Re: [tlug] Need purchasing advice for a linux compatible desktop

[Joseph Essertier <essertier@example.com>]

Wow! Big thanks to everyone for all the super useful advice!
I realized this morning that with the digest mode of TLUG you don't get
a digest right away. I turned that on and turned off the individual
message function the other day because I thought that I don't need to
receive all the messages instantly, but in fact, I haven't received any
digests as far as I can tell, which makes me wonder if the digest mode
even works. It probably does and I just don't understand how to use it
(or maybe even what it is!), but...

I wasn't able to read all the responses until just a little while ago,
when I read them through the TLUG web page (of course after turning back
on the individual message function, because I do want to get each and
every message separately and immediately for the next week or so).

Both Dospara and User's Side have been recommended by Edward and other
generous folks, and they both sound good, but I'm leaning towards User's
Side since I'm getting the impression that their service is a little
better, and they might be able to help me with the compatibility
questions. I'm not looking for a real high end machine, nor for an entry
level one. Probably somewhere in the middle. But I'd like to minimize
the time I spend hunting down hardware and finding out if a particular
device is compatible or not (although I'll be honest and say I'm looking
forward to it a little).

It sounds like quite a bit of work to find out about compatibility for
the various pieces of hardware before buying, but while I _am_ a former
long-time Mac user who's used to things "just working" and going to the
store and just saying, "Cool! I'll take this one," I'm determined to go
open source as much as possible with my next "box." (Might as well start
using that term. Ha! Ha!) The GNU/Linux software I'm using is mostly
wonderful.

Reading all the messages, the one point that has been driven home for me
is to aim for generic hardware. Does anyone know the Japanese word for
"generic hardware" by the way? I remember once trying to explain the
concept of "generic food" once to a Japanese person without much luck.
Something tells me that it will not be as simple as just looking up the
word in my dictionary.

As some seem to have accurately perceived, yes, I will be happy with
non-bleeding-edge hardware, stuff that has been out there for awhile and
is not fancy. So almost all the advice I'm getting sounds on target.

After looking at the two web pages below provided by Edward, I became
interested in two more options--"dual core" (cpu's?) and 64 bit
processors. Does "dual core" mean that there are two cpu's? That sounds
really cool.

And is a 64 bit processor worth the investment and likely to be
compatible in the future? I'm using Ubuntu on a G5 desktop (the first,
slowest one that came out) at work, and it's really snappy in gnome. In
some ways it's faster than in Mac OS 10. But Ubuntu was the only
distribution I could find that a newbie like me could easily install on
a G5, so I'm afraid that if I get a 64 bit processor I'll be limited in
my choices of distribution in the future.

Finally, I neglected to say my price range. It's quite wide, between
50,000 and 150,000 yen. If I can get a box that meets my needs without
too much trouble for 50,000, then I'll do that. I'll spend as much as
necessary to get one that has sufficient specs, because I'd like to use
it for at least 5 years. Ideally it will be like our old iMac, which is
still in frequent service after 8 years. (The kids use it).

Thanks!
Joe

>1. http://www.dospara.co.jp/top/
>2. http://www.users-side.co.jp/
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