Re: [tlug] Newbie buying a computer and installing Linux on it

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

>>>>> "Joseph" == Joseph Essertier <essertier@example.com> writes:

    >> Word doesn't work all the well on MS-OS either!

    Joseph> I see.

Well, my experience is that Macs have *lots* more problems.  But
you'll find that since everybody needs to be Word-compatible, any
competing wapuro will have Word-conversion features.  And that will
screw you bad.  In particular Monku-sho standardized its forms on
Ichitaro back when that made sense, so the Wurd versions are converts,
and you can count on the borders disappearing and extra pages
appearing, etc, as you fill in the forms.

    Joseph> Someone told me today i could order a laptop from the
    Joseph> States and have it shipped here without paying duties on
    Joseph> it.  Just make it look used.

If you're a street person, maybe.  This is really risky, though.  You
can and mostly will get away with it, but you risk having your box
impounded, having to make a trip to Yokohama to rescue it, and paying
five times the duty you would have otherwise paid.

    Joseph> Windows 98 runs on the same computer as Mandrake, and it
    Joseph> runs faster than i've seen XP running on much faster,
    Joseph> brand-new computers.

Are you sure you can actually buy a computer with Windows98 installed,
though?  I haven't seen anything but XP boxes.  And iwth a modern box,
you run the risk of having to dealwith drivers not on the Win98 disk.
Yuck.

    Joseph> I have to reboot all the time on the Mac, but it sounds
    Joseph> like i wouldn't have to do that on Linux, at least not as
    Joseph> much.  Which would be wonderful.

There are two reasons for rebooting Linux.  (1) You've installed a new
kernel.  Well, you don't have to do that if you don't want to.  I may
be the last person on this list running a 2.4 kernel (except on their
Zaurii), but "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."  (2) The kernel
"oopsed".  That's happened to me once in the last five years, on a
beta kernel.  Maybe a dozen times since 1995.  So don't worry about
that, either.  (OK, maybe somebody kicked the plug out of the wall,
but that's not what we're talking about here, right?)

Everything else can be cleaned up from the command line.  Often it's
easier for to reboot and get coffee.  But with Unix (except Mac OS X
on rare occasions) it's your choice.

    Joseph> I have noticed that Dell computers have been recommended
    Joseph> many times before here.  Why is that?  They are
    Joseph> well-built, i seem to remember reading in a previous post.
    Joseph> Any other benefits of Dell?  Are they easy to install
    Joseph> Linux on?

They're the industry standard (for IT departments that can't afford
IBM, anyway), they have good warrantees and service, they conform to
applicable standards, and they're common enough that Dell-supplied
hardware gets drivers fast.

There are plenty of good alternatives, but if you want to know what to
buy in a word, "Dell" is a good one (despite the character count ;-).

-- 
School of Systems and Information Engineering http://turnbull.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp
University of Tsukuba                    Tennodai 1-1-1 Tsukuba 305-8573 JAPAN
               Ask not how you can "do" free software business;
              ask what your business can "do for" free software.