Home » forums » Tech Support » Miscellaneous » New to Linux OS
Submitted by aly on Thu, 23/12/2004 - 10:13.
( categories: Miscellaneous)

Hi,

I'm totally new to the Unix/Linux world. I want to get a new PC dedicated for that. Is there any hardware list that i can refer to? PS. the next question will be which version of Linux OS can i install?

add new comment | previous forum topic | next forum topic
use mandrake
Alaa's picture
Submitted by Alaa on Thu, 23/12/2004 - 14:55.

unfortunatly there is no one central hardware compatibility database.

but in general most compnents work our of the box so its easier to install and then start fixing later.

as to which flavor and version to use I recommend you start with Mandrake, its by far the easiest and most user friendly.

later on you can make your own decision (I stayed with mandrake but many choose to move to other stuff).

latest version of Mandrake is 10.1

if you're very waorried about hardware support you can download a livecd distro (knoppix is generally the best) and test with it, livecds do not touch your harddisk.

if the livecd works then anything else can be configured to work, if the livecd doesn't then you got a bit of learning to do.

cheers, Alaa

http://www.manalaa.net "i`m feeling for the 2nd time like alice in wonderland reading el wafd"


reply
Thanks But..
Submitted by aly on Thu, 23/12/2004 - 15:10.

I found a great site www.linuxquestions.org It has an proposed HCL and many other VERY useful links.

about Mandrak, i 'll download it but i found mandrakelinux 10.0 official and another mandrakelinux 10.1 community ?!

Does the last name ring any bell? official? community? if not, i'll go for 10.1.

I'll wait for your answer. Thanks man :-)

reply
10.1 Official
MohammedSameer's picture
Submitted by MohammedSameer on Thu, 23/12/2004 - 15:13.

There is 10.1 Official, Go for it.

-- I was known as Uniball!
Katoob Main developer
PekSysTray - GtkFlame


reply
Found it..
Submitted by aly on Thu, 23/12/2004 - 15:22.

Fol :-)

Thanks very much.

reply
How about the other way around
Submitted by phaeronix on Thu, 23/12/2004 - 16:48.

What if the questions is:

I want to build a linux compatible computer.. What components are best for server/desktop linux box?

Maybe we should have a small list of components known to play well with linux. And have hints as to what is preferred for servers/desktops.

reply
ah thats different
Alaa's picture
Submitted by Alaa on Thu, 23/12/2004 - 19:23.

I remeber some site running a building the ultimate Linux box feature and another on building a budget Linux box etc, google abit and post links if you find something good :-)

if local knowledge is what you're looking for we have a distro maker in EGLUG who should be able to help you best, Phaeron how about giving a hand here.

cheers,
Alaa

http://www.manalaa.net "i`m feeling for the 2nd time like alice in wonderland reading el wafd"


reply
WINMODEM!!
ShErbO's picture
Submitted by ShErbO on Thu, 23/12/2004 - 16:57.

I agree, most of the hardware works great (out of the box) with linux.

An exception is the dial-up modem, to make a long story short:

Use an external SERIAL modem. better yet, get an ADSL connection or you can use internet sharing through your windows box.

If you insist on using one of the "cheap" modems available, your best bet is to buy a connexant modem. Don't even think about creative, it's really good but completely unsupported under linux.

Personal note: All VGA cards work nicely, but if you're interested in games (3d accelerated), then get a nVIDIA card (GeForce, TNT or whatever). they have the best linux drivers. Again if you don't need acceleration, then any card will do.


reply
smartlink modems
Manal's picture
Submitted by Manal on Thu, 23/12/2004 - 19:18.

smartlink internal modems are better afaik, I think they r sold in egypt under the name Netodragon.

http://www.manalaa.net


reply
motorola is workin too
Submitted by MLAw on Fri, 31/12/2004 - 05:40.

hi... well I have been on this winmodem thing for a while finaly I discovered that motorola devoleped drives for some linx distro and its working well and btw conexant driver have limit speed about 14kbs to get full speed one u must 14$ i guess and good luck :):)

reply
Looks like google knows tons
Submitted by phaeronix on Thu, 23/12/2004 - 20:09.

Looks like google knows tons about this issue!

Here's a reference of refrences:

http://www.ntlug.org/~cbbrowne/linuxhardware.html

ALL winmodems will break at some time in the future. And when they work they don't do so well. Save yourself the trouble and buy an external modem ( serial not USB ), but come to think of it the price tag on those makes it more economic to get DSL.

3D accelerated cards are confined to Nvidia based cards and ATI cards. Nvidia's drivers are in my experience much better than ATI's drivers. So if you intend on playing the few mega-games that do work under linux ( using emulation ) Nvidia would be a sane choice.

Sound cards all work better than in windows ( yes believe it or not ).

Scanners provide less challenge, check on http://sane-project.org/sane-mfgs.html to be sure.

As for distros, current viable options are Knoppix and Phaeronix , Hey why not ;) LiveCDs for testing, Mandrake and ubuntu for installed distros.

Hope I have helped :)

reply
HCL for linux is found..
Submitted by aly on Fri, 24/12/2004 - 15:20.

Poeple,

Thanks very much for your help.

I found a suggested hcl for linux at the following url: http://www.linuxquestions.org

but the real effort is to make a list of AVAILABLE components with the KNOWN names of the local egyptian market. That will be EXTREAMLY helpful :-)

fol :-)

reply

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.