linux desktop from scratch?

[Laura Conrad]

>>>>> "R" == R Luoma <nobluspam5476-MTb9uo0rH9eJIAd+swBSYQ at public.gmane.org> writes:

    R> I need a new desktop workstation and I am trying
    R> to figure out how to get something that will be as
    R> compatible with one of the stock linux distros
    R> (preferably the new Debian) as possible.

    R> I am also trying to figure out where to purchase
    R> the system or parts.  If I get parts, I need some
    R> way of figure out that I get all the needed parts
    R> and that the parts work together.

    R> How have other readers of this list approached this problem?

I've been going to Microcenter and buying what they have that seems to
fit my needs.  Then if it doesn't work with linux (or with the other
pieces I bought), I bring it back.  They're quite good at giving
refunds without arguing with you.  I find this a lot easier than
dealing with mail order, and not enormously more expensive if I don't
need something really out of the ordinary.

My experience of reading large numbers of websites about linux
compatibility is that no matter what they say, you may still get a
problem.  For instance, the scanner I bought last summer was listed as
Linux compatible, and it did sort of work, but the linux driver was so
badly written that I couldn't actually get the scans I needed out of
it.  So I exchanged it for one that works better for me.

-- 
Laura   (mailto:lconrad-O0WJhd4tT3hg9hUCZPvPmw at public.gmane.org http://www.laymusic.org/ )
(617) 661-8097	233 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139   

I believe in hell because the theological virtue of faith makes me
believe in hell, but the theological virtue of charity makes me
exercise the theological virtue of hope that no one is there!

Teilhard de Chardin, quoted by Cokie Roberts in _Being Catholic Now_
by Kerry Kennedy