[NTLUG:Discuss] asking for thoughts and guidance ... new desktop ...

[Tom Woody]

Building the computer is the easy part...  Most any parts that you do get will be compatible with Linux.  While I applaud your "overload it" and use it for other stuff I think you are going a bit over the top.  

CPU: you are fine there...maybe look at an Athlon (you will save a lot of money, and get a lot more).  
MEMORY: for a desktop machine, even one used as a server as well would be fine with 256MB, 512MB unless you had a large number of people using the machine, or a lot of services running (mail, DNS, web, DB, etc) you would be just tossing money.
HARD DRIVE: SCSI is throwing more money away even faster (ATA100 can keep up with any SCSI Drive unless like above - you are having a huge number of I/Os hit that machine), a lot of current boards come with the IDE RAID (0,1,0+1) they are all very good, and I have run multiple linux machines on them with no problems.  2x 60-80GB Drives RAID0 (Striping will get you more than you would need).
CD/CDRW: take your pick its a price thing at this point
Floppy: i would say why (haven't had a floppy drive for 2 years!)
Graphics: For awesome support get a MATROX graphics card (not the best for games - but doesn't sound like thats your ball of wax anyhow) great linux driver support
Sound: While I am not sure of the Support for the Newer SB cards (had some problems with a SB Live a while back - but havn't revisted it - my linux box has a SB AWE32 and it works great!)
Modem: Why?  You have a LAN it sounds like.
NIC: any nic works great
OS: Redhat is fine, SuSe is great also - a little more workstation centric, while Redhat is server centric - but both are good (I have one of each and love them both)
WM: Gnome is good, but for a person starting out with linux, it might be a little easier to use KDE, it feels a lot more like Windows - but again I switch between them both at a whim anyhow.
If you still need to keep Win95 around, have you though of just doing a dual boot system (With Grub in the latest releases its even easier) Install windows on a partition, then install Linux (Grub will find and setup your partition for Win95, and it will be in the bootloader when you need it)


On Wed, 13 Mar 2002 13:47:31 -0600
Fred James <fredjame at concentric.net> wrote:

> At last, my wife is consenting to be moved to Linux, but now I must ask 
> for your thoughts and guidance, if you don't mind sharing.
> 
> I first thought of having Dell or Compaq build it, but they flat don't 
> do Linux installs on Desktops (only servers).  I would consider going to 
> a Linux integrator, but I don't know any well enough to feel confident, 
> either locally, or on the WEB - service and support would be a issue 
> there.  I would consider building my own if I could get the guidance - I 
> have cracked open a case or two to install/remove/replace 
> components/memory, but I have never built one from scratch, and of 
> course it would mean making sure I got Linux compatible parts.
> 
> Here is a sketch of what I had in mind:
> CPU: maybe not the latest, but at least a PIII, and at least approaching 
> 1Ghz speed, thought I probably wouldn't turn my back on a P4.
> Memory: 512MB to 1GB
> Hard Drive: 100+GB - one or more drives, could go SCSI, wouldn't 
> complain about a RAID.
> CD/DVD/CD-RW: all of those would be lovely, especially the CD-RW.
> Floppy: 1.44MB
> Sound/Video/Graphics: Not looking for a home entertainment center here, 
> but would like some modicum of quality to handle the general stuff that 
> comes down the WEB pipe.  The graphics we would be producing would be 
> basically on the level of GIMP - no 3D or animated as yet.
> Modem: Internal
> NIC: 10/100Mbs
> OS: Linux (probably Red Hat, since that is what I am most familiar with 
> - though I suppose I could be convinced to try something else).
> Desktop: GNOME
> Other stuff: VMWare (or something like it) - want to run Linux, but need 
> to keep Win95 available for some legacy stuff that she doesn't want to 
> loose just yet).
> 
> Primary use will be her Desktop/Internet machine, but I am considering 
> "over building" it (that explains some of the high numbers above) so it 
> could also act as a file server for other machines on our LAN (behind 
> the firewall).
> 
> Sorry to be so long winded - just trying to anticipate questions - if 
> there are more, please ask.
> 
> Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
> 
> 
> -- 
> ...make every program a filter...
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> http://www.ntlug.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss


-- 
Tom Woody
Systems Administrator
Nationwide Flood Research, Inc.
phone: 214 631 0400 x209
  fax: 214 631 0800

If you have any trouble sounding condescending,
find a Unix user to show you how it's done.
                     --Scott Adams