The availablility and lack of licensing restrictions of source code for
the Linux kernel, has allowed Linux to be ported to a plethora of processors.
There are the most popular for desktop, laptop and servers:
DDR/DDRAM: Double Data Rate/Double Data RAM. Operates twice as fast as conventional
memory by performing two memory operations for every CPU clock cycle.
(PC133 SDRAM compatable) DDR DIMM module has 184 pins.
DDR266: Double Data Rate at 266 Mhz. Throughput=8bytes x 266 Mhz/sec = 2.1 GB/sec. Hence the term: PC2100
Memory naming convention set by JEDEC, the semiconductor engineering
standardization body of the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA)
Video Graphics and video capture:
My choices for best video graphics are:
NVidia: - Best 3-D support,
Nvidia
chip-set based graphics cards
Quadro (high end CAD), GeForce (PC) and Quadro nView (dual monitor support Quadro)
NVidia based graphics cards are by far the best for Linux
because of 3D performance, 3D GL and GLX (SGI X-window/GL interface)
support,
and X-window DRI support. NVidia is the best for 2D video playback of
video files and DVD's because of the Xv (Xvideo), and Xrender
support. (fast screen access)
In order to enable this support
one must download the NVidia binary "Accelerated Linux Driver Set"
from the NVidia web site and the modified Linux Kernel RPM.
(See the YoLinux kernel RPM install Tutorial)
Source for the modified kernel is also available from their site.
This is NOT included in the Red Hat distribution.
Note that this applies to XFree86 4.0+ which supports these X-window
extensions. (Red Hat 7.0+)
Also see:
I purchased the Hauppauge model 447 which includes a PCI WinTV
television and FM radio tuner
card, video camera, FM antenna, an internal sound card connector and an
infrared remote. The TV tuner card is cable-ready,
supports 125 channels and closed captioning.
The card is capable of supporting a resolution of 1,600 x 1,200 pixels, and
has S-Video input, audio in/out (1/8" = 3.5mm, 3 conductor minijack),
coax connectors for cable TV and
FM radio cable/antenna inputs well as a remote control (IR) reciever socket
(2.5mm minijack). An external IR reciever is also included. (Newr versions
include headphones with mic and volume control.)
These use RCA connections on the Hauppauge capture card. (connection diagram.-Model 447 has one more cable connection for the FM radio) Note: The cameras listed are pure video and
require a video capture card such as the Hauppauge. Cameras which use a USB port are often slower.
The default Red Hat 7.1 kernel comes ready to support
TV/Video. If compiling
the kernel, note that it requires the following modules: I2C Core, I2C
Devices, I2C Algorithms, Video4Linux (v4l) API driver, Bttv drivers
(this includes everything required for TV, radio and teletext) and Bttv
mixer device (from the sound section).
ATI All in Wonder AGP and PCI. For TV and video software for the ATI see: http://www.linuxvideo.org/gatos/. (TV tuner support built into graphics card.)
Console cards:
RealWeasel - For use with headless (no monitor/keyboard) server. PCI card allows remote access to console even if
PC board is locked-up.
The winner these days seems to be Intel.
They also manufacture the Intel Pro/100 Dual port server adapter which has
two 10/100 Mbps Ports.
This can be used to increase bandwidth,
enable routing or
setting up a firewall (ipchains/iptables) and only use one PCI slot.
See Using Linux and ipchains/iptables to set up an internet gateway for home or office.
In the near future Intel will present I2O (Intelligent I/O) NICs which are
supported by the current Linux kernel. This will offload the TCP/IP stack to
the network card reducing the CPU load. This will be essential in supporting
iSCSI (network SCSI storage)
Logitech wireless
"Cordless iTouch" or
"Cordless Freedom Pro" mouse and keyboard. An RF receiver
plugs into the regular PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports on your computer.
(USB mouse connection is also available)
The keyboard and mouse are wireless using radio technology.
The mouse is a two button mouse with middle scroll wheel.
(As a programmer, I prefer three button mice for UNIX workstations.)
Hard drive standards: IDE, EIDE, ATA, SATA, SCSI, Fibre Channel
IDE: Integrated Drive Electronics. Same as ATA, just another name.
EIDE: Enhanced IDE. Supports ATA and ATAPI standards. Uses Master/Slave, Primary/Secondary configuration, 40 pin cable.
ATAPI: Advanced Technology Attachment Packet Interface -
Compatible with IDE. EIDE for CD ROM and Tape drives. Includes SCSI-3
like command set.
