Building new Nix box for cousin..which distro ?

[Sweet Spot]

So technically I'm not a newbie, but nor am I a "pro" Linux user and I've been using Ubuntu for about 2 + years with nary a problem. Recently installed Mint on an old Dell laptop, as it was the only one I found which would install. Now, my cousin is asking me to put a pc together for him, and he's not opposed to learning how to use a Linux distro, as I explained the benefits to him etc.
I can probably find hardware to play nicely with Ubuntu for his new rig, but at the same time, I'd like to start with a different distro than Ubuntu, and was reading that perhaps Mandriva might be a good candidate because the devs work to make sure that it plays well with a ton of hardware, and that's most important to me.

It's also important that the distro be very friendly to total newbs like my cousin, so that he doesn't have to call me every time there's a little glitch, and that I'll be able to explain everything to him on the first go-round after install etc..

I don't think he'll be playing games, or anything graphic intensive. It's likely that he'll be using it for office applications (OoO) web browsing and normal every day music apps and such. I'm waiting to hear back from him, so he can tell me exactly what he'll be using it for, but I can't imagine that it need be a power house of a machine.

That said, is there a known up-to-date list of good hardware (possibly including printer) which is compatible with the more popular and user friendly distros ? Or, perhaps you guys can share a list of what you've been putting together ?

Specifics: MOBO/Processor combo deal with audio and video on board. I need to make this as painless as possible. Since he won't be gaming, or doing anything audio intensive, I won't need any dedicated audio or video cards. On board stuff is cool with me. (as is the NIC if possible) I plan on buying from newegg, mwave or tigerdirect etc, so if there's a mobo combo which is ripe for this project, please let me know.

The cheaper the better I guess, but nothing so cheap so that I can't upgrade anything or that it's slow. I do want it to be fast, so good memory is key. I probably should build it so that I'm able to run XP as well, in case he decides to want to dual boot.

So, which distro / hardware combo would you guys recommend ? Thanks !

Doug

[rcgreen]

Since you are the person your cousin will be coming to
for help, stick to a distro that you are already familiar
and comfortable with. Once he has enough experience to
have an opinion, he can make changes that suit him.

[i92guboj]

So technically I'm not a newbie, but nor am I a "pro" Linux user and I've been using Ubuntu for about 2 + years with nary a problem. Recently installed Mint on an old Dell laptop, as it was the only one I found which would install. Now, my cousin is asking me to put a pc together for him, and he's not opposed to learning how to use a Linux distro, as I explained the benefits to him etc.
I can probably find hardware to play nicely with Ubuntu for his new rig, but at the same time, I'd like to start with a different distro than Ubuntu, and was reading that perhaps Mandriva might be a good candidate because the devs work to make sure that it plays well with a ton of hardware, and that's most important to me.

In this point, I agree with rcgreen. Since when it has a problem he will probably be asking you how to solve it. However, if you want something else, I think that Mandriva or SuSE will have that feeling that you are looking for. I advise to download a livedvd or something and try them yourself for a while, so you can decide with a better criteria.

That said, is there a known up-to-date list of good hardware (possibly including printer) which is compatible with the more popular and user friendly distros ? Or, perhaps you guys can share a list of what you've been putting together ?

For printers, the absolute first site to check is:

OpenPrinting - The Linux Foundation

For hardware in general there are lots of sites, like:

Linux-drivers.org - Linux Hardware Compatibility Lists & Linux Drivers

In general, there are only a few things to care about:

1. video cards: nvidia cards work very well, ati ones are problematic for some people, and their xinerama support (for many screens at once) is very very bad, at least with the propietary driver
2. chipsets: my advice is to avoid via like the plague, the manual of your mother board should specify the chipset. Here, intel, sis and nforce have worked for me very well, your mileage may vary, of course. Note that, basically, if your chipset is wall supported, then your life for the rest of devices will be much easier
3. network cards: regular nics are ok, for wireless you have to be careful sometimes, but I don't know much about that, maybe someone around can say anything more
4. printers: see link above
5. scanners: XSane - News

About the processor, it doesn't matter which one you pick really. Most distros run ok in x86 and amd64 at least. Some others support additional architectures.

Lots of motherboards nowadays have integrated video chips, sound chips and network chips. Note however that integrated video cards takes a portion of your ram usually to serve as video ram. This will reduce the amount of ram available for the system. A thing to take into account if you are going to run a heavy desktop.

Regards.

[Sweet Spot]

Thanks guys. This seems like a good start for me. I'll likely run through the types of distro's with my cousin and take it from there. Good suggestion on the video card not being on board, actually. I hadn't thought of that. Nvidia cards aren't that expensive, after all.

Doug