e-GeForce 6200

Thats the box my graphics card came in. Not the sexiest looking box, not like my motherboard’s box, but plain and simple can be appealing. She has 256megs of Ram.

As for Linux? When I first installed Kubuntu I had to set her up as a “Generic Graphics Card” with 256megs of Ram, but afterward’s through the Adept system update program I was able to download and the install the proper Nvidia drivers. After doing this you have to restart X, so I just rebooted. After the reboot, she went through her standard boot up routine except for a large white screen with the Nvidia logo that breifly appears before the welcome screen. So yes, she’s 100% compatiable. I picked out an Nvidia card on purpose because according to the forums i’ve looked at online most people have recomended Nvidia over ATI for Linux because they say they have better drivers. True? I don’t know, but she works very well. How fast is it? I’ll be honest, I can’t really tell you. As far as bench marking programs go, I haven’t really looked, much less found one for Linux. I’m sure one does exist somewhere, and if I find one I’ll post it on this site. If it makes you feel anybetter about how fast she is in my computer, she breezes though all of the OpenGL screensavers. Is that a big accoplishment? Probabaly not, but it makes me feel better either way. It is afterall more than my last computer running Linux could accomplish. So if you need a card this one from EVGA is a great choice, albeit Linux or Windows. (Windows compatiability is guarenteed so I have no fear in saying that.) Enjoy! 

Update on my router.

UPDATE: This router has been for me 100% compatiable with Linux. Do note however I don’t manage the router through Linux, instead I use my computer running XP for that. However using Firefox through Kunbuntu Linux, you can still do it. I guess its just easier for me to do on this (my computer running XP) than it is through Linux.

Managing the router by the way is very easy. Just type its IP address in the address bar of a computer attachted to it, and thier a graphical menu you can go through and change your Firewall settings, WEP or WPA settings, and everything else I can think of that you would want to do with your router. Enjoy! 

My Motherboard

Thats the box for my Biostar Motherboard. Its the K8T8-A7 model with support AMD64 processors. For hardware it takes Socket 754 processors (Athlon 64 and Sempron), upto 2 gigs of 400mhz DRR Ram, has IDE and SATA harddrive capability, 8x AGP, with 5 PCI slots, and 1 CNR slot, while supporting RAID 0 and 1, and finally has 6 channel onboard audio.

Linux compatiablitity? Excellent. Kubuntu Linux took it right up and I haven’t had a glitch since. I’d definatly recomend this board to anyone looking to buy a Athlon64 processor. I’m currently running a 3700+ in it now. As that would have it the 754 won’t accept any higher a procesor than that, so i’ve pretty much maxed her out in that realm. At 3.7ghz though, you’ll scream though just about anything except the toughest games, which for I don’t believe for most is a huge deal in Linux. The way it looks to me at the moment from what i’ve seen online, most people dual boot with XP if their also into games. Its a single core processor as well, so you’ll have to get another motherboard if you want multiple cores. Slackware linux also booted up just fine with this motherboard; for any Slack fans.

I currently have 1 gig of ram, a 3700+ processor, 1 harddrive, 2 cd drives, a modem, and an 8x AGP Nvidia graphics card hooked up to her now. With power coming from a 500watt Ultra PS. 

Nothing Today, but something tomorrow

Sorry, I didn’t get a chance to post anything today, but I’ll get some stuff up tomarrow the 31st for sure. Thanks!

My Processor Key Chain

OK, so this isnt related to Linux at all, but I saw it somewhere online and decieded to it too since I had one I was going to throw away anyway. Thats a 1.8Ghz Pentium Celeron your looking at, dated 2002. Funny how it only took three years for this processor to go from a piece of modern technology to a key chain, huh? Make me laugh anyway. Well anyway here’s how I made it. First I drilled through the existing hold in the corner of the processor and then took a screw driver and a hammer to the pins on the back, basicly scraped them off. As a novelty item this is rather amusing, but the sharp points on the corners stab my legs through the pocekts of my pants. I was thinking maybe take a rotary tool (Black and Decker Wizard) to the corners and round them out? I don’t know though, we’ll see. Enjoy! 