ATA/100: Advanced Technology Attachment. Just another name for IDE.
PATA: Parallel ATA - Refers to older IDE/EIDE/ATA/ATAPI 40 pin ribbon cable parallel interface.
Ultra DMA/66: 80 pin ribbon cable, 66MB/s transfer rate
SATA/150: Serial ATA - Reduces crosstalk across parallel
cables by using a single chanel high speed connection. Uses single
bundle of 7 wires of which 3 are ground. 2 TX (transmit), 2 RX
(receive)
SATA/300: (3G) 3 Gigabit (Gb) bandwidth.
SATA II: Added feature set support for SATA/300 drives.
eSATA/XSATA: External SATA and next generation eSATA, XSATA for greater cable length.
NCQ: Native Command Queuing - reorder disk requests to optimize seek time.
US Design - CD, DVD optical storage jukebox systems
Pioneer
DRM-7000: This configurable monster holds a maximum of 720
disks/3.38TB!!! Holds CD and DVD drives for both read and read/write.
It holds up to 16 drives for your most extreme mega-storage needs.
Active PFC (Power Factor Correction): Reduces harmonic
distorion for a cleaner power source. Controlled voltage for a higher
"power factor". This is preferred.
Passive PFC: Uses a capacitive filter.
Note that most computer cases require airflow provided by the power supply fan.
This makes some of the fanless units inappropriate.
There are also super quiet "noiseless" or silent but not fanless powersupplies.
Antec - Neo Power 480
watt: Maximim PC January 2005 rated best. Has modular cables and active
PFC. Also sells Phantom line of fanless PSU's.
The Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy or Live PCI with output for
digital speakers
is about as good as it gets. This is
not because it's the best sound card, it's because it's the best supported.
I tried to get fancy with a Turtle Beach and as far as I got was being able to
play my CD and that was it. (I basically failed and ended up buying
a Sound Blaster)
If you want to get fancy you may have to
buy commercially supported drivers from
4Front using Open Sound System (OSS).
(Note: Most other references to OSS refer to Open Source Software)
See the 4Front list of supported cards.
Linux supports the the EMU10K1 audio processor (kernel module emu10k1.o) based
Sound Blaser line which includes Value, MP3+, X-Gamer and Platnum versions.
Misc: I use a Radio Shack Three-Headphone Cable Adapter (42-2458) on my
audio input (1/8" minijack) so the sound card may accept input from
my Hauppauge WinTV card, aux input and headphone/mic headset.
FOURPOINT SURROUND FPS2000 DIGITAL 4 SPEAKERS ONE SUBWOOFER
Four channel/4-speaker digital audio. The
FPS2000 Digital is the only speaker system that provides proprietary
DIGITAL DIN connection with Sound Blaster Live!
The speaker system also includes a separate front and rear audio
inputs, compatible with any other four-channel PCI sound cards. On my
Linux system with
the SoundBlaster Live Platinium, both the line-out and rear-out jacks
work.)
I mention the Plextor because all the others are so much alike and this one
stands out. It has the fastest write throughput, available in Ultra-SCSI and
comes with "BURN-Proof" features which allow it to stop in the middle of burning
a CD. This is unique to Plextor. It has been ranked the best by all the reviews I have seen.
The Red Hat compatibility list does not list any DVD players but I have seen
many in use. (I'm not sure of those listed below.)
EIDE DVD:
Sony DRU110A/C1:
DVDRW CDRW COMBO DRIVE EIDE INT 12X/10X/32X CDRW 2.4X DVD 4.76GB
Combines DVD+RW and CD-RW recording with DVD-ROM and CD-ROM playback in one.
Expensive but it is truly all-in-one!
BUSlink:
COMBO DRIVE 12X DVD/40X CD-ROM INTERNAL EIDE
Pioneer: DVR-A03 DVD-R/RW, CD-R/RW combo
SCSI DVD:
Toshiba SD-M1401:
12X DVD-ROM 40X CD-ROM SCSI
Pioneer 304S/305S (10x DVD and 40x CDROM)
Pioneer DVR-S201 1X DVD write, 2X DVD read, SCSI-2
There are only two manufacturers with
licensed software support of DVD system for Linux.
Creative Labs: I saw the Dxr2 DVD at Linuxworld in NYC.
The Creative Labs site does not seem to have the DVD playback software for the Dxr2
anymore but instead refers you to the developers
Andrew de Quincey and
Lucien Murray-Pitts .
