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From: wcb on 4 Aug 2006 07:23 I had a bad electrical storm hit and fried a UPS. My main computer seems to have taken a hit and is rather flaky now, dead CD-WR, flaky hard drive, possibly other problems. I am on my backup 450 mhz Pentium II machine. I can't get the main system to reload and use KPPP for some reason. I have not paid attention to what is latest and greatest as far as systems. I am thinking of an AMD system with about a gig of ram. I want to avoid 64 bit OS's. What would be a good basic machine? I prefer PCI slots as I have stuff. Not the newer slots. AGP if possible. I don't really need an expensive gamer's type machine. Who is making good motherboards that work well with AMD and Linux? Who has trouble free motherboards with fewest issues? What would be a good CPU to look at for biggest bang for the buck? Is dual core worth anything on a Mandriva Linux OS or is it a fancy sounding luxury with little actual application and no reason to spring for? What's hot for a home builders steady but not fancy (or expensive) system? Mainly word processing, internet, occasional music and CD burning. What is working well here for Mandriva users on a budget? -- "The world holds two classes of men -- intelligent men without religion, and religious men without intelligence". - Abu'l-Ala-Al-Ma'arri (973-1057; Syrian poet) Cheerful Charlie
From: Aragorn on 5 Aug 2006 14:07 On Friday 04 August 2006 13:23, wcb stood up and spoke the following words to the masses in /alt.os.linux.mandrake...:/ > I had a bad electrical storm hit and fried a > UPS. My main computer seems to have taken a hit > and is rather flaky now, dead CD-WR, flaky > hard drive, possibly other problems. > I am on my backup 450 mhz Pentium II machine. > I can't get the main system to reload and use KPPP > for some reason. Ouch, man! I've had a similar situation a few years back - I've mentioned it a few times in other threads here - so I know how that feels... :-/ > I have not paid attention to what is > latest and greatest as far as systems. > I am thinking of an AMD system with > about a gig of ram. I want to avoid > 64 bit OS's. Well, most AMD systems going over the counter today _are_ 64-bit systems, so it'd be a bit silly to stick to 32-bit operating systems, in my humble opinion. ;-) > What would be a good basic machine? > I prefer PCI slots as I have stuff. > Not the newer slots. AGP if possible. Then you want an ATX motherboard, not a BTX board. The latter are constructed so as to allow a more efficient airflow - the components are located in different positions - and typically have PCI Express (PCIe) slots. Some of those still have an AGP slot as well. There still are of course a lot of workstation- and server-grade motherboards, which typically have PCI and PCI-X slots - mine has such a board - and PCI-X is fully backwards compatible with PCI. > I don't really need an expensive gamer's > type machine. > > Who is making good motherboards that > work well with AMD and Linux? Well, if you want to go for AMD, then you can of course already rule out Intel as a motherboard manufacturer, but Intel motherboards are very decent boards. I believe that MSI makes some very good AMD boards. I would recommend something that has the nVidia nForce chipset over other chipsets for AMD, as the nForce doesn't have a separate North and South Bridge anymore. It's one chipset and thus operates a lot faster. > Who has trouble free motherboards with fewest > issues? MSI, Abit, Asus... ;-) > What would be a good CPU to look at > for biggest bang for the buck? Those would of course be the AMD's. Their dual-core designs seem very interesting - I'm not up-to-date on the naming conventions, however. > Is dual core worth anything on a Mandriva > Linux OS or is it a fancy sounding luxury with > little actual application and no reason > to spring for? This question actually suggests that you don't fully understand the concept of dual-core CPU's... Well, a dual-core CPU is basically nothing other than two CPU's mounted on one chip. So for all intents and purposes, one could say that it's an SMP machine, and the Linux kernel loves SMP. ;-) Of course, the question you should then ask yourself is whether you need SMP, because this will only benefit you if you're going to use the machine for some serious multi-tasking that would otherwise slow down a single-CPU or single-core CPU machine. For single-tasking work, SMP won't really benefit you. > What's hot for a home builders steady > but not fancy (or expensive) system? > > Mainly word processing, internet, occasional > music and CD burning. That doesn't really strike me as warranting SMP, except maybe for music decoding. Compiling for instance is also something that would benefit from SMP, hyperthreading or dual-core, but surfing and word processing won't. > What is working well here for Mandriva users > on a budget? I'm sure you'll get lots of suggestions, but my advice is always to go for quality. You'll pay (slightly) more, but you'll have more benefit from it in the long run. ;-) -- With kind regards, *Aragorn* (Registered GNU/Linux user #223157)
