[Techtalk] Best components for a new Linux box? (was: Building boxen)

[Mary Gardiner]

On Tue, Nov 13, 2001 at 08:20:19PM +0000, Rachel Andrew wrote:
> What would be a good spec for Linux box? (I'm not well off so this would 
> have to be relatively inexpensive components.) I'm very capable of building 
> the thing I would just like to be sure that the components I get aren't 
> going to cause problems with support, I have constant battles getting my 
> current Linux box configured and it would be nice to know that I was 
> building something that would not be problematic from the outset. I would 
> be installing Debian and KDE on whatever I get.

As far as processor power goes, I'm running a 533 MHz Intel Celeron with
128MB of RAM. This processor speed, which is now well below what you can
get if you are buying a new chip, is absolutely fine, but people running
Ximian GNOME have told me that 256MB of RAM wouldn't be a bad idea for
GNOME.

Check http://www.redhat.com/support/hardware/ and see if your hardware
is featured there. If redhat recommends it, this probably means that
there are good linux drivers for it.

You may also want to check the Linux kernel archives at
http://www.uwsg.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/ - search them for your
hardware. Don't worry if someone says "I have X motherboard and here's a
kernel oops [a shutdown in error]", but if someone says "oh you have *X*
motherboard, that explains it, get a new motherboard" in reply, this is
a bad omen.

If you want soundcards, the Creative Labs soundcards in general have
good drivers. Others may have recommendations - what hardware have you
had trouble with in your current system?

-Mary.

-- 
Mary Gardiner
<mary at puzzling.org>