Which Linux or No Linux

Try To find a REDHAT 9.0x(now a Fedore Core) or a Mandrake And keep yourself a Windows System by Getting a DUAL BOOT (any tech can do) system with XP/Mandrake(redhat)

Check this link for Download

http://www.linuxiso.org/

or alternative is

http://www.linux.org/dist/list.html

Greetings and salutations :-D

Since you have a Dual Opty I would strongly recommend a good x86_64 distribution.


If you want something user friendly check out ubuntu x86_64 http://mirror.mcs.anl.gov/pub/ubun [...] -amd64.iso

http://www.ubuntu.com/screenshots

If you want something cutting edge go for FC5 x86_64
http://mirrors.kernel.org/fedora/c [...] 64-DVD.iso

http://www.linuxforums.org/reviews [...] eview.html

OpenSuSE is kewl http://mirrors.kernel.org/opensuse [...] rrent/iso/

http://gnuman.com/content/view/61/28/

If you want something stable ( and several versions behind ) for server use check out CentOS http://mirrors.kernel.org/centos/4.3/isos/x86_64/



Be sure to check out: http://distrowatch.com/


A good x86_64 distribution can run 64bit and 32bit code and can also run other operating systems using VMWare, QEMU, DOSBox, WINE, Cedega and many others.

http://www.vmware.com/products/server/

http://qemu.org/

http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/news.php?show_news=1

http://winehq.com/

http://transgaming.org/ aka Cedega


Linux can also emulate other architectures such as Power PC, ARM, Sparc, Commodore 64 and many others as well as game consoles (Nintendo, Sega and others).

Whatever Linux cannot run natively it can run in a Virtual Machine or in an emulator.

The underlying operating systems can use 64bit, 32bit, 16bit or 8bit code if they support it, that of course varies quite a bit.

Windows 64/32/16 runs fine in VMWare and QEMU.

Good Luck :-D

:-D

AMD64s also run 25-75% faster in 64bit mode under x86_64 :-D

:-D

Not only that, but you also have 2 full X16 PCI-E slots with a total of 32 PCI-E lanes + 2 PCI-X tunnels + 2X the RAM bandwidth.

So you could use one slot of a PCI-E RAID controller or up to 2 64bit PCI-X RAID controllers. Since you already have a 3W9500S you could add another one to double your bandwidth -- not that you need to.

The newer 3W9550SX is capable of 800MB/sec reads and 350MB/sec writes in RAID5 with 8 SATA HDDs :-D

Hehe :-D

We both know the 3W9500 is neither slow nor pitiful, it's a still a great controller :-D

I am thinking I will try SUSE out, because Tyan and NVIDIA have drivers for it, and am thinking of taking a look at linux_0 too. I still have a few days for the rest of my hardware to get here, phhh I hate having to double ship to fpoap.

Honestly, I didn't need any drivers from Tyan for my board, all that was needed was already in the more recent kernels, so pretty much every user-friendly distro will be able to recognize all of the onboard hardware.

I also know that almost every distro also includes the nvidia proprietary driver which, as of the latest ones, supports SLI. Even if the chosen distro doesn't include the driver, the latest nVidia self-installer makes it pretty easy to add it.

Again, don't hesitate to ask if you run into issues or questions.

Absolutely correct! It is completely possible, but it was difficult enough and riddled with horror stories of lost data (tsk tsk tsk they shoulda known better!) that even a hardened Linux veteran decided it was a little too dicey. As a result I ended up getting the hardware-based RAID card in my specs in my sig, which was much easier but still not a cakewalk. Plus, the kinda fiddling you would need to get things running would require a less friendly but more powerful installation method, something not advisable for a first-time install unless you instantly want to be discouraged.

If you really wish to use RAID, in Linux the way to go is either software-based (which actually provides awesome performance but can be tricky to setup if you want to use those disks for RAID for both Windows and Linux) or hardware-based (can be very expensive but also the easiest way to dual-boot two RAIDs on the same devices). NVRAID is somewhere in between the two and is generally only advisable if you only plan on using a RAID array for Windows-only access.

@linux_0: I really should keep more up to date on what the distros are doing these days, I should have figured that they weren't including the drivers (like mp3 support) for legal reasons. That's what happens when you post when tired.... time to take a ride and releax.

For my raid, I will probably let windows be on the raided drive, and install Linux on the other drive hopefully I will be able to give it access to the raid drive though. I was planning on getting an additional raid card a little bit down the road, but that’s not in today’s forecast. Still waiting on the hardware, I will post an update once something happens.

A fine idea to separate the OS's. If the Windows RAID is done via the on-board NVRAID, some setup may be required (haven't used some of the more recent "introductory" distros). A fine Ubuntu-specific guide, look at the "FakeRAID" section for the part that applies to NVRAID, and a bit denser but pervasive general guide.

Also, please consider these points:

1) With RAID0 (the most common one around here) you will only see marked benefits when accessing large blocks of contiguous data (i.e. video editing, engineering/scientific apps that are chewing on large datasets)

2) Access NTFS in Linux is safe for reading, but writing to NTFS is still genereally avoided (as such many distros just don't permit it with the configuration tools). As such, the strategy that I've always used is to create a FAT32 partition, preferable on a non-RAIDed disk, that will give both OS's read and write access to shared area. Even with read access-setup via system tools may be required (as linux_0 said) and are somewhat distro-specific.

3) Windows will not be able to see your Linux partitions as anything but unknown partitions (without some 3rd-part software, and even that has it's limitations) Another reason to have that FAT32 partition.

Some hints I always use for pre-Linux disk setup.

You likely have an Nforce 4-based chipset and that is supported by Linux kernels >= 2.6.10, which means any distribution made in the last year or so. My NF4-based machine runs just fine out of the box with no drivers needed (save for the NVIDIA GPU binary one for the TwinView.)

I third the recommendation to use a 64-bit OS as it is a bit faster than a 32-bit one and will handle more than 4GB and you likely will install more than 4GB in the future with that dual-dual setup.

If the kernel is 2.6.14 or later, you can also use the 9590se line of 3ware/AMCC cards. I've just been really pleased with the performance of my 9500.

Well, since each lane is 2.5 Gbps (raw) => 2 Gbps (actual) = 250 MB/s, save for burst rates I really doubt a 1GB/s actual throughput is going to be the limiting factor, but more is always better.

I guess I did presuppose what types of arrays would be used, but as you said earlier it is a moot point as he's using SLI.

Quite a stout setup. I believe that I have PCI-X B relegated to... running my SoundBlaster Audigy2 ZS hangs head in shame (since I just don't feel comfortable sticking the card so close to the intake of the 7800GT above it). If I ever did install a new card, I'd likely move the SoundBlaster to the PCI slot.