brjoon1021

Can you recommend a good motherboard, preferrably integrated graphics, audio, LAN that Linux likes. It can be Intel as well, I am not stuck on AMD based, though I would prefer it. Particularly an nforce2 based IGP board because of the Nvidia drivers for Linux. *** the Epox nforce2 IGP board seems to be gone, sadly. What I am shooting for is ease of installation and use. I am inexperience with Linux, but will be using a newer distro like, lindows, xandros, stuff like that.

How do you check an ISO image that you downloaded ? I see that there is some MDsum or MD5sum for this purpose but I have no idea what to do. Thanks

Firstly, your recommendations are really appreciated! I am building a second box strictly for Linux because I am way too scared to multiboot. And my first box (supposed to multiboot with several Linux and Win XP was an Nforce2, Asus A7N8X deluxe). Way too much trouble to put Linux on, so I am putting together a second box. I already have an 80 gig and a 60 gig drive, a case and PSU, a CD drive, a floppy drive. Need Mobo, CPU, RAM, Audio, Video and IDE controller card. I need to know: 1. what is a trouble free IDE controller card for Linux ? 2. A good motherboard for Linux. I usually go with AMD platforms but would use Intel if the compatability is much better than AMD based stuff. I do not want to spend an arm and a leg on the CPU and board. 3. Is there a board with good onboard sound and video that is Linux compatible without having to do a lot of line-code stuff? 4. I have an old Rage Pro 16MB PCI video card. Would that be ok for Linux ? 5. How much RAM do distros like Suse 8.2, Mandrake 9.0, Xandros and the like take ? 6. With Linux, do you notice much difference between say a 1.2 MHz Duron vs. a Barton or 2MHz P4 or so? The answer would be "yes" with Win XP, but I do not know about Linux.