Powerful and Stable PC Configuration for Linux (Fedora)

Pedro Fernandes Macedo webmaster at margo.bijoux.nom.br
Sun Feb 15 04:20:41 UTC 2004


J.B. Nicholson-Owens wrote:

>Igor Zhidkov wrote:
>  
>
>>MotherBoard: ASUS P4P800 i865PE/DUAL DDR400/LAN
>>    
>>
>I don't know what chipset this mainboard uses, but it's common to use
>Realtek controllers.  Realtek chipset ethernet hardware gets the job done,
>they're inexpensive, and supported with free software.  They work right
>away, and they're plug-and-play.  But they hog the bus and drive up the CPU
>load during transfer (no matter what OS you run, probably).  I've seen them
>behave similarly on Microsoft Windows systems too.  Realtek ethernet
>hardware is best for low-volume/low-cost setups like homes on cable modem or
>xDSL.
>
>  
>
The integrated Lan on this mobo is a gigabit lan... I dont remmember the 
controller right now , but I know
that there's a module for it (however , I didnt find it until I plugged 
a generic nic to install fedora over nfs).

>>Video Card: 128 MB ATI RADEON 9200 TVOUT AGP X8
>>    
>>
>
>I know that the ATI Radeon 9000 AGP with or without TV out is plug-and-play
>in Fedora Core 1.  It works well with the 3D video games and there's no need
>to acquire extra drivers.  I can't say whether the 9200 is the same story.
>  
>
What will be the main use of the video card? If it's only to 2D graphics 
, any supported chipset will do , even a SIS video card.
However , if you need good 3D quality , go for Nvidia (I have an ATI 
radeon 9500 pro. DGA has some issues on linux..)

>I'd go for a RAID setup of multiple IDE drives.  I've had great experiences
>(they're fast, stable, rackmountable, redundantly powered) with
>RAIDWeb.com's IDE units, but they are not cheap.  I don't know how much more
>money you're willing to spend on RAID (or how much HD space you really
>need).  This approach would also require a SCSI card, but a good one is
>fairly inexpensive.  RAIDWeb.com's boxes are platform and OS independant, so
>you can plug it into any machine with a suitable SCSI port and use it. Maybe
>you could pool your funds with other people and buy one unit then share all
>the extra storage space you'll gain.
>
>  
>
It depends on what he needs to do. If he's gonna do networking 
simulations using NS , he'll need plenty of space and speed,
so raid is the best option. Otherwise , if the dataset is small enough 
to be kept on main menory , raid is not very attractive , unless
he needs the security offered by some raid setups.

>My experience is that with brand name turnkey systems, you risk paying for a
>Microsoft Windows license you don't need (but you can get a refund on that
>if you're willing to go through the hassle) and you are buying service if
>something on the machine fails.  This can be important for a laptop if
>someone doesn't know how to operate on them, but all the desktop machines
>I've built work reliably for years afterwards.
>  
>
Some system vendors are already offering linux solutions. However , I 
dont know if they're available to desktop computers. Dell and IBM
have computers with Redhat , Suse or Windows for server duties...

But I  believe that the config he has mentioned earlier is good. If you 
want to do a network install , try to find the module first.. I dont
remmember the name now , but I think it's something like sk98lin ... A 
quick search in the archives for p4p800 may find it..

Pedro Macedo





More information about the users mailing list