Hi again, I am in the process of getting a PC built and would like some comments from the list as to the proposed configuration vis a vis Mandrake 8 Power Pack:
Hardware: - Pentium IV 1.6GHz - Mainboard Intel D845BG - Memory 256MB DDR Ram - Harddisk 40GB 7200Rpm IDE - VGA Geforce2MX-200 64MB - FDD 1.44MB - Casing ATX P4 300Watt - Sound Onboard - FireWire Card 3 ports - USB 2.0 (4 ports built in) - Zip Internal 250MB As I am moving away from the Mac hardware/software platform, I was thinking of using my Apple Multiple Scan 15AV Display and a monitor switch to switch between my UMAX Pulsar (Mac OS 9) and the PC to start with. According to the manual, the monitor supports VGA mode a 640 X 480 resolution at 60 Hz and SVGA mode at 800 X 600 (60 Hz), 800 X 600 (72 Hz) 1024 X 768 (60 Hz) and 1024 X 768 (70 Hz). It uses a 15-pin miniature D- type connector. I also already have an Iomega Zip 650 (USB 1) CDRW, so I thought that I would wait getting anything fancy in this area for now as I have only tried to burn one CDR so far (and that was not successful). I also already have an MS Natural Keyboard Pro and an MS IntelliMouse Pro that I intend to use with this system, so I don't need anything for now in that area (although I could use some advise about Linux drivers for these items, besides the generic drivers). Another issue of interest is regarding my printer. It is an Apple Personal LaserWriter NT. Laser printers don't come cheap and if there is a way to connect the computer via an adapter, either Apple serial to PC parallel (or serial), Apple serial to USB or Apple serial to FireWire, this would be a definite advantage. The question in the end however, comes down to whether Linux has drivers for the printer and the monitor. Software: I would prefer for this to be a pure Mandrake box, but there are some issues that I have problems with. Hopefully someone on the list can advise me. I work in GUI and do not do much command line stuff, so the following will all be related to GUI programs: 1) I have a Handspring Visor Platinum. From what I have seen, none of the available Palm OS interfaces (JPilot, KPilot, Gnome Pilot, etc.) have impressed me with regards to what they can do. What about Documents to Go, Desktop to Go, a REAL Palm Desktop for Linux, etc. there doesn't seem to be anything close in Linux as of yet, is there? 2) I do a lot of my work through text, whether it is e-mail or text documents. As I write, but am not a native speaker of Danish and Russian, decent spell checking is also a concern for both e-mail and text. Likewise, as I both use IMAP and POP accounts, I am looking for something that does both. KMail does IMAP and POP, but lacks Danish spell check, which is what I use the most. KOffice however, has an excellent Danish spell check via iSpell, but lacks something in Russian. BTW, why can't KMail figure out to use iSpell like KOffice??? Another alternative is Evolution, which I am leaning towards, it has good PIM capabilities and apparently can connect to Palm OS devices, but as far as I can see totally lacks spell check. 3) Then there are the issues of KOI-8 support for e-mail and text, as well as a virtual pop-up Russian keyboard reference, as I am using a Danish keyboard. Well, this e-mail has gotten kind of long, so I guess I better stop here. All advice is appreciated. Cheers, Brian
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