[Discuss-gnuradio] Recommended PC?

[Bob Collins]

I am just starting out with Gnu Radio and want to purchase and/or
build a PC that will cause me the fewest extraneous problems. I figure
that those of you using Gnu Radio may have opinions on the matter but
I was unable to find anything in the archives.

For the RF-IF, I plan on getting Matt Ettus's USRP. (By the way, I
design with FPGAs.)

Now for the questions:

1) Laptop or Desktop: I would prefer to use a laptop but not if it
adds to the pain.

2) Processor: 32bit or 64bit, AMD or Intel --- any land mines here?
The FAQ talks about speed (1 to 2+ GHz); is this outdated?

3) USB interface: to minimize the bottleneck, the motherboard or USB
PCI card must not constrain the bandwidth further.

4) Linux distribution: I am currently using Ubuntu but is another
choice going to cause fewer problems?

5) Anything else I missed?

Thanks,

--
Bob Collins
Sunnyvale CA USA