Hardware specs for a new Ubuntu box

Asked by mikeymike

I would like a new Ubuntu box, but I don't know how much box I ought to buy. It would used for Web browsing, working on Web pages, email, watching stuff on the Web, and general amusement. I would need a text editor, FTP client, graphic editor, and Web browser. I would want to be able to run The Gimp without problems in order to make web graphics and do photo manipulations. I don't need to push out the megapixels for Halo 3 or Far Cry or some big game but I would like to be able to watch Hulu or YouTube or ESPN 360.

Would this system be a good choice?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5279778&CatId=332

AMD Athlon II X2 240 2.8GHz processor
MSI K9N6PGM2-V motherboard
350 Watt 80+ power supply
NVIDIA GeForce 6100 graphics
160GB SATA II 7200RPM hard drive
2GB of DDR2 800MHz PC6400 RAM
10/100 ethernet adapter
DVD-RW

Do I need more than this? Should I get a dual or quad core system to be more future capable? How much hardware do I need????

Thanks,

Mike

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mikeymike (msolomon) said :
#1

Additional: Say I got a 2.87Ghz socket 775 dual core system with 4Gb of DDR2 Ram, a 1066mHz front side bus, and a nice PCI Eexpress video card, would Ubuntu be able to run on it (Ie, would it have the drivers and stuff to handle the newest hardware???)

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pererik87 (pererik87) said :
#2

The system requirements of what it seams you are trying to do would be around 0.9 Ghz processor(single core) 564 mb of ram 64 Mb graphics.
I recommend a bit higher than that because it might run a bit slow sometimes, and because you dont, get any money back for buying a brand new, low spec. computer. a few extra dollars and you have three times the quality.

The one you are looking at looks great and a good price as well, might be a little overkill, make sure everything is compatible with Ubuntu. This computer will let you play a lot of games.

The pc left away in a draw or in the neighbour garage might be able to do what you want with Ubuntu.

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pererik87 (pererik87) said :
#3

New hardware might not be supported by Ubuntu, if you buy a computer from dell ubuntu shop you don't have to check everything. Ubuntu has a looser maximum limit for speed than windows and mac(you can use alternative pat install and get up to 96 gb ram on a 32 bit system for example).

 You have to make sure that exact model you want to buy is supported by Ubuntu. the best way is to check some of the Ubuntu hardware databases. or google the model with the latest ubuntu release (ubuntu karmic koala 9.10).

dell shop featuring laptops: http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/linux_3x?c=us&l=en&cs=19

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pererik87 (pererik87) said :
#4

Sorry there is no edit button.
Exact hardware model for every hardware piece. avoid ati mobility radeon.

graphic card issues with the same card. Might want to investigate that before buying that computer.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1327447

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mikeymike (msolomon) said :
#5

See that is my problem!!!

I am a little bit of a computer geek. Not much, but some. I want something like a EVGA NVIDIA® GeForce® 9500 GT 1GB just because I have a little bit of geekiness and I like bells and whistles and I want that, but it looks like Ubuntu won't even support a GeForce 6100.

So I am hesitant to buy the system I really want for fear Ubuntu won't run on it.

But at the same time, I don't want to buy something that will have the MacIntosh problem and be obselete before I get it set up.

I've looked through the Wiki and Googled pretty throughly but I can't find a good recommendation for what a Linux system "should" look like. Do you know what it "should" look like? This kind of processor, this graphics card, this amount of memory, etc?

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pererik87 (pererik87) said :
#6

Im just going to load some posts on you because i don't have an direct answer.

A lot of tip here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-1085956.html

You could post something in the forum. I think that is the right place this. Then you wait some days, and someone finds a scoop somewhere. add a price and you might even save some money if you find the scoop you are after.

Example:
I need the best possible ubuntu box possibly shipped in US in the price range 200 - 400 $ all hardware has to be supported by Ubuntu 9.10. The computer should be stationary,with monitor, and keyboard. Anyone have any ideas? I will give 10-20$ to the one that suggest the computer i buy.

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mikeymike (msolomon) said :
#7

LOL. Thanks!

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David Jones (dj) said :
#8

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO you do not have to offer money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 That is in direct conflict with the open source concept of linux/Ubuntu.

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pererik87 (pererik87) said :
#9

haha, i newer thought id hear giving money to people helping you, or starting a competition which involves finding the best computer for you is against the Ubuntu/linux spirit. But you can also offer eternal gratitude if you want to:P