[svlug] linux system..

[Wayne Earl]

On Thu, 26 Apr 2001, Don Marti wrote:
> For example, here's a parts list for a pretty nifty Linux workstation
> that I would recommend for a home user, office user, webmaster or
> hobbyist:
>
> http://aslab.com/contents/workstations/Merlin-60spc.html
>
> For a server or heavy-duty development box you'd want to replace the
> ATA drive with a well-supported SCSI card and SCSI drives, which you
> can find on the vendors' "server products" pages. If you're really into
> audio, get a Soundblaster Live and disable the on-board sound on the
> motherboard.

Even this will bite you in strange ways. Where I currently work, we use
ASL servers exclusively (EXCELLENT quality and support, BTW. I HIGHLY
recommend purchasing systems from them). ASL builds and tunes the kernels
of their systems to take full advantage of their hardware, which includes
using drivers not included in standard installation kernels. If you use
their Symbios SCSI controllers (which are the controllers they recommend
and use), you may be unable to install linux with a default boot disk, as
this particular model is not supported by the standard distro install
disks.

This isn't a problem for people experienced with Linux, but would be a
problem for someone new to Linux, and could certainly turn a new user off.

When asked similar questions by friends who want to experiment with linux,
if I don't want to personally be in on the installation process, I
recommend that they purchase a new system from ASL, and "Cut their teeth"
that way. This will give the user excellent hardware, excellent support,
and will give you much less headache.

-- 
Wayne Earl <wayne at qconcepts.net>
http://www.qconcepts.net
GPG key fingerprint: 3CBA 90FB 7BA7 3312 8B04 FA79 C176 5553 FA47 0BFD