beginners question about building a desktop
I am thinking of assembling a computer for debian linux. I was going
to use it
for music composing, and coding, and various things. I was hoping to
load a
64bit system on it. I have not assembled a computer before, though I
have
replaced drives, etc. I have installed linux (debian, RedHat, ubuntu)
many
times before. I was thinking of buying the following.:
Shuttle SG31G2
mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3320613AS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA
3.0Gb/s
Hard Drive $70
Intel Q6600 Processor
LG Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 10X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-
RAM 16X
DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache ATAPI / E-IDE Super
Multi DVD
Burner
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
After I assemble this I hoping to hook up a floppy disk to it, and
then start the debian
install from the floppy disks (I have the debian floppy disks
required).
I was hoping to get feedback on what people felt about the above,
especially
people's criticisms as to my (beginners) choice of hardware. Also:
Will this model of Shuttle work, will debian recognize all the
hardware?
Is the cooling sufficient?
Will I need any BIOS updates before the thing will work?
Is the choice of IDE vs SATA for the DVD burner a wise one?
Can it boot off of an IDE drive?
Any sort of gotchas would help.
Thanks.
Re: beginners question about building a desktop
Rico wrote:
[color=blue]
> I am thinking of assembling a computer for debian linux. I was going
> to use it for music composing, and coding, and various things. I was
> hoping to load a 64bit system on it. I have not assembled a computer
> before, though I have replaced drives, etc. I have installed linux
> (debian, RedHat, ubuntu) many times before. I was thinking of buying the
> following.:
>
> Shuttle SG31G2[/color]
I can't make up the exact details of the chipsets used in that particular
barebone, but why don't you opt for one of their GNU/Linux-certified
barebones instead?
The */SD30G2/* is fully supported by Shuttle for use with GNU/Linux and can
even be bought pre-assembled with SuSE Enterprise Linux pre-installed.
[color=blue]
> mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)[/color]
That should be good enough for a 64-bit distribution.
[color=blue]
> Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3320613AS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA
> 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive $70[/color]
Seagate is good stuff.
[color=blue]
> Intel Q6600 Processor
>
> LG Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 10X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-
> RAM 16X
> DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache ATAPI / E-IDE Super
> Multi DVD
> Burner[/color]
I would personally recommend an SATA unit over an E-IDE unit. In addition
to SATA having a faster bus, you could then also disable the IDE controller
in the BIOS and free up some IRQs. ;-)
[color=blue]
> After I assemble this I hoping to hook up a floppy disk to it, and
> then start the debian install from the floppy disks (I have the debian
> floppy disks required).[/color]
You /could/ do that, but why not use a bootable CD/DVD? Just download
the /.iso/ file, check the /md5sums/ or /sha1sums/ - so that you can rule
out download corruption - burn it to a quality brand blank CD/DVD at low
speed - so that you can rule out burning errors - and then boot up from it.
[color=blue]
> I was hoping to get feedback on what people felt about the above,
> especially people's criticisms as to my (beginners) choice of hardware.
> Also:
>
> Will this model of Shuttle work, will debian recognize all the
> hardware?[/color]
As I wrote higher up, this is very difficult to ascertain without having
tested this myself. The type of barebone you are listing is not advertised
on Shuttle's website as validated for GNU/Linux, while they _do_ offer
barebones that are, as I've mentioned higher up as well.
Yet, there is a great chance that most if not all of the hardware will work.
Things that /could/ be problematic - again, I don't have all the data on
this configuration - would in that case be the wireless networking chipset
- if it's an Intel, Orinoco or Atheros chipset, it'll most certainly work.
I also don't know what kind of video chipset is used in these barebones. As
such, there might be a chance that you need to separately download a
proprietary videodriver in order to get hardware 3D support, but 2D will
never be a problem.
If all else fails and if you can live without the 3D acceleration, you can
get any video adapter to work in VESA mode.
[color=blue]
> Is the cooling sufficient?[/color]
That's pretty hard to say, but I reckon it will be, or they wouldn't be
selling it. :-)
As an extra precaution, you can always scout for a Zalman, CoolerMaster or
Thermaltake heatsink and extra fans, but of course, the more fans you have,
the higher the noise level will be. I don't like noisy fans either, but if
I have to choose between adequate cooling and lower noise, I always go for
adequate cooling.
[color=blue]
> Will I need any BIOS updates before the thing will work?[/color]
I don't think so. Most motherboards come with a recent-enough BIOS version.
[color=blue]
> Is the choice of IDE vs SATA for the DVD burner a wise one?[/color]
In my humble opinion, I would go for SATA, for the reasons I've stated
higher up.
[color=blue]
> Can it boot off of an IDE drive?[/color]
Yes, of course. They can all do that. :-)
[color=blue]
> Any sort of gotchas would help.[/color]
The only real /gotcha/ I see is that there is no way of knowing in advance
as to whether everything on the motherboard is fully supported for use with
the Linux kernel (while a certified Linux-compatible model does exist). It
would have been easier if you could have told us what chipsets the
motherboard uses. :-/
Another possible /gotcha/ is that you have to be careful not to zap the
motherboard, so make sure that you've earthed yourself while installing the
stuff inside that little chassis.
When applying heat-conductive contact paste on the processor before mounting
the heatsink, don't use too much of it and spread it out evenly with your
finger. Then make sure that you mount the heatsink tightly to the
processor, but without using too much force - you will bend the motherboard
and possibly rupture some of the solder or the thin electric pathways if
you do.
Lastly, a 64-bit distribution usually requires installing some libraries in
a 32-bit version (alongside their 64-bit siblings) in order to get some
plugins or codecs to work properly, mainly from proprietary software
developers who refuse to either open up the source code or develop 64-bit
versions of their software.
Normally however, your distribution should take care of this for you, but it
may be handy to remember that when upgrading certain parts of your
installation with newer packages.
Hope this was helpful... ;-)
--
*Aragorn*
(registered GNU/Linux user #223157)
Re: beginners question about building a desktop
The chipset for the SG31G2 is Intel G31 + ICH7. Zareason builds a
Ubuntu linux computer
based on the SG31G2, though I don't know what they've added, possibly
nothing.
Re: beginners question about building a desktop
Rico wrote:
[color=blue]
> The chipset for the SG31G2 is Intel G31 + ICH7. Zareason builds a
> Ubuntu linux computer based on the SG31G2, though I don't know what
> they've added, possibly nothing.[/color]
Then I don't see any objections as to why you couldn't use this barebone for
a GNU/Linux installation, given that you keep my other recommendations into
account. ;-)
P.S: Might I give you some advice with regard to Usenet? :-)
(1) Try using a real newsreader, connected to a real newsserver - there are
plenty of free newsservers if your ISP does not provide for one. Many
people are filtering out Google Groups posts because of the fact that
Google Groups posters tend to be quite clueless and think that Usenet *is*
Google Groups, or some webbased "forum", and due to the fact that many
trolls post through Google Groups in order to mask their true whereabouts
and identity.
(2) Always include some content of the post you are replying to, so that
other posters immediately know what you're talking about without having to
read the previous posts in the thread.
(3) When following my advice in (2), do not top-post. Top-posting is when
you write your reply at the top of the message and leave the post you are
replying to dangling at the bottom of your message. That way, people who
are new to the thread or whose newsservers have dropped the original post
for some technical reason - e.g. a temporary network glitch - won't have to
scroll down to below your reply, then read from there to the bottom, and
then scroll back up all the way to the top and read from there again to
know what the debate is about and what you are replying to.
The proper way to reply is to use an interleaved style, i.e. you reply to
the individual paragraphs or even individual sentences by writing your
reply underneath the quoted paragraph/sentence (and before the next quoted
paragraph/sentence). And while doing this, you should trim out the
irrelevant (or no longer relevant) sections of the post you are replying
to; there's no need to quote everything, only just enough to allow anyone
to get in on the conversation and know what is being discussed. :-)
(4) If you feel that you might have better chances at posting to multiple
newsgroups, then use crossposting instead of multiposting. Crossposting is
when you write one post and put multiple groups in the "Group" field.
Multiposting is when you write an article and send it to a newsgroup, and
then send an identical copy of it to another newsgroup.
The advantage of crossposting is that there's less overhead, and that people
subscribed to both (or all) groups you've posted your article to will only
have to read it once, because a newsreader recognizes crossposted articles
- Usenet posts all have a unique message ID, and if an article has been
read already, the newsreader will not download it a second time if the
header shows up in another newsgroup.
It is however advisable to keep the total amount of groups you crosspost to
limited to around four max. Many people filter out posts that are being
sent to more than four groups because of the trolls and spammers, who do
that sort of thing.
There are plenty of other such guidelines, and there are also plenty of
people who just do as they please or who would even start debating over the
right policy for posting to Usenet, but the above guidelines are the ones
accepted to be the most efficient ones throughout most of the Usenet
community. ;-)
If you're interested, you can find more information here...:
[url]http://www.faqs.org/docs/Linux-HOWTO/Usenet-News-HOWTO.html[/url]
I personally use /KNode/ as a newsreader. It comes with the KDE desktop
suite and can be used either as a standalone application or embedded
into /Kontact./ Other popular GUI newsreaders are /Pan/ and /Thunderbird./
One advantage of the above newsreaders for instance is that the words that I
spell delimited with forward slashes will show up in italic font, the words
delimited by underscores will be underlined, and words delimited by
asterisks will be in a bold font. Google Groups does not interpret those
formatting characters. :-)
Among the non-GUI (character mode) newsreaders, /slrn/ is a very powerful
and very popular one, and it allows you to pick an editor of your choice to
compose your messages with, from /mcedit/ or /nano/ over to /emacs/
or /vi(m)./ ;-)
Hope this was helpful... :-)
--
*Aragorn*
(registered GNU/Linux user #223157)
