Linux Compatible Hardware

[PhreaK]

I'm new to Linux but first I need to build a PC with parts that are compatible with Linux, so does anyone know a good way to check, or knows a site that can help with this?

Right now I need to find a Linux Compatible : Mother Board, CPU, Hardrive, RAM, Vid Card, DVD-Rom or DVD-RW drive. I'm going to create a small system to learn linux (Im a fast learner) and maybe run an occasional game server or two.

[josolanes]

motherboard, cpu, harddrive, and ram shouldn't be a problem at all as i think all (or a very large percent) are supported.

vid card...anything nvidia would be great. ati's linux driver support is horrible, so try to avoid ati

dvd-rom and dvd-rw, i'm really not sure. i can tell you that my lite-on dvd-rom drive works fine, though

[PhreaK]

Thanks, Im going around looking at what I want to buy and checking their sites for drivers for Linux in an attempt to determine if they support Linux.

[PhreaK]

I'm still having trouble finding a DVD Rom that supports Linux.

[Ethyriel]

DVDRW shouldn't be a problem either, as long as you don't get little know nothing brands like Digital Research at the local Office Depot. Anything from a good manufacturer (note: I don't say brand) like Plextor, Pioneer, Toshiba, or NEC should be fine. Personally, I prefer Plextor where budget affords, and NEC or Toshiba where it doesn't. If you have doubt, you can always search google.com/linux for the make and model.

Motherboards aren't generally problems, but sometimes horribly designed boards from the likes of the Dell lowend and PC Chips will just refuse to work properly. The things to watch out for are any integrated peripherals like sound, video, sometimes SATA, and often network, which you'll have to research model numbers of on google.com/linux. Also, alsa-project.org comes in handy for sound. You're pretty safe with onboard video, just avoid ATI if you want hardware acceleration, and integrated video in general if you want decent draw speeds while your RAM is hit. Again, google.com/linux is always useful, especially so for things like SATA and Network which aren't so centralized as sound.

All those above peripherals, when bought on a seperate card, also need to be researched. It's somewhat easier here, since board level integration is generally more standardized, whereas motherboard integration is pretty much limitless in crazy assed designs. The only place I like onboard components is network and SCSI, because they can be on a seperate bus than PCI; but this is less of an issue with PCI Express. SATA doesn't really matter except in the case of RAID, and you aren't going to find a decent enough SATA RAID subsystem on a motherboard to really warrant a seperate bus (though they exist).

I don't know if many game servers saturate the CPU and/or RAM, but if they do I strongly suggest SCSI for at least /, where the server is installed. You can get some pretty cheap 10k drives these days, and the powerful controller is really what you're interested in.

Remember, don't skimp on the power supply or RAM.

[PhreaK]

Would it be better to go with Redhat Linux 9 or Fedora Core 3?

[josolanes]

Would it be better to go with Redhat Linux 9 or Fedora Core 3?

i would think fedora core 3, since it's newer and probably supports more hardware and software. i've used fedora core 3, but never used redhat before.

[PhreaK]

Fedora core 4 is out now too.

[josolanes]

Fedora core 4 is out now too.

yes it is . it's pretty new, though. i'm sure you can use it and find little to no problems using it, but i'm not sure if everything has caught up to it yet (software, etc,...). the "Redhat/Fedora Linux Help" section should give you more information on this. I haven't used fedora core 3 for about a month now and haven't kept up with the news on fedora core 4 lately

[techieMoe]

I haven't used fedora core 3 for about a month now and haven't kept up with the news on fedora core 4 lately

As the original poster mentioned occasionally running a games server and using the PC to learn Linux, I can't think of any reason why FC4 wouldn't work. I've been using it since it came out and its overall performance is quite good IMO. I had hardware issues with FC3 that were apparently fixed in FC4. Oh, and games run fine on it, as far as I can tell.

I second the Nvidia recommendation. My DVDRW is also an NEC, but I've also had a Memorex in the past with no trouble.