D-Link Wireless Router

For someone who has never set up a network before and holds no certifications from Cisco this makes for an excellent start to a home wireless network. Running at 54mbits (G) its plenty fast… for now anyway. Although i’d like to have one that runs at 108 I worry that my DSL connection isnt fast enough to warrent wireless internet much faster than this. Pages load almost as quickly on my sisters laptop, anywhere in our house, as they do on here on our main computer. This may sound stupid for veterens, but in case you didn’t know, you don’t have to have any certain computer on to still have internet wirelessly though the house. The router is completely independent from computer, and connects directly to the modem. Making a setup pretty much like this:
–> Computer
Internet —> DSL/Cable Modem —> D-Link Router —-> Computer
–> Computer

The back of the router has four ethernet cable ports for computers that are that close to the router. My house now has a total of four computers in it. Three with XP and one with Linux (Kubuntu). All three of the Windows computers (two laptops, and a desktop) all work perfectly so far with the router so far. As for my Linux computer… well she’s not quite up and running at the moment, but I will come back to fix that, I promise. This is after all a Linux blog. I have no doubts about it though. Thats all for tonight I guess, Enjoy! 

My Case

This is my case that ordered. So far there have only been two or three real downsides to it. The window fan tunnel that supposed to connect to the processor dosent connect, and the case in the front dosent fit the holes. Its an 80mm according to Ultra and the people who make the fan, but it dosent line up. I think im just going to Gorilla Glue the fan to the case. I’m not sure what else I can do. As far as the processor fan coming out of the window, I’m going to look for some nuts to hold the srews so that I don’t have to have that stupid tunnel taking up space in the case. It gets in the way of the power cabels, for those of you who have never had a case with a tunnel, I wouldn’t recomend it, it’s not worth it. Its not worth it for me anyway. If your motherboard just happens to line up properly, then I guess its alright. 

Me

Me 

Christmas follow up

As mentioned before the computer is up and running. I’ve purchased a black floppy disk drive and a black Lite-On 52x CD burner. Two things a computer just can’t live without. Those are the last two orders from Tiger Direct I swear it!

It took me roughly two hours to get the computer together. I borrowed a lot of parts from the old DELL I was running with. Word to the wise, if your borrowing parts from a DELL keep the power tools handy, it took me almost an hour just to tear into the case and get all the parts I needed from it.

The build got off to a bad start actually. The motherboard comes with a template for the rear panel, and the case also comes with a template for the rear panel. I did not know how to remove the old template and get the new one in. Luckily I removed it with brute force without damaging my new case. After that it took me two times to figure out how to properly screw the motherboard to the new case. This is my first build from scratch so I guess a lot of the “dumb basics” of it are still missing from me :-/ ! After that it came together fairly well. I installed the ram and the graphics card without trouble. It was only then I realized I would have to take the motherboard back out to install the new Mascool heat sink I bought for the Athlon 64 processor. After taking the motherboard back out, a third time, and installing the heat sink and processor, I finally put everything together for the final time. Final time so far anyway. After getting everything successfully put together I downloaded Kubuntu (the 64-bit edition) and burned it to a CD. Its nice only having to burn one CD for Kubuntu as opposed to the 2 for Slackware. So far I really like Kubuntu. Its clean, simple, friendly, and defiantly worth a look. Slackware is still an excellent operating system though, I would still recommend it for sure.

Booting the computer for the first time brings up the BOIS screen, I fumbled through it but didn’t do anything. I tried several times to update the BOIS to the new version, but I can’t figure out how. I think I’ll post on LinuxQuestions.org to see if I can get some help with this. The CD autoplays in Windows, but something tells me Linux won’t be quite so simple. I finally had to reset the jumpers to figure out how to get back into the BOIS, you have to press DEL as opposed to F2 or F10 like I’m used to. Petty stuff like that is to be expected.

Finally all of the hardware I have up and running so far is 100% compatible. I, after one day of use, have had no problems with it. On the other hand though, I don’t have the Nvidia graphics card installed with the right drives from Nvidia, and I somehow managed to disable my ethernet card during the install and now the settings menu won’t let me enable it. Other than that, software wise, I have had no problems! Install was a breeze.

Enjoy!!

Christmas has arrived!!

Well its Christmas Day! I have revieced all of my new computer hardware and have finally (after atleast 3 hours) peiced it all together and I have it up and running. I’m hoping to have pictures up soon. I’ll come back for alot more later, i’m still setting up the new D-Link Router and my sister’s new laptop