On Sat, 2009-01-10 at 12:14 -0800, Lan Barnes wrote:
> <top  posting because you did>

Mea culpa. Mea maxima culpa. 
In particular because top posting is a Coproate Abomination.

> I can't make any recommendation without knowing what he's trying to do of
> what his level of expertise is.
> 
> If he's a newbie, by response is, less is more. Linux gets the most out of
> old HW. I've made really responsive Linux servers at work out of old
> secretaries' desktops. And whatever you do, if you develop it on junk, it
> will transfer to better HW later. Using less for a development machine
> actually encourages tight development.
> 
> That said, if I'm doing C/S, even though I know it can be developed on
> 127.0.0.1, I like to have a second machine (on a crossover if I don't have
> a hub) just to make sure I keep it clean. And if he's doing actual cluster
> programming, he should have a cluster, even if it's 2 discarded 286s.
> 
> Oh, and on flavors of Linux, same deal. The business world (USA) thinks
> (erroneously) that Linux == RHEL, so CentOS is a good choice. Europe, I
> understand, feels almost the same way about SuSE. China supposedly touts
> Red Dragon, etc etc etc. My advice is, go with the distro your customer
> base is going to honor. Why lose the deal because they scream "Commie"
> when they see Debian (or "sell out!" when they see RH)?
> 
> Most beginners spec their Linux needs WAY too high. With HD space being a
> possible exception, you can really get away with a lot less, especially in
> the development environment.
> 
> Maybe if your pal posted directly we could explore his underlying needs
> and make intelligent recommendations.

If I may venture a guess ... statistical processing of HUGE amounts of
stock market information using advanced numerical methods. 

Too bad the @mail.sifter.org mail will probably bounce.

Christoph

> On Sat, January 10, 2009 11:57 am, Christoph Maier wrote:
> > Since I'm just using Linux (ubuntu 8.04 on a Dell D820 laptop),
> > the following is out of _my_ depth ... but Here Be Gurus, I heard.
> >
> > Christoph
> >
> > -------- Forwarded Message --------
> >> From: Alan Nash <[email protected]>
> >> To: Programming <[email protected]>
> >> Subject: [programming] Looking for a powerful linux PC
> >> Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2009 13:01:56 -0500
> >>
> >> I need to get a reasonably state of the art linux PC with dual screen
> >> setup, big HD (at least 2 or 3), and lots of CPU power.  Any
> >> recommendations on where to look?  Also, in the past I have used Red
> >> Hat.  Any recommendations on flavors of Linux?
> >>
> >> I may also be looking into building a small linux cluster (5-10) nodes
> >> and would also like any reommendations on that.
> >>
> >> --Alan
> >
> >
> > --
> > [email protected]
> > http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-newbie
> >
> 
> 
> -- 
> Lan Barnes
> 
> SCM Analyst              Linux Guy
> Tcl/Tk Enthusiast        Biodiesel Brewer
> 

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