DIY PC & Ubuntu help, pls
I am seriously considering building my own desktop PC using parts from Newegg and installing Ubuntu as my OS of choice. Does anyone reading this have experience with this? I need to know that I have someone to go to with questions since I've never done this before.
I did build my own desktop. The important thing is to look up compatibility issues before. Lot's of info to be found on the web. The installation of Ubuntu, came after working with Microsoft for some time..
so: the best advice: just get information from the store.. the actual building part is not the hardest.. mostly you get enough guidelines and info with the packages.
Good luck
Are you curious about the building part, or the Linux compatibility part?
Linux compatibility with Ubuntu is pretty damned good - just make sure to get a recent nVidia card and a "sound+ethernet" onboard motherboard to simplify your life. Google should happily tell you whether anyone's having issues with the mainboard that you're looking at.
I'm happy to give assistance if you need it. You can shoot me an e-mail if you run into any issues or have any questions. My last build was an Athlon X2 box and I've recently built an Intel Core2 Duo server for work… so.
Good luck, and you're bound to have a good time!
I have installed Ubuntu on several machines and taken parts from old machines to build a decent Ubuntu server.
Like Jordan said, go with an nVidia video card. AMD recently released ATI GPU specifications. However, nVidia has had better support in Linux for a while now.
Also if you need wireless, do not get an adapter that is built on the BroadComm chipset. While you can usually get the adapter to work, it is typically not supported out-of-the-box in Linux (even Ubuntu).
The Ubuntu forums are also a great place to find information and fixes on issues you may experience.
I also have a decent amount of experience with both building desktops as well as with Ubuntu compatibility. I ran into some major issues with it (well, back in the 5.xx days) and my laptop, but for desktop it's pretty safe. As mentioned, I'd stick with the nvidia cards.
Well guys, here's a big question… if I'm getting one of these newfangled dual-core processors, should I go with AMD or Intel? Mind you, I'm thinking AMD is very affordable and powerful enough for what I need.
I built my desktop pretty recently,, and I can't argue with the processor I got…the Intel E6600. But the Athlon 64 X2 6000+ seems to be about as fast, and much cheaper too. It all depends on your price range.
In regard to everything else, I reiterate the comment about Broadcomm wireless cards. Hopefully you don't have to worry about that. Driver support for everything else is pretty good, and if you're not playing games I'd even think about going with integrated graphics. Else, nvidia is the king for now (despite the release of ATI GPU specs).
I think that AMD still gives you the most bang for your buck. I've got an Athlon X2 system here at home for gaming, and I think it runs great for a lot less money than equivalent Intels.
Personally, I'd go with Intel. I used to say AMD, but Intel seems to have all the fancy additional things first. So, for my money Intel. Any other questions about computer building or Ubuntu and I can help you out.
Okay guys, I'm opting for the AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz since it's cheaper than a comparable Intel. What I'm wondering, however, is if building your own PC is really cheaper than buying one… it seems like all the parts combined will put me a little over $1,000, which I guess is good for the things I'm getting but it's still not that much cheaper. Here's all the parts I'm looking at:
Apparently all this stuff is compatible with Ubuntu… it's likely I'll end up partitioning the hard drive so I can run both Vista and Ubuntu, but I definitely want to make sure that Ubuntu will actually work.
Nevermind, I did the MATHs and I'm still saving at least $200.
One thing to note, as well, is that you're putting in quality components. A pre-built retailer is going to use the lowest-grade components possible in order to make each machine as cheap as possible.
Off the top of my head, since this is just before I go to sleep, the second google result for " ASUS M2N-E SLI linux" is someone complaining about audio issues. I've never used that particular mobo, so I can't really say - but the google reslts don't look too promising. Anyone else used it?
I have not used that particular motherboard.
The other side of Jordan's point on a retailer using lower-grade parts is that if you were to purchase it from a retailer like Dell, it would work out of the box.
As far as pricing out building vs. purchasing pre-built - I priced out a Dell XPS 410N with Ubuntu and upgraded to 2g RAM at $670.00. However, that includes a 128MB nVidia GeForce 8300 GS rather than the card you were looking at.
I noticed that early on Jordan, figured at first to just ignore it but then I decided to go back and look at mobos again, and ended up dropping that one for this Gibabyte mobo . It has a Linux BIOS which people are saying very good things about.
I also dropped to the 2.6 Ghz AMD for $40 less, since I'm really going over what I expected to pay here XD
Oh, and I really looked at desktops Will, and it's a mixed bag. The Dells are a little more expensive and not that attractive. All the other companies have horrible desktops. I even looked at Apple and considered going dirt cheap with a Mac mini but those things don't have graphics cards which is a serious limiting factor. And the iMacs are wayyy too expensive. So I'm pretty much set on building my comp.
Once you know, you Newegg.
