Selecting Hardware for a Linux System
Character-based Linux applications will work with any video board available for the PC. If, however, you want to run X-windows, you will need to select a supported video board. Although there is nothing difficult about supporting any boards, some manufacturers have refused to make the specifications available; therefore, Linux drivers could not be written for their hardware. One major vendor who has not released specifications (and is therefore not supported) is Diamond. The most cost-effective accelerated video boards supported by Linux are the low-end S3 boards. STB and Orchid are two vendors who have cards available for about $130-$150 that will be adequate for almost all Linux users. High-end S3 and ATI boards which are supported are available in the $350-$500, and will increase your video performance. You will want to check the XFree86-HOWTO for more current details when you are making your decision.
Shopping for Linux hardware isn't harder than shopping for DOS/Windows hardware. If you are comfortable selecting video boards and talking about RAM chips, you should have no problem selecting what you need. On the other hand, if you don't want to know what a SCSI is, you may be better off to let someone else pick the hardware for you. Much like picking DOS/Windows hardware, define what you want to do; what sort of things you will be running on the computer system. Then give your requirements to a Linux-knowledgeable hardware vendor and see what they have to offer. Whether you do your own hardware selection or just get some ideas from this article and let someone else pick, expect the end result to be a real Unix-like com-puter system; for your work, for fun or for both.
Phil Hughes is the publisher of Linux Journal, and has put together a few Linux systems in his time.
Phil Hughes is the publisher of Linux Journal, and has put together a few Linux systems in his time.
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Phil Hughes
Realizing the promise of Apache® Hadoop® requires the effective deployment of compute, memory, storage and networking to achieve optimal results. With its flexibility and multitude of options, it is easy to over or under provision the server infrastructure, resulting in poor performance and high TCO. Join us for an in depth, technical discussion with industry experts from leading Hadoop and server companies who will provide insights into the key considerations for designing and deploying an optimal Hadoop cluster.
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Enter to Win an Adafruit Pi Cobbler Breakout Kit for Raspberry Pi

It's Raspberry Pi month at Linux Journal. Each week in May, Adafruit will be giving away a Pi-related prize to a lucky, randomly drawn LJ reader. Winners will be announced weekly.
Fill out the fields below to enter to win this week's prize-- a Pi Cobbler Breakout Kit for Raspberry Pi.
Congratulations to our winners so far:
- 5-8-13, Pi Starter Pack: Jack Davis
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- Next winner announced on 5-27-13!
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Free Webinar: Hadoop
How to Build an Optimal Hadoop Cluster to Store and Maintain Unlimited Amounts of Data Using Microservers
Realizing the promise of Apache® Hadoop® requires the effective deployment of compute, memory, storage and networking to achieve optimal results. With its flexibility and multitude of options, it is easy to over or under provision the server infrastructure, resulting in poor performance and high TCO. Join us for an in depth, technical discussion with industry experts from leading Hadoop and server companies who will provide insights into the key considerations for designing and deploying an optimal Hadoop cluster.
Some of key questions to be discussed are:
- What is the “typical” Hadoop cluster and what should be installed on the different machine types?
- Why should you consider the typical workload patterns when making your hardware decisions?
- Are all microservers created equal for Hadoop deployments?
- How do I plan for expansion if I require more compute, memory, storage or networking?




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