Re: Do-all computer?
On Sun, 2003-10-12 at 18:42, Christian Schnobrich wrote:
> On Sat, 2003-10-11 at 21:20, alex wrote:
>
> > I don't care whether it is one with a preinstalled MS Windows XP or
> > systemless or a preinstalled Linux, as long as it can be configured
> > with multiple Linux systems and MS Windows XP or 98SE as my old
> > Quantex is.
> >
> > I'd go for one that I need to assemble myself except that I have no
> > idea how to recognize components that are suitable for Linux, ie,
> > motherboard, modem,.......
>
> No worries. Most stuff simply works, you especially don't need to worry
> about CPU & Bus clock.
> The Hardware you should check for compatibility is:
> - Network interface
> - modem
> - printer
> - cdrecorder
> - graphics card
>
> For the Graphics card, just don't pick a too recent design; for printers
If it's an nvidia card, the their linux binary driver web site has
the README that states which cards it supports. Last I checked,
only the absolute latest top-of-the-line cards weren't supported
(yet). Of course, since I'd never buy the absolute latest top-of-
the-line card, that didn't bother me.
> and cdrecorders, you can check the compatibility lists on the
> linuxprinting and cdrecord websites.
http://www.linuxprinting.org Any Epson ink jet printer should work.
Any ATA CD-RW and DVD-RW/-RAM/+RW drive should work just fine
with Linux, since they are controlled by the ATAPI driver and
useland apps.
> Modem & NIC are more difficult. There's a phantastillion of different
> designs and clones thereof and hardly any reasonable information to be
> found on the package. In that case I suggest you simply make clear at
> the time of purchase that those are meant to work under linux and that
> you will return them if they don't.
> This always worked for me -- I never had to return them. :)
Any modem that says "Windows only" or "designed for Windows"
are "software" modems (i.e., need the main CPU to do some of
the work) should raise a flag. The ones in the US$80-90 range
are usually "hardware" modems, and work fine.
All external modems will work with Linux.
I don't know of any PCI Ethernet or Fast Ethernet NIC that doesn't
work with Linux. Gigabit Ethernet NICs need a bit of research,
but a "home system" won't need something so high end.
> What else? Well, I'm not up-to-date but too big a harddisk might be a
> problem. If you want more than 128GB, go reading first. Also, recently
> I've seen several posts from people having trouble with SATA -- maybe
> you should avoid that too.
> If you want to run Win98, your memory should not exceed 512 MB.
HDDs greater than 137GB work fine with Linux. They may not
be supported in 2.4.17, though. So, install to a smaller disk,
and upgrade the kernel before installing the super-sized HDD.
SATA (Serial ATA) drives also need the latest kernels, and so
can't be used as boot disks. Which SATA controller to buy also
needs some research.
> That's all I can think of right now -- though it may not be complete, I
> don't think I missed something important.
>
> cu,
> Schnobs
--
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Ron Johnson, Jr. ron.l.johnson@cox.net
Jefferson, LA USA
"Knowledge should be free for all."
Harcourt Fenton Mudd, Star Trek:TOS, "I, Mudd"
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