Im playing around with linux alot of late and was thinking of putting a machine together. I almost got a asus eee laptop top but i think that the gma910 graphics would stop me using minib3d on it. Anyway does anyone have any experience of what bits dont have any issues with linux? like what basic graphics cards have ok 3d open gl performance.
So far im thinking on the lines of
Athlon 64 le 1600 £30
Biostar NF520-A2 £28
256MB MSI GeForce 7300GT £30 (this is quoted at open 2.0 but ive no idea if it can run open gl games at a playable frame rate)
1gb ddr2 £12
small ATX case £20
maxtor SATA 80gb £26
Pioneer dvdrw £26
total £172
Nvidia are pretty well supported as far a linux drivers go. The real problem piece of hardware is wireless, especially USB wireless, so check the state of your chosen linux before deciding on one. Last time I looked, going 64 bit was more effort because it meant compiling the graphics drivers rather than downloading a precompiled one. That was a while ago, but still something to check. (This is an issue with 64 bit linux, you can still run a 32bit version on your 64 bit machine).
Do yourself a favour, forget the Maxtor and go Samsung. Nothing Linux specific, but Maxtor went down the pan a while back.
Thanks for the advice ill stick to 32bit for now, I will have to buy a suitible modem as my one will not work with linux.
Ps. Maxtor are owned by Seagate and are still going, so they have not gone down the pan as such. ive always got maxtor drives and not one has given me any trouble.
I must say that I agree with Nomen, the 2 last years I had 4 maxtor's and 2 IBM's HD crashed, the Seagate and Western Digital seem much more sturdy. (I manage about 20 computers at my job).
ok theres alway going to be people who have better luck with hardware than others I know people who didnt have any trouble with IBMs famous (deathstar)deskstar drives but most of the early ones were rubbish. I ran a computer shop for 4 years and always fitted maxtor and had none back and thats a few hundred builds.