Will Linux Work for My Project and Setup?
 

My Gear:

• MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum
• - nForce 4 Ultra Chipset
• - Sound (ALC850)
• - 1394 (VIA 6307)
• - LAN (Marvell 88E1111 PHY and 88E8053)
• AMD Athlon 64 3200 2.0 ghz
• 1GB (2x512) Corsair XMS DDR400 (PC3200)
• 2 WD Raptor 36.7GB (WD360GD) 10k RPM Serial ATA 150
• - Setup on NVRaid 0 or 1 (Not sure right now)
• Mitsumi 1.44 MB Internatl USB 2.0 Card Reader
• Lite-On DVD Burner SOHW16335 BGE
• MSI NX6600GT-TD128E GeForce 128 MB
• 160GB WD Ex HD (WDXB1600JBRNN) via Firewire 1394 (7200 RPM
• 400GB MyBook Ex (WDG1U4000N) (7200 RPM)

So here's the thing. I am a newbie to linux, not to computers though, I have in the past installed and sustained my existance with linux as my main OS, that lasted about 6 months. It has been a long time though.
I have my gear all setup using Windows as my main OS right now. I want to make Linux my main OS to set this system up as a server (web, file, and DB).
So here are my questions:

• I am planning on using Fedora core 6 x64 as the OS, is this the best Distro for my plans?
• Will I have any compatability issues? Specifically issues with Firewire becuase I have a lot of files on my external drives?
• Any issues with the LAN drivers?
• Will my Raid function the same is it does now?
• If not, how would I set it up. Considering I want it setup from the beginning I think that is my first step.
• I am going to be creating a full DB using either Oracle or something similiar for a web based app I am going to be creating, will I struggle with linux, or will it be easier. I might use PHP, not sure yet.
• The system is also going to be used by me to store all my files and access them from Windows based systems I should have no trouble doing so I imagine, from what I have read I just need something called Samba, correct?
• My external drives right now are NTFS, is this compatible?
• If I use the 64x OS I will not be able to run 32 bit apps, correct? If Correct, does uTorrent have a 64 bit version?
• I shouldn't have any trouble playing vids or mp3s just becuase of the 64x OS, i mean they are just files as long as the app used to run them is 64x they should run, right?
• I have a Microsoft wireless keyboard and mouse, any problems with that?

That's it. I hope I have provided enough information about my system. If not please ask more. If any of my questions are too vague please allow me to elaborate, I appreciate all the help. As I move forward in my project I am sure I will have many more problems and questions, especially when I start building my app, any help given would be great.

Thanks,
AC

When it comes to compatibility you just have to try it.

This is opinion. I like Debian/Ubuntu.
I doubt it.
No.
I have never setup a raid. I would do a little research on this. I know this can be done.
I don't think its to tough.
I have found samba to be a pain. I like to setup apache on my local network to share files.
I have heard the drivers used to write to ntfs are new. I have only mounted ntfs to read from linux. Fat32 is compatible for writing.
You can run 32bit programs. If is kind of a hassle to run 32bit programs on a 64bit system. It can be done. You can use Azureus. It is 64bit. I am not sure about uTorrent.
You won't have any trouble with that.
Lots of people use Microsoft products. There should be a driver for yours.

If you use Linux. You will be glad you did.

NVraid is sort of weird. It is much easier to use TRUE hardware raid(3ware). You should be able to get NVraid working, but it is easier if Windows isn't on the drive(or if you just don't have any critical data on the drive.

NTFS read is very stable. NTFS, well, that isn't stable, nor does it have the features necessary for normal use. I think it just supports writing files with the same size or something like that.

The distribution just depends on your preference. I use Gentoo, the next person might use PCLinuxOS(which I have heard to be very good),Ubuntu,Debian. It is really all about preference. Usually, as long as the kernel supports your device, you shouldn't have a problem with any distrobution.

I am using a Microsoft optical mouse at the moment. It doesn't have any fancy features, but the scroll wheel works, as well as pushing the middle button.

I have your chipset as well on an A8N-E motherboard by Asus. It works great, I can even control my fan speeds, and view temperatures.

Cheers.
Your sound chip is very standard, will definitely work. Your Graphics Card is a standard nvidia card, and it will work too(using the binary nvidia drivers, you can get 3D performance.) If you don't want to use the binary driver, there is a open source driver called nouveau(unstable at this time) which will get released later this year.

Your CPU is fine, just make sure you get the right Installation CD(amd64/x86_64) for your cpu.

I have an amd 64cpu, and I had nothing but trouble with the 64 bit systems. Dapper 64 crashed on starting gedit(!!).
I haven't tried in a while... I'm positive it's still a pain. Use the i386 version, you will not suffer a noticeable performence hit.

This is simply not true. If you had a crash on gedit, that probably had nothing to do with it being a 64 bit system, just that something was screwed up.

The 64 bit architecture is very well supported in linux, much much better than 64 bit in win world. There is one thing that turns into a deal breaker for some folks, and that is -

There is no way at present to have a flash enabled plugin for a browser on a 64 bit system. Java made it some months ago, but flash isn't there yet. Of course this being open-source, there is a way around it. You have to install a 32 bit chroot within your 64 bit system, and install firefox with flash inside this chroot. You can have both a 64 bit version outside the chroot, and a 32 bit inside the chroot, because realistically like it or not, you will encounter sites you "need" to see that require flash.

That being said, if this is going to be a server, and not a desktop, then you won't have any problem with the browser, as you won't be using it. I always suggest a no GUI server install, where everything is done at the CLI interface. Less waste, more power towards serving whatever it is that you want to serve.

Distro wise, I go with Debian, but as mentioned above, it is all a matter of preference. Please do try several different ones, and see which you find the easiest to use.

Peace,
JimBass

I whish I had a cent for everytime I read "does not work with x86-64 yet... no packages available, chroot... "

Gedit was obviously not the only problem... And even the packages that were available were nothing but trouble... The last time I seriously tried was a year ago... I've looked into it every couple of months.
Are you actually running a 64bit system?

I am running a 5 64-bit systems. No problems whatsoever. I have heard, however, that you can do the equivalent of ndiswrapper for flash.Somehow you use a 32-bit driver, and wrap it with some sort of utility, so that it will work with 64-bit browsers.

I've been running 64 bit debian on my machines for almost 18 months. There used to be many more problems, Open Office was a big one, but they have fixed it. The only thing I have in my chroot is an iceweasel (Debian clone of Firefox 2) with flash. I only use it if I go to a site and it needs flash.

If you had more problems with 64 bit, that just strengthens my statement that something was wrong on the install. Not that it was your fault, just that something wasn't right. What the 64bit systems do is they install a 64 bit app if it exists, and the 32 bit app if it doesn't. There is a difference between a 32 bit app in 64 bit userland, and a 32 bit app in a 32 bit chroot. I have not had one single problem related to the 64 bit OS. I used to have problems with NVidia drivers, (until they put out 64 vit drivers), java (they quickly put out 64 bit), and open office (also fixed by open office).

It all works, no problem.

Peace,
JimBass

I'll definitely look into it again, but I've never had any of those strange problems with the 32bit versions of the same systems... So from my experience I can't recommend 64bit for now.
Some of the problems could have been install-related... but others were simply not available or malfunction packages.