Dear Final Debug: We all know that Linux is great, but you can’t get Linux preinstalled on new PCs from the usual sellers like Gateway 2000 and Micron. What’s the best Linux hardware choice? — J. Stern, Chicago. Final Debug Responds: Linux boxes don’t get advertised on the back cover of “PC Week,” but they are easily available. A lengthy, but far from complete list is maintained by Linux Online, and anyone building a bare-bones system can install Linux on a Pentium system without having to deal with an existing DOS or Windows partition on a hard disk. We don’t recommend specific hardware models here because there’s no way we can test all of them, but some of the systems that have been garnering attention lately are Corel’s Netwinders and VA Research’s YMP line. VA Research has a charming-“Where do you want to go tomorrow?” –and it offers a broad line of workstations, servers, and laptop computers based on Linux. To give the user a sense of what he can get with a preinstalled Linux system, here are the specs for a mid-level VA Research system, the VArStation YMP 4633B. The unit comes with two 300mHz Pentium II processors, 128MB of 66mHz RAM, a 4.5G Quantum Viking II hard disk, a 32x IDE CD-ROM, an 8MB Millennium II video card, a Tyan S1832DL motherboard, 512k L2 pipeline burst cache per CPU, Symbios 8951U ultra-2 SCSI controllers, 21143-chipset 10/100 fast Ethernet (RJ-45), SoundBlaster Audio, two 16550 serial ports, one ECP/EPP parallel port, an ATX Chassis with a 250W power supply, a Keytronic keyboard, a Logitech mouse, and whichever version of Linux you want (Red Hat, S.u.S.E or Caldera). It costs $2550, not including shipping, a monitor, or speakers. There are a plethora of upgrade options; for example, an extra $350 will get you 256MB of RAM. These prices are not much more than what the user would expect to pay for a similarly equipped Windows system from a major PC manufacturer, and the preinstalled Linux might save the user so much startup time (you don’t have to uninstall or work around DOS and/or Windows) that it may seem like a bargain to Linux-only enthusiasts.
Correction In last week’s column, I wrote: “Apache is currently in version 1.31, with the 1.3x line being the first iteration of Apache to include Win32 support (previously the program worked only on Unix platforms), although the developers acknowledge that the young Windows version of the program is far less tested than the nearly-bulletproof Unix distributions.” A note from Rick Alther pointed out: “This is not true. Apache has also been running on the OS/2 platform since at least version 1.2” He’s right: I apologize for the error (and I’ve corrected the original piece).
We’re stumped We received the following note from David Najarian earlier this week. We’ve been unable to replicate his problem, so we’re opening it up to all our readers: I am a Netscape user, I really like the interface and how it operates. When I upgraded to Windows 98, I suddenly found that my copy of Netscape Communicator (downloaded version without strong encryption) would not display Web pages. The IE4.x that came with the Windows 98 works fine. The people at Netscape had me uninstall the software and defragment my hard drive, then reinstall, but it did not work. Any suggestions? If you’re the first person who can solve David’s problem, you’ll earn not only his appreciation but also a copy of the new book “Inside Adobe Photoshop 5” by Gary David Bouton and Barbara Bouton, 742 pages plus CD-ROM just published by New Riders. If you have a solution for him, tell us!
