[ale] Building the perfect Linux end-user systems.

[Brian Pitts]

> I have been talking with a friend of mine, and we've had this idea for a
> little while to determine what would be a set of ideal configurations
> for Linux machines that would be targeted to end-users.  Something along
> the lines of a low/medium/high end set of configurations, to be able to
> fit different target "audiences."
>
I think it's best to create configurations targeting different uses than 
to have simple low/medium/high configurations. The average user doesn't 
need more than a "low end" configuration, and  "high end" configurations 
should be tailored to the specific reason someone needs more than what 
the "low end" provides.
> The major problem with this idea is that neither of us really know where
> to start -- neither of us are typical end-users, and so we don't really
> know what to look for in terms of putting together something for a
> target audience.  Of course, we know that people like to play games, and
> that is a bit of a problem, it would seem.
>
I can only guess since I can't find data that disaggregates video and 
computer games sales, but I think that the amount of people who play 3D 
games is small percentage of the number of people who have personal 
computers.
> Given that not all games run on Wine or even CrossOver, it would seem
> that for die-hard gamers, the only real considerable solution would be
> to include a copy of Windows under an emulator or something.  That is a
> pretty ugly scenario, though.  Anyway, it would seem that no matter what
> targets we are looking at, we cannot really build a machine for a gamer,
> because there is no real way to make 3D intensive Windows games run at
> native speeds under a Linux system.
>
Windows in vmware will provide horrible 3d performance if it works at 
all. If gamers are really one of your targets, here's what I would do. 
Load the machines with great free native games 
(http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/Native_Games) and explain that they can 
buy Transgaming's Cedega (http://tinyurl.com/ekprh) to play many of 
their old Windows games.

> Anyway, in building systems, what have y'all found to be the best
> hardware, both in terms of performance and compatibility, for running
> Linux systems?  Motherboards, 3D-graphics hardware, chipsets, etc.?
Obviously there is some hardware that stands out, such as Prism2-based 
wireless and Ati R200-based video, for having great linux support when 
other devices in their category often don't. Still, I think that as long 
as you stay away from the very latest and uncommon hardware (i.e. don't 
try to rebrand Macbooks as Tuxbooks), you can expect linux to be 
functional on anything. This doesn't mean you shouldn't check and see if 
Google or a list like this can tell you otherwise for some specific 
piece of hardware you might like to use, but I do think it meas that 
your question isn't practically much different than asking "what's good 
hardware to buy?" My answer to that is usually revolves around the 
charts at tomshardware.com and the prices at newegg.com.

-Brian