Is my hardware supported?

[Linux-Newbie]

Hello! I'm switching to Kubuntu from Windows in the near future, and I'd like to know if my hardware is compatible, given connecting to the internet will not be an option when I am installing Kubuntu.

My hardware is as follows:

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Motherboard: Asus P5N-E SLI NVIDIA Socket 775 ATX Motherboard / Audio / PCI Express / Gigabit LAN / S/PDIF / USB 2.0 & Firewire / Serial ATA / RAID

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6320 1.86GHz / 4MB Cache / 1066MHz FSB / Conroe / Dual-Core / OEM / Socket 775 / Processor

RAM: Crucial Ballistix Dual Channel 2048MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz EPP Memory (2x 1024MB)

Wifi Network Adapter: Zonet ZEW1602 PCI Wireless Adapter - 54Mbps, 802.11g

Video Card: DiabloTek Radeon X700 Super / 512MB DDR2 / PCI Express / DVI / VGA / TV-Out / Video Card

Hard Drive: Western Digital / Caviar SE 16 / 250GB / 7200 / 16MB / SATA-300 / OEM / Hard Drive

DVD Drive: Lite-on LH-16D1P-187 / 16x DVD-ROM / 48x CD-ROM / Black / Internal / DVD-ROM Drive - Retail
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Excuse me if this does not go here, I'm new to this forum, and I'm fairly new to Linux, I've only had experience installing Xubuntu on a older machine. :P

If it belongs somewhere else, feel free to move it!

[mchuskie]

Re: Is my hardware supported?

Should be a very happy machine to have Kubuntu installed on it, from first glance It even looks like your wifi card is supported, though only through ndiswrapper (there are no native Linux drivers), so it could take a little bit of work to get it working.

The best way to see if things work is to download & burn a Kubuntu CD and use it to boot... no need to install unless you're happy.

[dibl]

Re: Is my hardware supported?

I recall there were issues with Lite-On CD/DVD drives a while back -- you might want to search on that model here and on Ubuntu Forum (hardware support is pretty much the same for Ubuntu and Kubuntu). JamesM is right -- you should make a Live CD and play around with it that way, and see if everything seems to be working as you want it.

[SheeEttin]

Re: Is my hardware supported?

Everyone talks about trouble with Lite-On drives, but mine worked out-of-the-box. (Rather, out-of-the-bubble-wrap, it was OEM from Newegg.)

[Linux-Newbie]

Re: Is my hardware supported?

Great, I'll look for a little documentation on ndiswrapper. Internet is definitely something I want to get working, though I suppose I could always connect via ethernet cable if I wanted.

I've got a live CD (I think it is, aren't the Kubuntu downloads live CDs? Or are those just the CD for installation?) sitting in my cabinet, but before I use it I have a question. Once I put a live CD into a older computer. it won't boot into Windows now. Though I did not put it in when Windows was running, I put it in before powering the computer. Perhaps that is why? Will a LiveCD at all effect the Windows partitions?

As for Lite-On drives, I'll take a look at that.

Thanks for the help!

[Snowhog]

Re: Is my hardware supported?

If you in fact, have a LiveCD, it will not affect your existing OS or partitions - it runs completely from the CD. That's the beauty of the LiveCD - you get to test without risking your current OS in any way. Only if, and until, you actually select to Install from the desktop of the running LiveCD system will anything be written to your hard drive.