Anyone here install Linux on a Dell Dimension 8200?
 

Which Linux distribution is the most compatible with the hardware on the Dell Dimension 8200? I am a total newbie to Linux, so I would like to use a distribution that already has good drivers for all my hardware components. These are the specs for my computer:

Video: 128 MB DDR NVidia GeForce4 TI 4600 Graphics Card with TV-OUT and DVI
Sound: Turtle Beach Santa Cruz DSP
NIC: Intel 10/100M PCI Network Card
Philips DVD+RW/+R CD-RW Combination Drive

Thanks.

bump :Pengy:

vejita, I've got a Dell Dimension 4200, so there may be some simularities, but definately not as high spec as your machine! I cannot say which distro will be the most compatible with your machine - best thing to do is look at the distro websites - many of them have a hardware compatibility list or database.

The first distro I tried was Knoppix. It boots and runs from a CD without touching your hardrive and is good for checking that your hardware works ok with Linux. Also shows you what Linux is like. Download here - on my Dell this was very successful (and fast, but that may have been my 50x CDR).

I tried the Suse Linux evaluation CD - another run from CD linux, and this ran well, if v. slow to load. Based on that I installed Suse linux.

You will have trouble with the NVIDIA card if you want to use the NVIDIA binary drivers - but that will be the same on any distro!

Hope this helps a bit - and good luck with whatever distribution you decide on!