down to your own personal choices.

I don't use point and click types of programs for building webpages,
so I haven't got any comments there.

    Ruth> DTP (outputting to PostScript/PDF)

Mmmm. No idea. Plenty of other folk out there that know about this
stuff ;-)

Probably said a few to many things at once, but there you go.

Baz.

-- 
Barrie J. Bremner 		OpenPGP public key ID: 5164F553

baz [at] barriebremner.com	http://barriebremner.com/

baz /baz/ n.
 1. [common] The third metasyntactic variable.
 2. interj. A term of mild annoyance.
 3. Occasionally appended to foo to produce `foobaz'

	-- Jargon File v4.3.0, www.tuxedo.org/jargon

 4. Me.

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