[wplug] Re: which linux is for me
Duncan Hutty
dhutty+wplug at ece.cmu.edu
Tue Feb 22 10:15:59 EST 2005
On 02/22/2005 09:48 AM, Steve Bierly wrote:
> I have a few questions anyone who has answers please
> get back to me. What linux should I get if I am going
> to be a programmer.
> I am leaning towards red hat. But I am not sure and I
> read that linux does not support all computer
> hardware. Could I use a brand new computer or should I
> dig out a stone age computer? Would it work on a
> laptop? Truth be told I am just starting and hearing
> many opinions so experienced users please help. If you
> could give me a link that would have system
> requirements.
>
For a (graphical) desktop running one of the major desktop environments
(Gnome or KDE), I wouldn't recommend less than 256MB memory and cpu of
less than PIII 700 might be irritating.
One of the interesting phenomena of the linux world is that it can be
used on very low end hardware. That doesn't mean you want to if you can
avoid it. I personally have run linux on a Pentium 75 and used it for
programming without any problem, although I'm not interested in using
that kind of machine as a primary desktop because I want a whole bunch
of stuff going on at once:)
Laptops can get interesting, search the web for others' experiences with
particular models. www.linux-on-laptops.com
If you're not considering anything more than cpu,memory,IDE hard disk,
cd-(rom|r|rw) and network card, most things will Just Work with most
recent major distributions like Redhat (which is now called Fedora
unless you pay for it), SuSE, Mandrake. USB/firewire support is vastly
improved on what it was a few years ago. Modems can still be a bit of a
problem, due to many manufacturers producing so called winmodems which
require special drivers to offload some of the processing onto the cpu
and support only MS Windows.
www.tldp.org has lots of information about hardware support.
Lastly, come along to one of our installfests and ask around. You'll get
lots of advice, tips and assistance with any problems. And quite
possibly, installation CDs as well, especially if you post here
immediately beforehand.
Think about what you want to do first. For what kind of tasks do you
want the system? That will enable you to make good decisions about what
to put on it.
--
Duncan Hutty
System Administrator
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University
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