DISCOUNT FOR COMBO #51332 ($-30.00)
Extended Warranty Fee: $0
And then there's about $80 worth of mail-in rebates which might be honored, so that's pretty good for the features I'm getting! I'm really excited about this! Thanks for the advice everyone! Now I know who to pester if Ubuntu gives me any trouble
P.S.: I chickened out and got Vista 64-bit Home Premium, for the games and some hardware compatibility… I'm still going to dual boot and I fully expect Ubuntu to work with everything, we'll see.
Looks like a very nice box that you've got shaping up there Christian. NewEgg is definitely one of the best online retailers for computer parts. Their prices might not always be the lowest, but you can expect high quality shipping procedures and speedy arrival in addition to their kick-ass customer-reviews.
Wrt installing Ubuntu and Vista - don't skimp out on the Vista partition size! The vanilla OS install alone can eat up around 8 Gigabytes with more being piled on with every update.
Also, be sure to read up on NewEgg's LCD return policy. Personally, I buy my displays locally just to be able to easily take them back in the event of a bad pixel out of the box. That being said, one of my friends recently picked up a $700 widescreen LCD/HDTV from NewEgg that makes me envious every time I see it.
Will; You're totally right! You're not really getting less hardware while they're pocketing the markup - they're providing support, assembly and a host of other useful things with the "markup". As an IT administrator, I always use pre-built Dell systems for low-level deployments. Only servers and my own home machines get my special attention.
Jordan: I just sent them a message that I would like to cancel the 19" monitor in exchange for a 20" that supports 1680×1050 resolution for $15 more… I realized that if I'm moving from my laptop to a monitor that I may as well avoid downgrading my resolution!
And I plan to do the partitions half-n-half, so 125 gigs each, since I will probably put both OS's to equal use (dev & graphics on Ubuntu, gaming on Vista). I keep all my music and videos on an external 250 gig drive, so I can get by very nicely with 125 gigs in each partition. Down the road I hope to buy a couple more HDs and give the RAID option on the mobo a shot… that will be a lot nicer than having to rely on a backup utility.
RAID's not really a substitute for a good backup policy. It's more of a "few steps better than having nothing at all, and more easily recovered if it works than backup". It won't save you from fires or hardcore hardware failure. Also, if a drive gets some corrupted data then a RAID-1 will happily propagate that error to the other disk.
Your partition scheme sounds very generous. With all of your "data" being on an external disk, you shouldn't run into any troubles at all. You could probably scale back the Ubuntu install quite a bit, but if you can live with 125 in Vista-land then you should be more than happy.
Good call on the monitor. $15 for a much higher resolution is not a bad deal at all - considering that you're likely to keep the monitor with you for many computer-generations to come.
You're going to be posting build pics for us, right?
Jordan: Good points, I'll keep that in mind. I might do as you said and scale back the Ubuntu half somewhat… something else I was wondering though, isn't it possible to make a third partition that's shared by both operating systems?
Oh, and I will certainly take pics of the whole build process.
I think it is going to be an awesome machine Christian! You will be much happier with the 20" monitor also.
An yes, my laptop has a 3rd "storage" partition that is formated as fat so that I can share it between the two operating systems.
Sort of. You can use a third Fat32 partition and have it read both by Vista and Ubuntu. The main issue is that it lacks any sort of security or file permissions. To tell you the truth, I don't have any experience with dual-booting Linux&Vista in. I either use Linux or Windows on a machine, never both.
NTFS support might have advanced enough that you can easily read/write with abandon. This is easily verified by using the Install Cd on an existing Vista install and seeing what you can do to the local disk.
… the Fat32 partition I mentioned should have been "third Fat32 partition and have it read AND WRITTEN by both…". Has anyone tried modern NTFS support in Linux?
I know Ubuntu will read NTFS by default and there are ways to write to it in Linux, I just haven't tried them.
The other downside to fat32 is the max file size of 4gb. However, it may not be an issue for your needs.
It's easy peasy dude. Seriously. Snag some Seagate drives, two of them in hardware Raid
Slap a Core2Duo in there, and a nice amount of RAM, and you're golden.
Good luck, shoot me an email if you have any questions I totally wouldn't mind helping out/
Just got done building my PC, and it's badass. Bought everything from Newegg, of course. Except I am running Vista with a Ubuntu virtual machine. It's the only way to get a new computer - build it yourself. I'll be posting my specs later.
What you have looks good, except I'd definitely go with Seagate HDDs rather than WD and an Intel Core 2 Duo Proc (with virtualization support)
I tried the NTFS-3G drivers on Ubuntu (now in the feisty repos). I had problems where when I rebooted sometimes the fstab config file would revert to the read-only driver, and it was a pain. I was pretty noob @ linux/ubuntu when I tried this, so maybe I'd have more success now, but I decided to use VirtualBox to run XP in virtualization since I don't need it for gaming, etc. I moved all my NTFS partitions over to ext3, and use VirtualBox shared folders to move stuff between the two OS's.