Re: [Sheflug] A New Linux Box

[Seb James <seb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, 2008-10-25 at 08:36 +0100, Tom Burke wrote:
> Here's a couple of question for list members:
> 
> Imagine you were going to commission a new computer on which to run  
> Linux. This would be a personal project, because your job requires you  
> to administer a Linux computer and you obviously can't experiment too  
> much with that one so you'd like to have a personal machine on which  
> to try things out. Let's also assume that you don't have a box of  
> bits, or old machines/chassis/parts, etc, from which you could  
> scavenge enough components to make a working system.
> 
> Where would you start? Would you buy a cheap desktop from PC World/ 
> Dell/Whoever and replace the standard OS with Linux? Or would you buy  
> components (motherboard, case, etc) and build a new computer yourself?

I'd advocate buying a Dellbuntu - one of Dell's PCs with Ubuntu
pre-installed - look for "Open Source" PCs on their website. I have one
of these, and it's decent little PC. I bought the most basic version
(i.e. no CPU, RAM or HDD upgrades). It's a good computer and the
installed OS plays perfectly with the hardware. Buying it will also
encourage Dell to extend their range of Linux PCs and will help to bring
other major OEMs to the Linux fold.

> And finally - which distribution would you install? Let's assume that  
> your main aim was to learn how to administer a Linux server (or  
> improve your Linux admin skills) in a safe environment so you're not  
> too bothered abut GUIs or desktops - the servers you've got administer  
> are pure CLI.

I'd stick with the pre-installed OS to start with, and once I'd
familiarised myself a little, try something different, possibly within a
virtual machine, to avoid losing the pre-installed OS. If you're doing
this professionally, it'd be worth getting to know an RPM based distro
like CentOS (a Redhat Enterprise clone) or OpenSuSE.

Happy Linuxing!

Seb James




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