Hardware questions.

[Thomas Ward]

Hi, Anna. Well, If you want to go laptop IBM has some laptop's that are 99%
Linux compatible, but they do cary a heavy price tag.
The IBM t23 and the IBM T22 series are just a couple of examples.
However, it is much better to build a desktop, for many reasons. You can
upgrade anything it yourself if you have the ability to do that kind of
thing. You know exactly the hardware in the box, and you can make it 100%
Linux compatible right out of the box. most of all it is usually much
cheaper than a laptop.
and here is what I would use for hardware.

Soundcard: Soundblaster Live value or Soundblaster Live Platnem.
Modem: 3com USR Linux modem. This is the only modem 100% that clames to be
officially supported. Although there are plenty of others that can be used.
Printer: Lexmark z53 ink jet.Wonderful printer, and even comes with Red Hat
drivers right out of the box. Easy to config.
Scanner: HP 6390 scannerSCSI .It is a pretty decent SCSI scanner and OCR
Shop support's it.
As far as vidio cards go try and get ATI Rage, because most ATI's are
supported by Linux. Especially, if you plan to use X in the future.
As far as rom burner goes I am sure everyone will give you a different make
and moddle. I use a creative burner, and thus far haven't had much trouble,
but you can probably use HP, Philips, Sony, or whatever sounds good to you.


----- Original Message -----
From: Anna Schneider <annas at drizzle.com>
To: <speakup at braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Monday, February 04, 2002 1:58 AM
Subject: Hardware questions.


>
> Once again, thank you everyone for your help.  Here's another round of
> questions.
>
> It was recommended to me by someone on this list that I make sure that the
> hardware I get with my computer is Linux and speech compatible.  Or maybe
> it was just Linux.  So that when I order my computer, I can be specific.
> I would like to go laptop if possible, but I understand that that may not
> work.  Again, if people could please go from experience.  I do think I
> will wind up using a combination of Speakup with Red Hat and Emacs with
> Emacspeak which I know is Linux too but if it's important, well you all
> know.  Please define acronyms and other computer terminology as you answer
> or you are going to get a lot of "what did that mean questions".  Remember
> I'm learning not only about Linux but Im' catching up with the computer
> world in general so I'm major out of the loop.
>
> Thank you ago.  Here goes.
>
> Can people here recommend based on experience:
>
> a certain type of Cd burner?  I was led to understand that this is better
> than CD ROM because it can be used to write to as well as to read from.
>
> a printer.  I don't know that I need color printing, but I do need one
> that is fairly flexible in terms of formatting.  I will, for example, need
> to print everything from standard documents to labels and invoices.
>
> a sound card
>
> a video card.  This should be decent quality.  I'm an artist and I use a
> lot of color, and in the event that I ever find a way to play with my
> images on the computer, even if it's through a hired assistant, I should
> have decent color capability.  It does not have to be top of the line,
> just decent.
>
> modem.  I was led to understand by a friend that for laptop there are
> actually modem cards that can be taken in and out of a slot that can also
> be used for data cards and things.  This would be nice, but I'm willing to
> listen to all modem suggestions.
>
> And last of all scanners.  Some debate seems to have occurred on this
> issue and it's left me very confused.  OCR shop is looking good to me at
> present.  If there are other options please explain, but in the meantime,
> can anyone recommend a brand and model of SCSI scanner, and what will I
> need in order to hook it into my computer?
>
> If there's anything hardware wise I've left out, please feel free to
> mention it as well.
>
> Thank you again.  And of course, references to sources of info on the web
> are always welcome.
>
> Anna
>
>
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