This forum is great, especially the Linux HCL. After reading HCL and the article at cr.yp.to/hardware/build-20060107.html, I build the following system:

1. AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ (65W) Dual-Core Socket AM2, 2.2GHz, 512KB x2 L2 Cache, 2000MHz HT, 90nm (ADO4200CUBOX) $85.99

2. Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe Socket AM2 nVidia nForce 570 SLI Chipset Chipset 2 x PCI Express x16 Slot 2 x 8 Speed SLI Ready Dual-Ch DDR2/800/667/533 Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s Dual GB Lan 8-Ch High Definition Audio Support DTS IEEE 1394a Heat-pipe Thermal $145.99

3. Kingston HyperX 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory (KHX6400D2/1G) $65.99

4. Asus EN8500GT SILENT/HTP/512M nVidia GeForce 8500GT Chipset (459Mhz) 512mb (800Mhz) PCI-Express Graphics Card $101.99

5. LG GSA-H55L IDE Black DVD-Writer W/SecurDisc LightScribe 20xDVD+R/-R 8xDVD+RW/6xDVD-RW 12xDVD-RAM 10xDVD+/-R9 DL 48xCD-R 32xCD-RW W/Software OEM $36.99

6. Seagate Barracuda (ST3250410AS) 7200.10 250GB SATA2 8.5MS 7200RPM 16MB Cache Hard Drive $73.99

7. Antec LifeStyle Minuet 300 - Desktop slimline - micro ATX - power supply 300 Watt ( ATX12V ) - chrome, piano black - USB/FireWire/Audio $72.99

I got the prices from www.canadacomputers.com . The total cost is $583.93CAD. Plus a LCD monitor about $200, the total system costs about $800CAD. Is this a good system for linux? Is there anything I should add to the list? I am a newegg for linux, please give me some advice, I really appreciate it.

A good system for linux is anything that can be called a computer. Your computer has good specs, but just remember you can run linux on a Pentium 2 with 128 megs of RAM and a CD-R drive just as easily.

Thank you for your comments. I just learned that this motherboard (Asus M2N-Sli deluxe has a ran compatible issue. I switched to Patriot Signature 1GB DDR2 800 Ram. By the way, do I have to buy video card for this motherboard? Since I don't play game, I would go without video card if I can see graphics with this board. In addition, this board has only 1 IDE. What does this mean?

I finally built my system with a different motherboard Asus M2N-MX SE. I installed ubuntu 7.04 amd64. Everything works except the Internet. The icon tells me that the internet is connected but I can not access internet. The status shows there is received signal, but no sent signal. Is there any way to fix this?