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

[Fred James]

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.


-- 
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