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Re: question

Thompson-Laurin, Harriet wrote:

Hi,

I am a systems analyst taking a course at the University of Phoenix on Unix.  My teacher has assigned a project in which I need to obtain specific information about Debian.  Although I searched your website, I wasn't able to find out if Debian runs on Pentium 4's.

Specifically, I am to find information regarding Debian regarding:
Cost
Debian is Free Sofware (as outlined on the debian page http://www.debian.org/intro/free). However, different organisations may charge differently. 


	Market share


No idea, but quite popular. ;)
Also, such decisions shouldnt be based on market-share. but rather the availabity of training and support.. 


	Hardware requirements

11 Platforms, including intel x86 (so yes it runs on P4's)

	File Processing
	Programming capabilities
	Availability of application software

What application software. http://www.tldp.org/FAQ/Linux-FAQ/
http://packages.debian.org/stable/ has a listing.


	User interface
Any UI available for linux, be it graphical or non-graphical, check out the documentation at http://www.tldp.org 


Then I am to apply this information to a scenario in which a company is "facing the dilemma of upgrading the desktop PC's to run either Windows XP Professional or Linux platform (Debian)".  In the teacher's scenario, the following was provided about the mythical company's current hardware:

400 pc's running Windows 95/98 with a Pentium CPU, 64mb RAM and 2Gb hard drive and below or equal to 300 Mhz.
350 pc's running Windows NT with a Pentium 2 CPU, 128 RAM and 4 GB hard drive
150 pc's running Windows 2000 with a Pentium 3 CPU, 256 RAM and 20 GB hard drive
100 pc's running Windows XP with a Pentium 4 CPU, 256 RAM and 40 GB hard drive.
All of the machines would be no problem, though at that many machines you'd want to look into something like automatic installs /upgrades (look at http://www.informatik.uni-koeln.de/fai/), also user-policies, firewalls, and the server bit.. 


I was able to find on your site that Debian works with the older Pentiums, but no reference to Pentium 4, so that is my primary concern.  In this college case study, would the Pentium 4's need to be downgraded to Pentium 3's in order to run Debian?


Nope. Debian Gnu Linux runs on P4's
Of course, any other information would be helpful. It does appear that there are quite a number of available application packages for Debian, from the website. I gather than the Unix/Linux/Debian marketshare in total is estimated at 5%, but I also need to obtain marketshare for just Debian by itself.
You'd also need to look at the target market slice. Seeing the options clearly, I'd guess debian marketshare is about 35-40% (in the target market). 
Thank you in advance for your kind help,

Harriet Laurin


Look around the net, there are numerous such studies..

Robert Ribnitz
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