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Making a linux machine...

B

bobsaget

Supreme [H]ardness
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Jan 24, 2004
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I would like to make a linux machine that is speedy, but at the same time very cheap! :D

I hope to be running either fedora, lindowOS, or redhat... (latest versions of all)


What processor would you recommend? how much ram? video?


Thank you! ;)
 
any cpu and ram will do, for the video, make sure drivers exist, actually, do that for all your hardware, check to make sure it works in linux

and between the 3 distros you mentioned, i would recommend fedora over redhat, and def over linspire
 
Nvidia provide software drivers for linux... ATI drivers for linux are harder to come by though. Linux doesn't need a lot to run, but it does depend on what you are doing.
Look for any Linux drivers you need before looking for parts... other people may be able to help you there, cause i don't know a lot about that side of Linux.
 
You can basically get any machine to run Linux, though there will be the occasional piece of hardware that won't work.

Stuff to ask:
- main uses of this comp beyond the traditional web/email/im/typing (seriously, I don't consider this, since you could do the same stuff on a machine that's 10 years old)
- is gaming involved? If so, rule out ATi at this point in time. Nvidia cards have better drivers under Linux.
- Will this be your main computer?

That said, of the three distros you've listed: I'd use Fedora only
 
Don't use Lindows...it is the WORST linux distro I've ever tested...bar none...it's the windows ME of linux distros.

I would agree with billy...out of the three you listed, go with Fedora Core (2). As for hardware? An AthlonXP 2000+ and 256MB of ram is a good start...512MB would be better. However, I was running Fedora Core 2 on a PII 350 with 184MB of ram...then on a Athlon tbird @ 1ghz with 256MB of ram. So it scales pretty well.
 
I'd go with an NV video card because of their better driver support, and pretty much any motherboard these days will work nicely. nForce chipset has drivers, but they're proprietary so they're not distributed with the kernel like many drivers - this means you'll want to burn the drivers to a cd prior to install, unless you're using a seperate ethernet card. I'm not so sure about more recent stuff like SATA, but that could be a little more picky.. I've seen SATA stuff in recent kernels, but I haven't tried it myself. You'll probably want to go with a normal IDE harddrive anyway since you're trying to keep it cheap. Really the only hardware you'd have trouble with is really cutting edge stuff or very proprietary stuff, like laptops.

The P3 in my sig is my main Linux machine, since I do all my gaming on my Athlon, it works great for everything I need to do on it. Consider picking up something like an old Athlon or P3 for *really* cheap if you're not planning on doing anything too resource intensive - you don't need a whole lot of machine to just play around with linux.
 
Alright thanks for help guys!




You know how to have WinXP run quick, you need a minimum of about 1ghz and 256mb Ram? Well, what do you need for the latest version of fedora to run snappy? :p

thanks again!
 
For Fedora, you'll probably still want 256 MB RAM, but for the proc, you could do well with a P3 500 or something. But processors are cheap nowadays, you can buy a cheap Athlon processor like the 1700+ and you'll be golden.
 
Now if I did want to make a very cheap gaming machine.. (for when friends come over or something)

some cheap mobo :D
Athlon 1800+ (or somewhere near that)
256mb RAM (i can live with the choppiness :p)
TI4200


PS... what old/new games are linux compatible?


Thanks again guys!
 
if you do not need to run both machines at the same time, you could use caddies to swap in and out the hds.

you could also use your present machine by adding an hd and installing linux on it. if you are using sata now you could try an ide and then set the boot priority in the bios.

otherwise linux needs about 128MB ot ram to work well.
 
Most of the Unreal series, Quake series, NWN, Tribes. There are more, but that should get you started. :)

I don't run Fedora, but I run the same desktop that Fedora uses (Gnome) and it runs prefectly on my P3/1ghz. Probably could get by with a lot less.
 
All of iD's games have a native Linux version (I believe). Unreal Tournament also has a native linux version.

Games that rely on DirectX won't natively work with Linux. You'll have to use Wine or Winex to run them.

And 256 MB of RAM is fine, though I prefer my systems these days with anything over 512 MB (just me, I'm a memory whore). Linux tries to use all the RAM it can get its grubby little hands on so it only uses swap space as little as possible. This makes for a very fast and smooth experience.
 
Let's see...

Some random Athlon XP would be fine, or even a Duron.
For memory, 256 will run ok. I'd get 512+ if you're going to play games or do serious work on it though.

Storage: Whatever. It'll work as long as there's a driver for your controller. That's really only a concern with SCSI, FC-AL, and add-in cards though.

Mobo: Oh hell I dunno. Just check and make sure all the onboard devices are supported & there's an AGP driver for the thing.

Video: Just about anything that's been around for a while usually works, though an NV card is probably the best choice. I'd probably get a GeForce4 for it. Maybe pick up a used one in the forums or something.

Sound: Sound in Linux is kind of a voodoo subject for me. I use Linux for work (I'm a programmer) and do my gaming in windows, so all I really use sound in Linux for is listening to internet radio. My SB Live 5.1 seems to work fine. That's about all I know about it.

Another possibility is to use this as an excuse to upgrade your main rig. The biggest target is your ram- PC2100 w/ a 333fsb chip on an nforce2. Just put your current ram in the Linux box & get new stuff for your main machine. My next thought would be swap out your mobo for one that supports 400fsb as to better OC that 2500+, then of course your current board goes in the Linux box. Of course the third stage of this is your whole mobo+proc+cpu goes in the Linux box and your main machine gets an nforce2 mobo w/ 400 fsb, PC3200, and a mobile XP (which of course gets OC'd).

If you decide you don't really need to be able to game on this thing, another possibility is to try to find a used dual CPU board and a couple of chips. Maybe a pair of P3s or something. Of course if you really want to have fun old P2 and Pentium Pro quad boxes are always good for some fun.
 
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