First of all, thanks for reading this.

I'm a complete newbie to the world of PC and Linux. Have never owned PC hardware, in fact. I'm proficient in Mac OS X.

I am to buy a new PC, where I intend to run Linux, but on the first partition I'd install Win2000 or XP because of two damn programs I need, and I don't know if Wine will cope with them.

Anyway, I have to choose between the following two configurations. Which one is the most linux compatible?

Configuration A:
* AMD 64 3000+ S-754
* MB: AMD GigaByte GA-K8NS S-754

Configuration B:
* Pentium 4 3GHz S-478
* MB: ASUS P4P800 I685PE S-478

Common hardware for both of them :
* 2 x 512 MB DDR400 Kingston
* S-ATA 160 GB Seagate (serial ATA)
* GeForce FX5200 128 MB
* DVD Writer GSA-4160B

I'm mainly interested in knowing if there's a recognized incompatibility between any of the above components and Linux. As distros, I intend to install Mepis, Gentoo and Fedora in the S-ATA drive, to have apt-get, portage and rpm.

The first question that comes to my mind is: are the two motherboards fully Linux compatible? I/O connectors, chipsets, BIOS, network ports and so on...

Another one: is it worth going for a SATA drive, or the regular ATA version won't make any noticeable difference?

I don't mind if Linux does not take advantage yet from a 64-bit processor. Instead, is a 64-bit processor gonna give me headaches, or will it work as a perfectly regular 32-bit?

Thanks very much in advance. I don't want to buy anything without the expert advice of the very talented people in this forum.

"Anyway, I have to choose between the following two configurations. Which one is the most linux compatible?"

Here is a list of Linux compatible hardware:

http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Hardware-HOWTO/

"is a 64-bit processor gonna give me headaches"

Linux works on 64 bit processors. The headaches will probably be no more or less than using 32 bit hardware.

---------------------------------
Steve Stites

Thanks for the link, but I can't find either MoBo on it, nor any of the other components.

Could anyone knowing any of them give me feedback? I'd be eternally grateful.

Both your proposed systems look pretty spiffy to me. As a general comment, I would say that SATA is pretty much a new thing for Linux, as is 64 bit, and that it probably would be worthwhile to do a Search here on existing threads to get a better feel for what other people have experienced.

Before you make any decisions though, my question to you would be: What is the intended purpose for this machine? Is it strictly for home use, and usually will be used for Email, surfing, etc, or is it going to be a gaming machine, or will it be used in a business environment, etc. What kinds of work and which apps do you think will typically be running on it? Knowing those things would be useful. Either way, good luck with it -- J.W.

Be carful with ASUS, while they make a really good MOBO they have a tendancy to be buggey when trying to run Linux on them, a lot of people have had systems with ASUS mobo's in them and Linux wont even boot, most people that do get them to boot have a board with an AMD processor and nforce chip set, both companies have done quite a bit to make there producks Linux compatable. If you decide to go with a P4 I would reccomend finding a different MOBO since it may prove to be less of a headache for you in the future. I've had a lot of luck with MSI and Intel boards on my p4 system.

Hope this helps you out a bit.