[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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