As stated in my sig. I use a Dell Dimension 8250 powered by Debian "GNU/Linux" "Sarge" and it works fine for me.
I used to build my boxes myself but this time I really did not feel like building. And I must admit Dell did a nice job with this one. Not that i am 100% content with what they did but it comes closest to what i would have build with the budget i had to spend. The only comment i have is that they put in a SB 5.1 Live that has no EMU10K1 chip. (Knoppix and Mandrake identify it as such tho and install the alsa driver for it but no sound.) I suppose that has to do with the extra connector on that card to get the front headphone- and usb- connector to work.
Woot so i got to open the box to replace the card and i was quite impressed seeing that they think about how to make changing hardware easy.
Installing Debian is something you dont do at 02:00 at night. You gotta make sure you are awake and alert. Read the messages Debian pops. Even if your only option is OK or Continue. Or else.
I decided to do install from the netinstall iso (woody) and since the 2.4 kernel somehow did not recognise my usb keyboard i had to go for the standard kernel and do without my usb mouse till after install.
Since I, being cocky from many successfull Redhat, Suse and Mandrake installs on other machines, did not follow my advice to be awake while installing i ran into some nice unexpected trouble. dselect is probably a nice tool but eh IMHO even the FreeBSD netinstall has a more userfriendly installer.
Still with some help at some critical points (Thnx Jens) I ended up with a nice sleek fit-like-a-glove os on a machine (and yes i admit. it will be never be as cool as the configuration you are gonna get =) ) that I could not have built better.
I wish you alot of fun with your new machine and I do hope you decide to go for Debian. It needs some time to be tweaked but that is part of the fun IMO.
Regards,
Marc Koenders
Lucas Albers wrote:
I've had nothing but success using name brand dell/hp computers with debian. I only run servers, all my desktop linux machines run redhat-9. If I could get the hardware auto detection working on debian, I would use it on desktops. That is another story. If it works with rhel, it will probable work with debian. all my dell systems use an intel network card. (Integrated network card.) just go download the nvidia src rpm package from nvida to recompile for your kernel. Then debianize to install. I think nvidia-source debs are in the repository.
Faheem Mitha said:
I just started a job at Duke. I've been told to put together a machine quote for my office. I want to run Debian on it. I tried to persuade my employer to use Monarch, but was told I have to use Dell.
I'm not sure of the best way to go about putting together a machine from Dell which has good general Linux support as opposed to Red Hat support.
I'd greatly appreciate hearing about people's experiences of success with Debian on Dell, and related advice, suggestions, and working configurations. Thanks in advance.
2) They are also being rather coy about the ethernet card. I assume (educated guess based on a Trilug post from Daniel Chen and other info) that there is an onboard Intel card (which works with the e1000 driver), I did hear something about a Broadcom card being used too, though.
3) I managed to get the Nvidia GeForce4 MX 440 card on a Dell Optiplex GX270 to work under X. I could not manage to work it with the nv X driver (as of 4.2 in testing) but the proprietary nvidia driver (ndvidia) worked. I hope it will be the same with this "nVidia, Quadro NVS 280". Daniel Chen's message seems to confirm this.
5) I'd welcome suggestions on changes in the configuration below to reduce
cost while impacting functionality as little as possible.
Thanks. Faheem.
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