Quoting Dave Briggs linux@davebriggs.net:

Right, well, I've been meddling on the fringes of Open Source and linux for too long: using free software on Windows wherever I can, having a dual boot PC a couple of years back, messing around with live CDs since.

But now I guess it is time to go for it, and as I 'need' to get a new desktop PC soon, I am going to make it a Linux only machine. Brave of me, huh?

Anyhow, what options are there? Buy a windows PC and install Linux over the top? Buy a linux ready PC? Or buy the bits and do it myself?

I do want to make this a linux only box, with all the bits in it those known to work well with the penguin.

Any thoughts?

-- Dave Briggs linux@davebriggs.net | http://davebriggs.net | http://palimpsest.org.uk

Dave,

This is how I did, except I've got a laptop.

http://www.novatech.co.uk - Novatech offer hardware without Windows pre-installed, which saved me about £100 on my laptop. I then installed Windows 2000, installed Ubuntu over the top which partioned Windows (2.5gig -maybe too little but it can be changed if need be.) Ubuntu installs the Grub boot manager which is perfect. So I have Windows installed just in case (Uni projects might require Windows programs etc but I'm trying to keep it Linux as much as I can.)

-Simon

I have built and supplied machines either ready for Linux (i.e. Some degree of guaranteed compatibility) or pre-installed with Linux so perhaps you could contact me off list with a detail of requirements and I'll see what I can do.

However scratch building machines these days is a game of diminishing returns as it is possible for me to purchase brand name units for pretty much the materials cost of a purpose built machine. The XP licence doesn't really give much of a saving by it's absence as big manufacturers pay nothing like the £60-£75 OEM licence sticker price, in fact I have always believed that REALLY big manufacturers like Dell get it for almost nothing. So really buying a machine without an XP licence is only worthwhile if the Licence has no value to you (i.e. you are sure you are never going to run Windows on that machine).

What you do get with a scratch built machine is an assured upgrade path, in that only "off the shelf" components will be used in it's construction. A lot of the big brand machines now days use custom PSU,s Cases and mainboards which can be somewhat limiting when it comes to upgrades. On the flip side the economics of upgrading any machine these days is suspect, given the price of new complete machines. A CPU upgrade can often lead to a requirement for a different Mainboard and Ram, which pretty much only leaves the Drives and case/PSU....by the time you upgrade the drives are probably too old or too small...you see where I am going with this.

Sort answer, if you feel confident enough with hardware to make a good job of building your own machine then I'd recommend that. In my view it is a worthwhile experience and it puts you in direct control of the hardware inside.

If not and you want the flexibility of a scratch built machine and really don't want an OEM windows license then contact a Linux friendly reseller (myself or there are plenty of others) and get them to build it for you. If you are looking for best bang for the buck then it may be a sad truth that a brand name machine (even with a OEM licence) gives good value.