IBM: IBM Thinkpad notebook computers with Linux pre-installed and a DVD
come with the InterVideo, LinDVD player installed and configured.
There is DVD player software available for Linux but its legality has been
under attack in the courts. The battle has not been resolved and unless
the Linux DVD developers lose the battle, the OMS (Open Media System)
software is available from:
http://linuxvideo.org
OMS Notes:
The DVD disk must be mounted: mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
Use the hdparm command to enable DMA access to the DVD drive or
else video playback will seem slow, broken and ragged.
i.e.: hdparm -d1 -c1 /dev/cdrom
Also see YoLinux: System Optimization and hdparm
New DVD players do not have a country code burned in. Burn this in
with specialized Linux software or run it under Windows once before use
under Linux.
Requires udf file system support in kernel.
When compiling OMS from source, bootstrap with autogen.sh
to create a configure file, then run configure and
make.
Error Correction Protocol: MNP-4, ITU V.42, MNP-2, MNP-3
Analog Modulation Protocol: ITU V.21, ITU
V.22, ITU V.22bis, ITU V.29, ITU V.32, ITU V.32bis, ITU V.34, ITU V.90,
ITU Group 3 Fax, ITU V.17, ITU V.23, ITU V.27ter, x2, ITU V.92
The easiest solution is to use a Postscript compatible printer.
The following designations are often used within the model numbers to designate various features:
n - Network
t - Extra paper trays (i.e. paper tray one and paper tray two)
d - Duplex (Print on both sides of a sheet of paper)
USB memory sticks: (i.e. PNY Attache)
These just plug-in to the USB port and they work great.
The device is instantly recognized by Fedora Core 3 and mounted:
/dev/sda1 501600 704 500896 1% /media/usbdisk
An icon appears on the desktop after it is mounted. Double clicking the
icon will open the Nautilus file manager. I find copying files using
Nautilus to be more reliable than via the shell. I wonder if the memory
has a speed issue (??)
Note: Many cameras are not supported in Linux. I remove the memory card
from the camera and insert it into a USB attached memory card reader.
This works for them all! The typical file system on the memory cards is
DOS FAT and easily recognized and automounted.
Activelight: Resseller of large plasma displays: Pioneer, Fujitsu, Sony, Philips, Panasonic...
Romtec Trios IDE Hard Drive Selector:
IDE hard drive disk selector device, which can be placed into a PC's
5.25-inch bay, that enables users to boot from a choice of up to three
separate hard drives (Thus different OS's)
Blackbox.com - Overpriced but they have every computer connector and widget imaginable.
InterSense: InterTrax2
- Virtual reality head tracking system. (USB or serial port) Though
they are not advertised on their web site, Linux drivers are available
from InterSense. (So says Mike Donfrancesco, Director of Worldwide
Sales at InterSense.)
SD-601 I/O
- 64-bit PCI SDI/AES capture card captures and outputs real-time
uncompressed 10-bit Standard Definition video with SDI I/O and 6
channel AES or SDI embedded audio.
Kreuzgruber:
PCI cards for controlling independent I/O lines. Also data voice,
measurement and control, radio modems, computer controlled switchboxes,
Bluetooth, climate control, ...
Measurement and control card can be run with builtin firmware or
with firmware written by the end user. GPL drivers for linux 2.4.x and
2.6.x as well as a C library are supplied with the product.
Vienna, Austria
Firewire: Choose any card which is OHCI compliant
ORANGELINK 3 PORT FIREWIRE PCI BOARD IEEE 1394 DV OHCI 400M/S
Quancom.de: Watchdog boards
- Software on Linux system communicates with PC card. When
communication stops it is assumed that the system is down. It can then
issue a hardware reset or turn on an external appliance.
Comes with Linux source code.
When using a KVM (Keyboard Video Mouse) switch to use one
Keyboard Video and Mouse connected to multiple computers, remember to
configure each computer to have the same resolution. Some monitors will
freak out upon an instantaneous switch to a higher resolution.
lm_sensors - Linux software for hardware monitoring.
Books:
Upgrading and Repairing PCs (with CD-ROM)
Scott Mueller
ISBN #0789723034, QUE
The authoratative book on computer upgrading, maintenance,
interchangeability, and repairs. It's the best reference out there.
Processor Magazine
Equipment and services, including storage,
communications, and servers. Product announcements, marketplace
information, and other articles designed to keep IT workers up to date
with the latest news that matters most. Published weekly.
Books:
