I can't answer everything, but I'll see what I can do...
On Wed, 6 Feb 2002 16:01:49 +0700, Brian Durant <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 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
Why not an Athlon? They are cheaper and much faster.
> - Mainboard Intel D845BG
> - Memory 256MB DDR Ram
RAM is King! 256 is pretty good, but get more if you can. Of course, it all
depends on what you do with your system :)
> - Harddisk 40GB 7200Rpm IDE
Make sure not to get a Western Digital. They don't follow the ATA spec properly
and consequently many of them screw up in GNU/Linux. Since hard drives are the
slowest part of a PC, you may want two if you can afford it. Splitting your
filesystem over two drives (or better yet, using software RAID) can bring a very
nice performance boost.
> - VGA Geforce2MX-200 64MB
This chipset is getting quite old if you want to play games. Otherwise you're
OK.
> - FDD 1.44MB
> - Casing ATX P4 300Watt
> - Sound Onboard
Make sure the sound chipset works in GNU/Linux. A thing to be wary of is that
these embedded chips can slow down the CPU and/or deliver crummy performance
under high CPU loads. If sound is imporant, you may be better off with a proper
sound card.
> - 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?
I think the ones you've tried are the best that GNU/linux has to offer at
present.
> 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.
There were bugs in the spell check feature of Evolution 1.0. They are apparently
fixed in the latest version.
> 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
--
Sridhar Dhanapalan
The world's shortest poem:
"Me, Oui." -- Muhammad Ali
Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft?
Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
