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Old 17th May 2011
Vetus Vetus is offline
Port Guard
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Bay Area, CA USA
Posts: 12
Default Well, to answer your question...

My uses are as follows:
1. Surf the net as safely and anonymously as possible.
2. Send full screen video files, youtube clips, movies, TV shows ect., from PC to my LCD TV/DVD recorder setup to watchand record (via component, composite, or s-video connectors). Main goal is to replace moneypit Comcast with Internet-TV freesites, like Hulu.
3. Convert PAL & SECAM TV shows and DVDs to NTSC format. Also use of 'screen capture' & 'frame grabber'.
4. Burn CDs and DVDs (including bootable ones) and copy them.
5. Manipulate photos using Photoshos CS3 and GIMP.
6. Light word processing using Word 2003, Abiword, etc.
7.Secure online shopping
8.Print out Google photos to B&W Laser & color inkjet printers.
Again, I'm not interested in software/OS advice, which is why I resisted detailing this before. I've already chosen all operating systems, and see no reason to reinvent the wheel. Linux Mint 10 will be primary OS; XP Pro SP2 with BrowserLinux (on partition) is secondary; and PC-BSD 8.1 is tertiary OS.
In addition, I'll trial FortressLinux, Ultimate Edition, PinguyOS and various live CDs like Vatlator. Don't need any more operating systems...my plate is full. This post is solely for suggestions of hardware that will be compatible with Linux Mint 10, XP Pro, and PC-BSD.

This is how far I've gotten with hardware:
case: full-size tower...maybe Antec?
CPU: Phenom II x4...or Athlon II x4 as 2nd choice.
motherboard/chipset: ATX form factor. Non-integrated type. As many expansion slots as possible. Dual-BIOS (Gigabyte? Asus?). Support of 'fully buffered ECC RAM' & 'hard disk autodetection'. At least one PCIe slot. SATA2. eSATA. FireWire. USB 2.0. Gigabit ethernet.
Hard drives: three HDDs, probably Western Digital. HDD#1 is regular/internaltype, 500GB, dedicated to Linux Mint 10; HDD#2 is SATA mobile rack, probable 750GB for XP Pro SP2 +BrowserLinux on partition; HDD#3 is SATA mobile rack, 500GB, for PC-BSD 8.1.
Floppy drive: Apparently XP Pro requires it in emergency.
Optical drive: Plextor PX880SA
DVD burner: All format DVD/CD combo
Graphic card: nVIDIA I guess.
TV tuner: whatever works with all three operating systems.
Sound card: Asus Xonar D2, if possible!
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