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Thread ID: 56958	2005-04-19 11:44:00	Linux Combination.	Metla (12)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
346659	2005-04-19 11:44:00	Greetings one and all, I have been mulling over the possibility of making a Linux box available and the issue of compatibility rears its ugly head, so I am asking for suggestions as to Linux safe hardware (suggestions based on fact/knowledge/experience would be preferred over guesswork :D ) The Requirements would be (if possible) a Linux distro that has drivers right out of the box for the hardware, It has been suggested that Via would be a good starting point, anyhow.. The items distro Motherboard (a basic one, integrated video, audio) Modem Ah...that’s about it really, a distro that will assign the appropriate drivers during the install. Hardware needs to be available on the NZ market, and not DSE branded gear. Distro would need to be a common one with a strong online community.	Metla (12)
346660	2005-04-19 11:53:00	Greetings one and all, I have been mulling over the possibility of making a Linux box available and the issue of compatibility rears its ugly head, so I am asking for suggestions as to Linux safe hardware (suggestions based on fact/knowledge/experience would be preferred over guesswork :D ) The Requirements would be (if possible) a Linux distro that has drivers right out of the box for the hardware, It has been suggested that Via would be a good starting point, anyhow.. The items distro Motherboard (a basic one, integrated video, audio) Modem Ah...that’s about it really, a distro that will assign the appropriate drivers during the install. Hardware needs to be available on the NZ market, and not DSE branded gear. Distro would need to be a common one with a strong online community. What is a Distro? Nice post by the way Metla, well constructed.	Safari (3993)
346661	2005-04-19 12:22:00	nForce mobo's are fine with the right distro. If your looking for hardware compatability go for, skip.....scratch.......screech...zziip....tic...ti c...tic...think.. ah hem! freakin crack. Try Mepis Met's, it's simple but no deficient. Try it with a grotty PCI winmodem if you like, I'm sure you could swap it out in a few secs if it doesn't jell. You may be surprised what it will pick up without having to twiddle the knobs. Heck! it even starts with the right letter.	Murray P (44)
346662	2005-04-19 12:36:00	Sorry. Should have mentiooned it would be a budget box...and Nforce2 boards are no loinger on the market,nforce3 are being phased out,nforce4 are high end,expensive,unsuported by any distro(as far as i know),require an expensive CPU,and require a video card.... :eek:	Metla (12)
346663	2005-04-19 12:51:00	Im with Murray Mepis would be my first choice good hardware support inclusive, modem loves lucent but not contexant (HCF) chipsets, You can use the Mepis cd as live cd, good for checking hardware compatiblity (also used to resue failed systems) or you can install it. Live cd had no problems with my G-Force card I have this installed on on a p2, 196 ram, s3 3d card (that shows its age) and it runs happly, even picked up my ISA modem or Xandros not as configurable as Mepis, loves contexant (hcf ) chipsets not lucent I have this installed on my laptop because my modem HCF both are Debain based distros both are xp like (dont hold that against them) less of a culture shock to windoze users both come with all the software that would you expect from open source And I suspect 3/4 of which never will get used by a normal user.	beama (111)
346664	2005-04-19 13:45:00	Linux loves all the Via/MSI/ECS (Elitegroup) mobos Ive used it on. Whats with the Debian support people? So many Debian distros... Mepis and Xandros... Well, okay, two debian-based distros. Im off to try Ark Linux 2005.1-SR1. I'll post back from it shortly :) Cheers Chill.	Chilling_Silence (9)
346665	2005-04-19 14:38:00	Greetings one and all, I have been mulling over the possibility of making a Linux box available and the issue of compatibility rears its ugly head, so I am asking for suggestions as to Linux safe hardware (suggestions based on fact/knowledge/experience would be preferred over guesswork :D )... All drivers available to Linux are available to all distros equally, but some don't implement them in "out-of-the-box" fashion by the time they are released or various other reasons. There is no certain way of telling unless you spend time hunting for information for that particular distro and hardware. Also, if it is available but not implemented in a particular distro, you can add it manually. So I would start by picking the best hardware you got for this project, and Google for support info for at least 5 distros. The distros you should choose are the ones with the biggest, most knowlegeable and most mature support communities; with a regular upgrade schedule; and with a mature, stable and reliable package management system.	vinref (6194)
346666	2005-04-19 18:09:00	uh.....which is why I asked the question.... :annoyed:	Metla (12)
346667	2005-04-19 19:54:00	Who is your intended market with this system Metla? If you make it too budget like you may put off people who are looking for a better quality system . Safe to assume you don't want to provide OS support with these systems, so I would give the buyers a choice of a commercially supported distro such as Xandros, SuSE or Linspire . If you don't want to include a commerical distro, then look at the free versions of Xandros or SuSE which both have large self-help support and are big names . Fedora has a huge support system/help information on the net, but requires more out of the box setup to make it look/act more polished . Mepis looks good and is easy to use and it sounds like Ark is the same, but they are smaller named distro's without the huge distro specific support the others can supply . Again, it really depends upon who your intended market is and would they require a lot of hand holding . For hardware, just put the shortlist mobo's into google with + linux and see what comments are made regarding support . Or post a list here and we can check them out . A thing to watch out for is the monitor . I have a very el cheapo Likom CRT monitor that rarely gets detected properly and I have to specifically reconfigure the xorg to the correct settings or I end up with ugly resolutions and a opposite to a pincushion look (forgotton correct name for that) . If I don't install a graphic card driver (nVidia) then the whole display also sits slighty off to the right . . . :rolleyes:	Jen (38)
346668	2005-04-19 22:11:00	Im off to try Ark Linux 2005.1-SR1. I'll post back from it shortly :) Chill. I too went to try Arklinux 2005.1-SR1 the other day the iso burned ok but would nt boot from it who knows maybe it got corrupted :lol: So I am keen to hear how you get on Chill	Overdrive_5000 (4950)
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