| MOUSE Optimal support is from a 3-button
PS-2 mouse, preferably a Logitech. The money you save on a generic mouse is
not worth it. Use the PS-2 driver for ANY mouse in the PS-2 port. I've found
the PS-2 port to be more hardware stable than the serial port, and Linux
makes use of the 3rd button. If all you've got is a serial port, you can use
a 3-button Logitech mouse on it (it may still be Microsoft compatible and use
the Microsoft driver). A 2-button Microsoft mouse is also an acceptable alternative, but if you use it you might want to "emulate 3 buttons" (it interprets a left-right click or right-left click as a middle-button click if done fast enough). For a notebook, use the PS-2 driver, and it's up to you whether you want to emulate the 3rd button or just plug in an external 3-button and have the 3rd button available only when it's plugged into the PS-2 port. |
| SOUNDCARD You don't really need a fancy sound card under Linux. If you've got an ISA slot available, use it and put in a Creative Soundblaster-16, which is recognized as a VibraX16. It supports all operating systems, including DOS, Linux, and all versions of Windows, and OS/2. If you're forced to use a PCI slot try a Creative Ensoniq PCI. The Soundblaster Live card has been known to work, but with some difficulty. |
| NETWORK CARD I've used many types of PCI network cards, but have had good luck with cards based on the cheap Realtek 8129/39 chipset. I've also had luck with Intel cards and have used Tulip cards with Redhat. If you want universal-operating system compatibility then I'd recommend the 3Com 3C509B-TX (works as long as you've got a PCI slot). Some distributions are better than others in netcard capabilities. For older systems, any ISA card should install as a NE2000 compatible. Just be sure that if you're using an ISA card you've previously gone into DOS and know its settings (IRQ, address and any other settings like duplex, etc), because you'll be asked for them. (Some of these cards are jumper set while others are software set through the utilities that run on a diskette supplied with the card.) |
MODEM An old fashioned hardware modem installed on
COM2
with jumpers is your best bet OR use an external modem (you CAN'T make
an external modem a Winmodem!) The Linux community is beginning to make
drivers for SOME Winmodems, notably the Lucent ones, and some have had
success creating new ports using PCI resources that Linux can use. But for
now, stick with the old-fashioned modems.
| VIDEO CARD Most ISA and VLB cards (on 386 and 486
machines) should be OK. Although most PCI and AGP cards are supported, some
are easier to install than others. I've had my best luck with older ATI
Mach-64 type cards for AGP systems and with S3 cards for PCI systems. The ubiquitous Trident Blade 3D (a cheap 8 MB card) can be made to work with some tweaking of monitor parameters. |
| CDROM AND SCSI One IDE CDROM works
fine, but for 2 IDE drives the kernel might need to be recompiled to support
SCSI emulation. If you want more than one drive, you're better off getting an
Adaptec SCSI adapter and SCSI devices, especially for CD recording SCSI
CDROM drives don't cost that much more than IDE drives these days and a SCSI
adapter can drive more than one device at a time, whereas IDE is
limited to one device at a time, even if 2 devices are connected to
it. |