From: ray on 5 Aug 2006 15:57 On Fri, 04 Aug 2006 06:23:52 -0500, wcb wrote: > I had a bad electrical storm hit and fried a > UPS. My main computer seems to have taken a hit > and is rather flaky now, dead CD-WR, flaky > hard drive, possibly other problems. > I am on my backup 450 mhz Pentium II machine. > I can't get the main system to reload and use KPPP > for some reason. > > I have not paid attention to what is > latest and greatest as far as systems. > I am thinking of an AMD system with > about a gig of ram. I want to avoid > 64 bit OS's. > > What would be a good basic machine? > I prefer PCI slots as I have stuff. > Not the newer slots. AGP if possible. > > I don't really need an expensive gamer's > type machine. > > Who is making good motherboards that > work well with AMD and Linux? Who has > trouble free motherboards with fewest > issues? What would be a good CPU to look at > for biggest bang for the buck? > Is dual core worth anything on a Mandriva > Linux OS or is it a fancy sounding luxury with > little actual application and no reason > to spring for? > > What's hot for a home builders steady > but not fancy (or expensive) system? > > Mainly word processing, internet, occasional > music and CD burning. > > What is working well here for Mandriva users > on a budget? FWIW - got an Everex system from WalMart shortly before Christmas. It's an AMD system. It was about $350. Running Ubuntu on it currently.
From: Peter on 6 Aug 2006 01:28 wcb wrote: > What would be a good basic machine? > I prefer PCI slots as I have stuff. > Not the newer slots. AGP if possible. Whatever you do, avoid ATI Radeon video cards and chipsets. Except for old versions, direct rendering / hardware acceleration is not available on Linux. It can show basic display, but not very good. Even if you're not doing gaming, a decent graphics card is nice for screensavers and for various visual effects with some apps. HTH Peter
From: wcb on 5 Aug 2006 02:33
ray wrote: > On Fri, 04 Aug 2006 06:23:52 -0500, wcb wrote: > >> I had a bad electrical storm hit and fried a >> UPS. My main computer seems to have taken a hit >> and is rather flaky now, dead CD-WR, flaky >> hard drive, possibly other problems. >> I am on my backup 450 mhz Pentium II machine. >> I can't get the main system to reload and use KPPP >> for some reason. >> >> I have not paid attention to what is >> latest and greatest as far as systems. >> I am thinking of an AMD system with >> about a gig of ram. I want to avoid >> 64 bit OS's. >> >> What would be a good basic machine? >> I prefer PCI slots as I have stuff. >> Not the newer slots. AGP if possible. >> >> I don't really need an expensive gamer's >> type machine. >> >> Who is making good motherboards that >> work well with AMD and Linux? Who has >> trouble free motherboards with fewest >> issues? What would be a good CPU to look at >> for biggest bang for the buck? >> Is dual core worth anything on a Mandriva >> Linux OS or is it a fancy sounding luxury with >> little actual application and no reason >> to spring for? >> >> What's hot for a home builders steady >> but not fancy (or expensive) system? >> >> Mainly word processing, internet, occasional >> music and CD burning. >> >> What is working well here for Mandriva users >> on a budget? > > FWIW - got an Everex system from WalMart shortly before Christmas. It's an > AMD system. It was about $350. Running Ubuntu on it currently. I tend to build my own. I have some humongous full server cases (10 5 1/4 bays) and use carts for my hard disks. Matrox cards and usually Promise TX2 cards for more IDE ports. Big cases have lots of room and lots space for fans. And goodies like up to 4 hard disks, DVD, CD-RW, sound card front panels et al. -- "The world holds two classes of men -- intelligent men without religion, and religious men without intelligence". - Abu'l-Ala-Al-Ma'arri (973-1057; Syrian poet) Cheerful Charlie |