From: Ruairi Newman (bofh at domain tech-mad.org)
Date: Wed 13 Jun 2001 - 14:19:30 IST
> Is it going to make a noticeable difference, for statistical
> number-crunching (Stata runs on Linux, so do TDA, xlispstat...),
> compiling TeX file, compiling downloaded C-source, ps2pdf,
> Emacs/Gnus etc?
If you are going to be doing a lot of number-crunching then the faster
processor will make a difference, and the extra cache will help too, but to
be honest the difference isn't going to be earth-shatteringly huge and you
will have to be using the machine quite heavily for it to pay off. But
then if you were using it that heavily, it's worth keeping in mind that you
could get a better spec dual-processor desktop for the same price.
> Secondly, will I benefit from a DVD drive under Linux?
>
For watching films? Quite frankly, and I say this from experience, you're
probably better off using Windows with Intervideos Win DVD, which Dell ship
as standard anyway. At the current rate of progress we're about 9 months
to a year away from comparable performance from a Linux DVD player IMHO.
I use my DVD drive regularly in Linux with the PC Plus cover DVD, but that's
pretty much it.
>
> Thirdly, what hoops will I have to jump through to get the
> "internal modem plus 10/100 NIC" to work, especially as a modem?
>
This IIRC is a module that Dell plug in internally. You can be lucky, and
get the one with the Lucent modem, which it's not much of a problem to get
working, or like me you might get the 3Com module which is not a probably
never will be supported under Linux. However the network card component
seems to working very well in both.
Regards,
Ruairi
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