[NBLUG/talk] I'm Going To Switch To Linux

[Christopher Wagner]

I'm glad you've decided to take the "big" step! :)  Welcome to the Linux
community!

Personally, for first-time users, I'm partial to recommending Redhat.
Mandrake is also a good decision for beginners as well.  Redhat & Mandrake
are fairly easy to configure and use and have a neato spiffy GUI interface
for those who like that kind of thing. :)

I haven't played with Lindows, but I get the feeling that it may be a little
shy for support of new hardware, but I could be very wrong.  There is a lot
more software packaged for Redhat, I think.

As far as the computers your are looking at:
I would personally go for the 8300.  I've heard better luck with people
getting the TV-Out to work with the NVidia cards.  Not to mention, Nvidia
seems to be releasing drivers specifically for Linux, which is a major plus.
Setting up the TV-Out will require a little configuration, but should not be
prohibitive and should be well-documented on NVidia's site.

Here's a link to the driver download for Linux:
http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=linux_display_ia32_1.0-4363

Wow..  Looking over the README file..  I think my next card is going to be
an NVidia. :)  The support from ATI's site pales in comparison.  So, I
recommend going with the 8300 with 512 meg of RAM (instead of the 256 on the
spec, more RAM never hurts), or get the XPS with the NVidia card instead.

There was a dicussion thread a little bit back that talked about getting a
refund for the unused Windoze software.  Ah yes, augie provided us with the
link http://windowsrefund.net/

Seems worth checking out. :)  Could probably get up to a couple hundred
bucks back for all that ridiculous software and the Windoze OS disc that
you'll probably never need if you're running Linux. :)

- Christopher Wagner
chrisw at pacaids.com

Packaging Aids Corporation - Information Systems
P.O. Box 9144
San Rafael, CA 94912-9144
http://www.pacaids.com/
(415) 454-4868 x116
 

-----Original Message-----
From: talk-admin at nblug.org [mailto:talk-admin at nblug.org]On Behalf Of
Edward Mendoza
Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2003 8:19 PM
To: talk at nblug.org
Subject: [NBLUG/talk] I'm Going To Switch To Linux



I'm about to buy a new computer and I have decided to start using the Linux
OS for the first time ever. Thank you all for answering my stupid questions.
I have never used Linux before so this is somewhat exciting. I just hope I
don't find myself entangled in some spider's web that I can't get out of.

I would like some advice on which version of Linux I should use since I am a
first time user. I have already gotten some feedback from you and it looks
like the there is a slight nudge for me to take the plunge with Lindows but
I have also been told that it doesn't really matter.

Second, I would like some advice on whether or not Dell desktops are
adequate or ideal machines for a Linux OS and which of the following two
Dells I should get: the Dimension 8300 or the Dimension XPS.

The specs on the Dimension XPS:
Intel Pentium 4 processor at 3GHz w 800MHz FSB
512MB Dual Channel DDR SDRAM at 400MHz
16X DVD ROM Drive
120GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive
NEW 128MB ATI RADEON
9800 Graphics Card with TV-Out & DVI

AND:

The specs on the Dimension 8300:
Intel Pentium 4 processor at 2.66GHz
256MB Dual Channel DDR SDRAM at 333MHz
16X DVD ROM Drive
60GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive
64MB DDR NVIDIA GeForce4
MX Graphics Card with TV-Out


Thank you all very much, Edward

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