Help on building a new linux box

[RedShirt]

Hello everyone. I know a lot of you are very knowledgable about Linux. I, however, am not.

A friend has asked me to build him a cheap linux box, just for experimenting and learning the os. He wants it to be as cheap as possible (within reason). He also does not know what it's final use will be for, but I suspect it will be some kind of game server.

Anyway, like I said, I don't know much and was wondering what components do you put into a cheap linux box? Thanks

 

[Biggs]

The minimum requirements for Linux is Pentium Classic 133 and 16MB RAM. You can gauge your options from here.

 

[RedShirt]

Well, maybe. What components (Sound, Video, Network) have good driver support in Linux? What about VIA motherboard chipsets and AMD Thunderbirds? Are they any good in Linux?

 

[Biggs]

1) Nvidia cards have good Linux drivers.
2) For a mobo, I'm not too sure about VIA but you probably won't go wrong with an Intel.
3) Name branded NIC's would do you fine.
4) Try an SB Live! Value for sound.

 

[RedShirt]

Ok,
Just ICQed my friend. He wouldn't give me a price before, but now he says he wants to spend 300. That is lower than what I expected. Is it possible to even make a box for 300 with the following:

Case, RAM, Processor, Motherboard, CD-rom, lan, HD, floppy, keyboard, mouse?

For 300 bucks? I just kinda laughed at him Altough it may be possible...

 

[NoreagaCNN]

Actually yea, you can get like a P1 or an AMD K6 for like $20, etc. etc.

-Nore

 

[abu]

I'm in the process of building a VERY low budget Linux box for my internal network... and this is what i have come up with:
P200MMX
El'chepo mobo
64MB SDRAM
2gig HD
SB16
10/100 base NIC
case + floppy
2mb video card
and 2x8 mitsumi cdrw

this all cost be around $215 (Canadian Funds)

so with a $300 buget...you can probably get a k6-2 300-400 + all the accessories..

look in the hot deals forum...and find all the great deals there

i doubt you can make an efficent 'game server' out of hardware such as that tho....

 

[RedShirt]

Ok, thank you.

Does anyone else have any opinions on this?

 

[Z_Amon]

The actual minimum requirements for Linux are in the 386 with 4 MB of RAM range. I've run everything down to a 486sx25 with 8 MB of RAM and a 90 MB HD on my network.

So your big issue will be how fast the individual in question needs the machine to be (ie: what is it's purpose: firewall, server, workstation, general test/play machine?). That will determine what you can do with it. I highly recommend paying more attention to RAM than CPU, as I find that the more RAM I have in my boxes, the happier they are. A P133 range machine is quite acceptable if you're not expecting to use it as a primary desktop machine- I use a similar machine for my development and server work at home and throw my desktop across the network, meaning it doesn't have to do any real video processing, nor even have a keyboard attached.

What I'd do: hit the FS/Trade forum, offer $300 shipped, and see what you can get. I'd guess that a 300 mhz Intel based machine wouldn't be unreasonable in that range. Then, check the hardware against the compatibility lists (the biggies are video, sound, and NIC on most modern systems...integrated is usually not a great idea). After that, you're set.

Z.