A couple Linux Questions

[Adam123]

Howdy

I'm currently in the process of selecting the parts for a computer I am going to have. I plan to have Linux on this computer, and possibly Windows XP, its depends on how easy Linux is (I hear its hard). I was wondering if theres any specific thing im going to need to run Windows XP and Linux, how much hardrive and whatnot. I didnt want to put this in the "building a pc" forum, because i thought you guys could help more. I was also wondering what Linux OS i should get. Ubuntu is looking pretty good right about now. Haha

Thanks

 

[macdude425]

Eh, I'm not the biggest Ubuntu fan. I'm more partial to Mandriva for a starter.

For a full graphical install, you need at LEAST 6GB. I've tried to run it in less before, and it didn't work well. I recommend at least twice this amount, or 12GB, for it to run somewhat comfortably.

EDIT: Oh, and I forgot swap space. Swap is essentially virtual memory. For your machine to run smoothly, I recommend at least a swap partition the size of the amount of memory you have. It probably shouldn't be any bigger than two times the amount of RAM you have.

 

[jakec]

wondering what Linux OS i should get. Ubuntu is looking pretty good right about now. Haha

Yeah I'm with Macdude on this one, don't go Ubuntu, it has minimal apps, configuration is A pain, slow and a bit buggy

Mandrake would be your best bet, or if you like the whole Ubuntu setup you might want to try Kubuntu that is Ubuntu with KDE desktop although they are still working out some bugs

You can download Mandriva from Offical site


Mandriva
http://frontal2.mandriva.com/en/downloads/mirrors

or Kubuntu

Kubuntu
http://www.kubuntu.org/

Hope this helps,

Jake

 

[Adam123]

at LEAST 6GB.

Alright. So a 250 Gig HDD will probably still do the trick. haha

And basically swapping is taking your RAM and partitioning it? Sorry im pretty new to this.

 

[horndude]

no, a swap partition is a separate partition on your hard drive used to act as a cache for when RAM isnt enough, although you can make a RAM drive in linux quite easily

most distro's will make a swap partition for you automatically, 2 times RAM is plenty up to about 512mb, over that its likely overkill