Linux/Free BSD on my Shuttle

[DRI]

OK guys & gals, what's a girl gotta do to get her shuttle running linux/bsd?
I haven't tried yet but what's the best distro & are there Shuttle specific drivers?

btw, it's an FB61 mobo with a P4 2.8, 1gb PC3500, a DVD/RW & a slow & clunky 123.5 IBM HDD. Using on-board graphics.

Cheers in avance

Dimples.

[oyster]

Generally, you shouldn't have a problem with the on-board graphics or ethernet with any recent distro. Sound may be more of an issue - don't ever forget that google is your friend!

As to which distro is best, that depends very much on personal preference and what you will be using the box for.
Try Mandrake for a beginner-friendly, general-purpose desktop. or Gentoo for a "in-at-the-deep-end" learning experience. I'm sure that other opinions will be along shortly...

[directhex]

http://www.hexus.net/content/reviews...JsX3BhZ2U9MQ==

fb61 is just bog standard i865 isn't it? should work fine out-of-the-box on any modern distro

[Kumagoro]

Knoppix 3.4 Live CD is the way to go to check out how Linux will run
No install it just boots up from the CD

knoppix.net

[thelonecrouton]

No problems with gentoo on my SN45G. Be aware though that nvidia's drivers don't give you full 5-channel hardware mixing though if you use the on-board sound.

I don't care because I use headphones anyway when gaming...

[crossy]

OK guys & gals, what's a girl gotta do to get her shuttle running linux/bsd?
I haven't tried yet but what's the best distro & are there Shuttle specific drivers?

btw, it's an FB61 mobo with a P4 2.8, 1gb PC3500, a DVD/RW & a slow & clunky 123.5 IBM HDD. Using on-board graphics.
Dimples.

That's a pretty damn good spec for Linuxen. If you don't fancy Knoppix (although it's pretty good), then there's also the Suse Live CD from http://www.suse.co.uk/uk/private/dow...nux/index.html If you're just dipping a toe into the OS jacuzzi that's Linux and you're running Windows then there's coLinux (http://www.colinux.org/) which lets you run both.
If you are planning to run both, (especially if it's XP and Linux), then invest in a copy of PartitionMagic to setup a partition to pour Linux into.

I'm pretty sure that there aren't specific drivers for the Shuttles, as they're just using standard driver sets, (Intel, VIA, etc), for which the drivers are readily available.

As to which distro is best - there ain't an answer to this. Most opinion I've seen seems to vary between Mandrake, Debian and Suse. Mandrake's easiest, Debian is the most flexible and Suse is a nice 'corporate' style distro. I've tried all three and settled down to using Suse.

Forgot to mention, I've tried NetBSD as well and it's pretty good, although 'hard work' compared to most other mainstream distro's. I'd recommend sticking to a Linux flavour instead as the package support seems to be better.

Crossy