Build / Donation for Mexico

[kleinwl]

My brother in law is a priest in Guajalaria, Mexico. The church is kind of focus point for the community, which is somewhat poor. I am planning on donating a computer for him to use for the office, and the kids to get online and do homework, etc.

I still have to pick the hardware, but to save costs, I am wondering if there is any open source (lunix) software available in Spanish that I could load on this machine, and still be compatible with normal printers / open source office software.

If anyone has recommendations for the office software that would be helpful as well.

Thanks!

Note: Just for reference:
Sempron 2800+ 754 system
80GB IDE HDD
Integrated graphics
DVD-RM
Lexmark Z170 Printer
15 or 17" monitor

 

[wpshooter]

IMO, if your time has any value to you, I advise you don't go down that road !!!

 

[kleinwl]

I've been reading the posts about the various distros (such as Ubuntu) which tend to make me believe I will have to spend a bit of time setting up the computer...

But I am conserned about the support. Most of the people using this machine will be total novices (ie. rarely even seen a computer) and I would hope that linux would be fairly user friendly. My expectation would be that I would spend alot of time configuring the box and then lock it down to the point that they wouldn't be able to break it.

What do you think is the chances of this working?

Otherwise, I'll just have to try and see... if it's too hard, I'll just pay for XP and Office.

 

[hooflung]

I totally disagree with wpshooter if what he means by his vague statement is that Linux isn't what you should do.

You should shoot for Ubuntu 5.04 and openoffice 1.5. The printer you should shoot for HPs as they work pretty flawless in Linux. If you ever need to manage the computers I suggest having a SSH VNC client setup and there are some good support threads on the Ubuntu official forums. You will spend just as much time setting up a windows machine for remote, stability and security as you would Ubuntu, if not more. Not to mention the peace of mind that noone is going to install illegal software on the system, without ease anyway, so your brother in law will have a pure, holy system ( which means a lot in the church comunity).

OpenOffice comes in spanish. Ubuntu has Spanish support and Ubuntu has broad hardware support. Click Here For Spanish Ubuntu Screenies
I am assuming the Noted Hardware is what you are looking to invest in?

Sempron to buy

MOBO to buy *despite the 1 bad newegg comment by the newbie*

I did some research on those combinations and it seems that if you get that asus MOBO with the first revision bios the 64bit sempron won't be recognized but will still work. Make sure you flash it before you install Ubuntu. The video card should work because it's VIA and VIA support X.org. Sound should work with onboard audio. The Via SATA is supported, as is the raid option, under Linux.

Along with 512MB of ram you can make a fast, stable machine with relative ease for your brother in law's ministry.

 

[kleinwl]

Big Thanks hooflung!

This is exactly what I was looking for! One question. My english is much better than my spanish... can I load everything in english and switch over to spanish once it is all stable?
Or do I need to run everything in spanish?

I noted that you did some research on the hardware... do you have a link? I want to make sure that the other stuff... printer/monitor/hard-drive is compatible.

Thx!

 

[timswim78]

Señor, usted puede desear intentar "SUSE Linux." Está disponible en muchas idiomas, incluyendo español. Es muy fácil utilizar, y es muy intuitivo para los usuarios de Windows de microsoft. Adiós.

 

[hooflung]

Sorry been hard at work didn't get to reply until now. Links are easily found on google for individual parts of the hardware list from newegg.

Google support for "Linux ***" where *** is the part you want to find out.

Such as "Linux ADI AD1888" or "AD1888 Linux" and "Linux VIA VT8237" and follow the rabbit hole.

All are supported under the current Kernel and ALSA ( for the sound ) so you should be good to go. Not sure on how to change the language to select cause I never tried it... but it should be an easy setting possibly at time of install.

and make sure you go for the x86, aka 32bit, ISO of Ubuntu. If you have a month before the system is ready to ship to Mexico then wait for Ubuntu 5.10 Official.

 

[kleinwl]

Thank you for everything guys!

Gracias por total, Senors!