Since I have had so many problems with my home unit that has WinXP on it, and all the freeze ups, Im attempting to put together a system that wont experience any problems. It will be Linux ONLY. Here's what I have come up with so far:

Computer Case - Chieftec Dragon Blue ATX Mid Tower
Power Supply - Antec True 430 (430W) ATX mount
Motherboard - SOYO KT400 Dragpn Ultra Socket A
512 DDR Memory
CPU - AMD XP2200 1.8GHz/266FSB w/Fan
CD-RW - Artec 52x24x52
HDD - Western Digital Caviar 80gb/7200RPM/8MB cache/8.9 seek
Video Card - ATI Radeon 7500/64MB DDR AGP 2.0

The MB has built in sound, USB, and ethernet.

Does anyone seen any probs with this? Is AMD a bad choice for Linux? Anyone had luck with a similar configuration?

Thanks,
Kork

PS If this is the wrong place to post this, moderators, please move to the best spot...just trying to validate a good config.

Not a solution, just a comment, that one begins to see the "added value" of hardware/software combos that work "out of the box" when attempting to build their own system.
This is what people are praising when they rave about an OEM manufacturer including a Linux choice with their hardware.

Also, if one knows the patron saint of new computer hardware, a few bucks wouldn't hurt....

Good Luck

Yea, but without dropping over $2,000 you wont see any real performance out of a store bought OEM. I have less than a grand in my box and it's hella fast.

I don't see any troubles with your hardware. Some people have had a little trouble getting the KT400's integrated sound to work properly, but it can be done. Google around, and you'll see people giving tips on how to do it. Otherwise, it all looks pretty linux friendly.

Just don't skimp on the ram. I noticed you didn't post the brand you were thinking of. With the hardware youre looking at, be sure to spend the extra few bucks and get Corsair, OCZ, Mushkin, etc. It really does make a difference.

You could save a few bucks and go with a quality 350w pwr supply, and spend that extra cash upgrading to a Barton core AMD. They overclock really well, have a 512kb L2, 333mhz bus, and are relatively inexpensive. You can prb pick up a 2500+ for $100. 350w will run almost anything. Unless you just stuff your case full of drives and what not.

Yep, Scruff, homebuilt is best, but not always easiest.

with ram as cheap as it is it might pay to go for 1gb of ram over 512mb
because linux loves chewing up ram

True. But if one does their homework first, it can be a pleasant and rewarding experiance

That is not true. I boot at 55mb's of ram. After firing up MozillaFirebird, XMMS, MLDonkey, eterm, GnomeICU, AND Evolution I am running @ 125mb's. 125 is what XP boots at. Linux DOES cache a lot of RAM, but it is immediately freed when it's needed.

Even if one does not do their homework, it can be a rewarding experience, though perhaps not so pleasant.
'nuff said on that....

LOL! I hear that.

Can anyone suggest a more "friendly" motherboard then, rather than the KT400? I went AMD because its just so much cheaper...even with an extra 512MB RAM to bring it to 1 gb and going with the Barton, this configuration is still a little more than $500., if I drop the power supply back to 350 instead of 430, that puts it real close to $500.

This is going to be a "backup" box...a box that literally sits on my network and has access to shared space on my windows machines so I can get their data off if I have to in an emergency (i.e. a zero-day event). I also am using it for learning purposes.

I might drop an extra $200 andget a nice sound card like an Audigy2 or something (I have an Audigy platinum on my Win box and love it).

Honestly I just want a box that I can install RedHat on and not have the silly freeze ups I experienced with my other AMD box. I never was able to to find out what kept causing those kernel panic errors for interrupt handling, and I scoured the internet to find something that was even the least bit like my case and never found anything. sigh...

Thanks for your comments..I enjoyed reading them. I love putting together computers, and believe that most off the shelf ones are too proprietary in hardware and definitely limit your growth potential.

Kork

Might I suggest Crucial ram... cheaper than Corsair or Mushkin, and shipping is free... and fast! They're in Colorado, I'm in Boston, I got my RAM the next day. FREE!! And it's relatively inexpensive. Wishing I'd gone for a gig instead of 512.

free is good

shoe

Im getting a little skttish on the AMD MOBOs. Seems almost all of them have a VIA chipset, which seems to be a big troubkemaker, even with the new boards. I notice that in some things Im reading on the net, there is a special AMD/VIA specific kernel now?

And you wonder why Microsoft Windows is the leader...well, Linux might have alot of advantages..but Windows DOES run and I must say, I've never had one crash on my XP box in 3 years, except when a Linux install overwrote the MBR without asking me.

sigh...Why does this have to be so hard LOL.

Kork

It's not really that hard. Almost no matter what you get, you'll have to do a bit of tweaking to get it to work properly, but thats part of the learning experiance. If you are going with AMD (which is a good choice) then you only really have 2 chipset choices if you are going to get some quality: nForce2, and the KT400. Both have slight difficulties, but nothing monumental. All I can really speak of from experiance is the nforce2. Everything works just fine. There are a few caveats to keep in mind however: First, in linux, the nforce2 doesn't play well with ATI video cards. That is nvidia's fault. They don't want them to play well, and since all their drivers are closed source no one else has got around to fixing that problem. Next, I haven't been able to get my integrated sound (great quality by the way) to play sounds from multiple apps simultaneously. I had it working for a day or 2 so it can be done, but I don't know how I did it and haven't been able to reproduce it. I ordered an Audigy over the weekend so that solves that. I have wanted one for at least a year anyway, I just had to get my other hardware in the box first. The nforce is fast, reliable, and is perfect for CPU overclocking. In all the reviews I have read (at least 20 in various magazines) where the kt400 and the nforce2 were compared side by side the nforce won.

scruff.. I appreciate that testimony. I dont need a "killer" system, just something on which I can get up and running and working with a minimum amount of time and hastle.

While I am rather savvy on computing, I probably DONT possess the intricate detail needed to install Linux. I can get computers and even my software and hardware to do some amazing things, but I was stunned that the Linux install from RedHat didnt produce a stable system. I've been used to running Windows 2000 or XP for 2 years, and never had a single crash... even running very intricate professional sound packages. Then I switched overnight to a programming workstation..still no crashes even when Im taxing the heck out of the system.

So when I installed RedHat..supposedly the best hardware support, I didnt expect it to be so unstable and unusable. Not only could I not figure out the problems, people here and on other forums couldnt either...even people that had run Linux for years! Yet I install Windows in 30 minutes, and boom it runs, with not even a hint of a flinch.

Its not that I lack the capabilty, but rather, the TIME to learn these intricacies, which I expect the OS should be taking care of I guess. Thats why I want to get a hardware configuration that will receive the installation gladly, not with a cough and a sneeze

Kork

I just have one thing to say if you are building a system for linux... or at least for RH9, DO NOT GET A MOTHERBOARD WITH VIA CHIPSETS! I have had many sound problems with this, the via8233 AC97 onboard sound, I finally got it working yesterday after about 4-5 months of working on it. Thats my two cents.