linux!

You don''t sell Linux. If you are going to sell Linux based machines, just sell a machine with it loaded onto it but offer no support for it (besides the hardware). If you sell a machine with Red Hat Enterprise Edition, they would get support through Red Hat.

You can download the ISOs for different distributions here.

Well, the general differences between linux and UNIX, is that Linux is Free Software. Although that only really matters if you are a programmer for the most part. As a computer sales/support company, linkx is a cheap alternative to UNIX systems, and has a decent amount of compatibility with UNIX scripts, since they use the same shells for the most part. As for the best distribution, I would probably need to know what type of users your clients are, if they are business-oriented, Red Hat probably would be a good idea, since they would be able to get support through them if they have any Linux issues, if you are wanting to support it yourself, it may be just as good to check out the Fedora project(Red Hat''s free distribution). For some differences between distributions of linux, check out distrowatch, and that should give you a fairly good idea. The best for people that are new, are generally Red Hat/Fedora, Mandrake, and SuSE. I personally use Gentoo Linux, but probably wouldn''t suggest it for a beginner, since the installation process, although it is very well documented, is fairly difficult. I hope this info is useful to you.

RedHat is like the MS of linux. It's expensive, bloated, and doesn't comply with some statndards (like instal locations for some software). Unless you get the download version, which sucks.

If you are going to try to learn I would advise using Mandrake Linux. SuSE comes in a close second.

[edited by - griffenjam on April 30, 2004 12:14:12 PM]

My suggestion is that you support the hardware of the Linux machines however your normally would and have Red Hat, Mandrake, SUSE, or whatever external commercial Linux distributers handle any support plans you offer. Especially if you know nothing about UNIX and Linux, handling all of the support for even a single distribution could be a lot of work and new territory for you. If you''re targeting the traditional Linux users of today[1], many of them will know exactly what they want to such a specificity that you probably will not want to deal with handling it all yourself; so, be flexible, tell them what you can do and offer (distributions and which have what types of support plans) to not make them pay for an OS and support if they''re going to (re-)do everything on their own anyway.

If you search Google for introduction to Linux, you''ll find lots of information. If you scan through it and have further questions, feel free to ask I suppose .

By the way: there is an Everything Unix forum on GameDev, you might find it useful for further questions.

[1] I know that I, personally would want to do the installation myself. Also, many people like to use non-commercial distributions which often don''t have a company offering paid support. News groups, mailing lists, chat rooms and such are always there, but they''re not commercial and not really bound to helping you or your customers in any way. There are companies that offer support for distributions they don''t "own", such as Progeny.

There is a linux/unix forum here on gamedev. Now with that said why would you want to sell a machine you know nothing about? Chances are good you wouldn''t be able to sell them if you don''t know how they operate.

ok thanks for your help everyone,

i currently sell micro$oft machines, basically as a oem, i provide all the support, so i guess as only pros will buy linux machines I will make them agree that software support will be got from the linux people, and i will just offer support on hardware...

looks like i will be using red hat, from the sites you gave me, and the ease of availability to me it seems best.

Thanks again

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Original post by Big B

You can download the ISOs for different distributions here.

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just looked, they give isos, i know that some versions of linux are meant to be free, but they give iso files to everything, i thought red hat is meant to be better because you pay for support, is getting the isos there legal?

I thought Linspire was the new MS of Linux.

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Original post by wilhil

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Original post by Big B

You can download the ISOs for different distributions here.

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just looked, they give isos, i know that some versions of linux are meant to be free, but they give iso files to everything, i thought red hat is meant to be better because you pay for support, is getting the isos there legal?

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You're right, you'd be paying for the support. You're not actually paying for a copy of the software. Most distributions have ftp sites where you can download their ISO images for free. But if you want to be able to call someone at *Insert linux company here* with problems, you have to buy support plans.

[edited by - null_void on April 30, 2004 5:48:14 PM]

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Original post by wilhil
just looked, they give isos, i know that some versions of linux are meant to be free, but they give iso files to everything, i thought red hat is meant to be better because you pay for support, is getting the isos there legal?

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Since Linux is GPL, the only thing you can charge for is support. When you buy a boxed version of Red Hat or Mandrake, they are charging you for support, not the product. Downloading ISO is perfectly legal.

let me get this right, I can builkd a pc, and sell it as linux, by loading on linux for free!

this is amazing, as I will be able to sell them alot cheaper, obviously with microsoft I buy oem, but it is still 40=50ish quid for home, and around 80-90quid for pro.

I dont suppose i have the branding and stuff on linux that i do on windows though!

and now what sounds like a stupid question again, Are linux machines just as good as normal mchaines! sorry to say this but as i know nothing i have to ask! can you do everything on them that you can on a normal one, I mean should I do any special packages, or do i sell the same e.g. my top of the range model is
Normal (max, custom upgrade)
p4 3.2ghz (3.4ghz and the extreme edition p4''s)
1gb dual channel fast ram (4gb)
250gb fast, and 8mb cache (750gb max)
dvd rw drive
top of the range graphics

nothing else really applys to this.

thanks for your patience and help!

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Original post by Null and Void
Also, many people like to use non-commercial distributions which often don''t have a company offering paid support.

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Gentoo community provided me with better support than most commercial institutions I''ve had the misfortune of dealing with. The only problem with this model is that if things just don''t work out for you, nobody will work around the clock to solve your problem. Of course you can always hire some Gentoo developers...

Actually, if you want to learn linux I''d recomend xandros (this one does cost) it''s the easiest to use distro that I''ve tried but it has just enough bugs to give you a gradual learning curve.

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Original post by wilhil
i currently sell micro$oft

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Don''t do that. Please, just don''t. That ''$'' cheapens your post, and that whole meme is a detriment to the Linux movement. Anyone who uses the term "micro$oft" is likely to be considered a useless zealot by readers, and anything useful they may say will be ignored.
So don''t do it.

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Original post by Big B
Since Linux is GPL, the only thing you can charge for is support.

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Mostly in practice that''s true, but legally, it''s not exactly correct.

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Original post by wilhil
and now what sounds like a stupid question again, Are linux machines just as good as normal mchaines! sorry to say this but as i know nothing i have to ask! can you do everything on them that you can on a normal one, I mean should I do any special packages, or do i sell the same

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Linux doesn''t really have any special hardware requirements. It''ll generally work on whatever system you MS OS was working on previously. There are some hardwares that Linux support is lacking (ie drivers don''t exist for some hardwares), so you''ll need to watch out for those. Mostly peripheral stuff like soundcards and (especially) printers, but general stuff like CPUs, HDs, and the like are well supported.

The following statement is true. The previous statement is false.
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Thanks for your help everyone... and i was just joking about micro$oft spelling it like that! i deal with them, and as a certified partner, beleive me there is stories i can tell.....

Rule #1: No matter what the Linux "die-hard fans" (i.e. losers, not real fans) seem to imply, "M$" and "micro$oft" are not cool.