🚀 go-pugleaf

Tim Joseph wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I'm about to purchase a new PC from Mesh Plc (UK). They have
> a number of configurations, ... The bits available are:
> 
> 1. Intel Pentium II 300MHz, Intel 440BX Chipset

Yah, so there's no choice in the processor, ah well.

> 2. Video Card
> either    8mb ATI 3D Xpert98
> or        8mb Matrox Productiva G100
> or        8mb Hercules Terminator 128/3D AGP

Skip the AGP for Linux, since X doesn't currently have good
support for AGP, and AGP is a load of outdated hooey anyway
(it is based on the premise that you don't have enough RAM
on your video card and that RAM is expensive, neither of
which is true nowadays)

> 3. Audio Card
> either    Creative Labs AWE65 Wavetable Soundcard
> or        Ensoniq AudioPCI on board
> or        Creative Labs SoundBlaster Vibra 16 Soundcard

Check the SoundCard HOWTO (or whatever it is called) and
make sure that whatever you get is listed as supported
there, or else (if you have a running Linux system) check
what the version of the kernel you will be using supports
(try running "make menuconfig" and hop down to sound card
driver modules). I'd get either of the Creative cards, out
of habit more than anything else.

> 4. Internal IDE (ATAPI) Zip Drive

I've got one in my machine and it works fine, check out the
Zip Drive HOWTO for details.

> 5. Hard drive (Ultra ATA DMA) and CDROM are both standard.

Ultra DMA support is not all there yet, in Linux (at least not
as of 2.0.33, but I can't vouch for anything newer or for the
development kernels) but the stuff should work fine, just not
quite as fast as rated.

> 6. Monitor
> either    17" ADI Microscan 5GT
> or        17" MAG D700 TCO92
> or        17" Taxan Ergovision 730 TCO95
> or        19" ADI TCO95 Microscan 6P

Get the largest and best monitor you can afford, this will
make the biggest difference in your user experience, even
more than the a fast processor. If you can, try out the
monitors in person first (or make sure you can return it
if you are not satisfied) as some of the cheaper monitors
can be blurry and will cause you grief. (headaches, eye
strain etc.)

> 7. Memory is "Ultra Fast" (100Mhz?) SDRAM.

Make sure that it is "PC-100" SDRAM so that it can keep up
with a 100MHz memory bus (which will probably be what the
PII-300 uses on the 440BX motherboard).

There is a good article by Eric Raymond (a little dated now,
but the theory still holds) about how to buy a computer for
Linux, see:

<http://earthspace.net/~esr/clone-hw-guide/>

For the full text.

- Jeff Dutky