first steps
 

Hello everyone,
I've got no experience regarding Linux and I would like to build up my own PC from scratch to run Linux on it. Can anybody tell me if there are any hardware pre-requisites to run Linux operation system on PC? CPU, graphic card, motherboard, memory..?
Is there any sort of 'device manager' in Linux (as e.g. in WinXP that I am using now on Acer Aspire 3693NWLMi) to make sure that all devices will get appropriate drivers? Will Linux recognise all the devices or it'll be necessary to download and install all drivers?
What distribution can be recommended?
Thank you for your answer in advance.

Hi, welcome to LQ!

The answer to your question is the same as the answer to "How long is a piece of string?".

It depends. Linux' kernel recognises more devices out of the box than Windows or MacOS
do, but it may lag behind on very new hardware.

CPU: minimum requirement I believe is still a 386. Minimum RAM I can't say for sure, but
it could be as little as 4MB (always bear in mind the "it depends" above). What are you
intending to use your Linux install for?



Cheers,
Tink

Thank you very much for such a prompt response to my question,
I meant the usage of application programs (e.g. text editors, spread sheets, watching video, web design editors and so on..) All the stuff I am doing on my WinXP now. Could you tell me please what will be the equivalent for MS-Office(especially FrontPage) for Linux?
I am going to build up something 'good'. That is Pentium g620, MSI R6850 PM2d1gd5, motherboard GA-H61M-B2-S3, 4 GB Corsair Dual-Channel and so on.. Is there any distribution that might be most convenient?

Not really ... it's all about taste and preferences. Generally speaking debian or gentoo based
distros have the largest software repository.

http://www.linuxalt.com/

will list equivalents for you.


Cheers,
Tink

Just try a few distros until you settle on one that you find most pleasing. Use LQ's Download Linux as a starting point for downloading all of the popular distros. It often takes a few installations before you find a setup that you like, anyway, so it is actually time well spent. Perhaps try install more than one distro, so you can switch according to your daily preference, or to more easily compare and contrast.

--- rod.

When you do get the OS installed, you will find this useful http://rute.2038bug.com/index.html.gz
See also the large list of on-line books/manuals at www.linuxtopia.org

Welcome to LQ and enjoy :)

Hmmm, this is a very general question, and I'll try to give you a little useful information, but you may be better coming back with a specific list of components that you intend to use and see if anyone has comments. Or look at the Linux Hardware Compatibility list first.

A CPU, motherboard and memory may be all regarded as pre-requisites for running Linux - You need a CPU, the board into which the CPU interfaces may well not technically be a motherboard (eg, a typical, self-standing, Single Board Computer, for embedded computing, board isn't technically a motherboard, but that is what it will probably get called), and there will need to be some memory, somewhere.

In general, for someone new to this, using an intel/AMD x86 type of processor is probably to be reccomended, as it is 'the default' and gives you lots more options.

Graphics card? Well, it needn't be a separate graphics card, so processors with on-chip graphics can work, but you would have to be a little careful with this, as, if you choose a very latest processor-with-on-chip-graphics, it would be probable that only distributions more recent than that hardware will work. That said, the Intel on-chip graphics do tend to just work, although they are not the highest performing solutions that the world has ever seen (probably an irrelevance, but you never know from the detail given).

I can answer this with Yes/No/Not Really, and justify every one of those answers as being the only right one.

Linux itself doesn't really have such a thing, but, if you install a popular distribution you will find something similar, either produced by the distribution itself, or produced by the GUI (kde, gnome, xfce, fluxbox, enlightenment....and many more).

Usually, at install time, the distro will sort out what hardware you have and install and configure the software required. When this works, this isn't much effort. If you have particularly obscure hardware, or some particular wireless chipsets, or you have gone for one of the more advanced graphics chipsets and want to extract the maximum from your hardware, there will probably be more to do.

Up to a point, all of them. Every one, even ones that I don't particularly like, that is out there is out there because it is suitable for someone in some use case. For a beginner, you probably shouldn't look beyond the obvious choices of Mint, the Ubuntus, Mepis, plus Fedora, SuSE (there are some 'harder' options - for most beginners, harder would not be desirable, but some people like the 'and it forces you to learn' aspect). Give a Live CD, or few, a quick spin to see what you think.

what bits/will it?
 

I would concur with all the above but would stress that hardware is not generally made with Linux in mind (at least not regarding PCs) and so the latest graphics card might not work too well. Pick your hardware with that in mind but Live cd's will tell you (work or not) if that OS likes your hardware.
Regarding programs they are legion available to download and use on linux; compatbility to windoZe outputs and in particular, M.Office is another matter. Better to exchange docs in PDF form or plain text (not the M.Office variety). You could install M.Office under Wine or use (perhaps) Abiword to read Word docs. Web design tools, I think, a mix of things where even Dreamweaver relies on photoshop. I have used gimp and Kompozer but you could probably find better than the later.

Fred.

Anyone whichever you like, comfortable with using. There are so many, just google it and find the one for your system.