BDI hardware requirements?-- was What's a BDI -- was Re: Gekkos

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@y..., Ray Henry <rehenry@u...> wrote:

>
> BDI is based on the open source Linux operating system but
> it is more than Linux. It includes ...<snip>...
>
> The BDI-2 series uses packages mostly from the Red Hat 6 Linux
> distribution.
>
> BDI TNG runs with the Red Hat 7 series of Linux
> releases ...<snip>... This package requires quite a bit
> more computer than the more stable version.

How much more computer? Roughly what is needed in terms of CPU
type and speed, RAM, and disk, for BDI and BDI-TNG? I understand
that max step rate, etc., depends on the computer, and more is
better, but what is the minumum? Are there any other hardware
gotcha's for a first time Linux person? I remember reading
somewhere that many of the new "winmodem" modems won't work under
Linux, since they use the host CPU to do much of the signal
processing. Are there video cards, CDROM drives, etc., that also
don't play nice with Linux? I'm at the tentative "stick my toe
in the water" stage with Linux, and I'd like to set up a machine
for experimenting without risking our main home PC, which will have
to remain a windoze machine. I'm thinking of salvaging a scrap
machine from work - it's amazing what they throw out here.

John Kasunich