Where to buy hardware?

Stedwick · n00b Joined: 28 Jul 2006 Posts: 1 Location: New York

Okay, I'm thinking of setting up a Gentoo MythTV box and, while I'm at it, I'm thinking of building my own computer. Never done it before, but I'm pretty computer savvy and I think it will be fun (yes, I think this sort of thing is fun lol, and I bet most of you do to).

Anyways, where should I buy the hardware? I feel like if I know what I'm doing, it won't be TOO expensive. I've been looking at TigerDirect.com, is that a good place? What do you recommend?

Okay, that's my main question, now some other less important questions.

This will be my first non- Suse, Mandrake, Ubuntu, etc linux venture, because I want to learn the ropes and learn what is REALLY powering my computer, and how to use the terminal, etc. Is Gentoo good for this? Seems like it, which is why I'm looking at it.

Also, people tell me that Slackware is good, but that it's not as customisable as Gentoo and that it's hard to make a minimal install. For some reason, it just doesn't look as fun. But if you have good things to say about Slackware, let me have it =P Also, people tell me that Debian is "old fashioned" while Gentoo is "new fashioned"...

Last thing, let's say I want to set up a basic linux box as a file (mp3s and movies) server or something. It looks like I can get old crappy computers (like a Dell Optiplex) for $100 or so on eBay. Is that what you guys would do? (hehe, another "where to buy hardware" question).

Oh, one last thing: why are networks so SLOW? What I mean is, the internet is really fast, FTP is really fast, VNC is fast, but you go to My Network Places and double-click on a networked computer and it takes FOREVER just to load the contents of one directory, even though the two computers are physically sitting right next to each other and on the same LAN. What the heck? Shouldn't that be the fastest?

Thanks for all your help!

Stedwick

Monkeh · Veteran Joined: 06 Aug 2005 Posts: 1656 Location: England

Headrush · Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2006 3:14 am Post subject:

I buy at tigerdirect.ca which is the Canadian branch and they have always been decent. Delivery speed is excellent and generally price is pretty comparable but you can find better deals if you want to look around.

I have had to return items, (not due to there fault), and has always been simple and no issues.

Edit: I buy stuff on ebay all the time too. Just a couple things to check out: watch out for elevated shipping rates, always check the specs yourself, don't rely on the listing, and never rush to a decision. Many items look like a deal on ebay, but after calculating everything you find its not such a deal.

snakeo2 · Veteran Joined: 01 Jan 2006 Posts: 1237

www.newegg.com www.pricewatch.com, and tiger, good places to browse.
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wah · Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2006 7:45 pm Post subject:

www.zipzoomfly.com - free shipping on most items (at least in the US)
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djdunn · l33t Joined: 26 Dec 2004 Posts: 812

www.mwave.com
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DZello · Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2006 12:11 am Post subject:

The best canadian online shop is http://www.ncix.com. They also sell to US customer: http://www.us.ncix.com.

Stay far away from Tigerdirect! Their support service his probably the worst on earth!
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