New Computers and Geeking with Linux

posted by Heath Buckmaster on January 10, 2008
Just before the winter holidays I decided to splurge a bit and buy a new computer. I had been wanting to re-purpose my old machine for some flavour of Linux, so I felt that was a good enough excuse. And it was about time for me to upgrade my Pentium* 4 - I was tired of my geek friends telling me all about their new Core 2 Duo* systems.
So here are the specs of the new system, which came pre-installed with Vista Ultimate (32-bit version):
Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo processor E6550 (2.33GHz)
4GB DDR2-667MHz dual channel SDRAM
256MB NVIDIA* GeForce 8400GS
500GB SATA HDD
DVD+- SuperMulti drive (can basically write to any kind of media)
15-in-1 memory card reader
Sound Blaster* X-Fi Xtreme Audio I also threw in a new 20” wide-screen monitor since there were discounts for getting packaged bundles, and because I like to be able to see 10 windows at the same time.
Quick thoughts about ordering a PC online:
No matter where you go to buy a PC, the ordering process is usually online and you can just point and click your way through options, upgrades, downgrades, or sidegrades. If you want a faster processor, just click to upgrade and you can see how much more that costs. The downside to some retailers, however, is that they often choose which components they will package together. You can upgrade some things, like memory, but you don’t get an option on the type of video or sound card you want. The only way to get around that is by building a system of your own, which I’ve done in the past, but I just don’t have the time to do it any more. For me, online is the most convenient way to go. Initial impressions of the new system:
It’s fast. Gosh it’s fast. When I click an icon to load an email or word processing program, it’s like the computer knows I wanted to do it before I did, and the program is open and running. I have been asking for this kind of PC-Precognition for decades now and it’s finally here. Is this the first step toward real artificial intelligence? I don’t know, but if my PC could read my mind I think I’d be pretty worried - could a PC AI handle someone with OCD and ADD? The thought scares me. The hardware just works (why can’t my car be this way?). Everything is seamless - the DVD drive works perfectly no matter what kind of disc I put in it; sound is excellent; video is crisp; memory…well, memory remembers. It’s just a very well built and well performing computer. Over the years I’ve had computers from many of the major retailers, and they have each had their own quirks, but overall I’m pretty pleased with what you can find when you shop around.
Then I was off to rebuild my old system (which is a Pentium 4 HT, 1GB RAM, 300MB HDD, and running Windows XP) to Linux. There are so many flavours to choose from. (By the way - you can read a bunch of open source posts over here on Intel Software Blogs: http://softwareblogs.intel.com/category/oss/, or read about Intel’s Software Development on Linux) I already have a server at home that runs Debian, and I’m familiar and comfortable with it, so that’s what I tried first. But then my geek nature got a-hold of me, and I wanted to see what else was out there. The first alternative I tried was Kubuntu, a derivation of Ubuntu that uses the KDE desktop instead of GNOME. It, like Debian, was easy to install with a burned CD, and I was up and running in less than 30 minutes - very impressive. But then the practical side of me took hold, and I realized that I like consistency. 30 minutes later and a fresh new copy of Debian was on the box, as an exact mirror to my other server (and in about 1 hour I had set everything up so they could be semi-warm swaps). Using the network install option I booted a minimal CD that pulled everything else it needed off the network, installing only what I specifically wanted (I love that flexibility). It was a breeze and Debian runs like a dream on a Pentium 4 with 1GB RAM. It has office productivity, can access bluetooth, webcams, and printers, and displays beautifully on a 19” wide-screen monitor. But no…the geekiness didn’t stop there. I have an old Sony Vaio* notebook from almost a decade ago and it was aching for some attention. Unfortunately, it does not come close to the minimum requirements for most of today’s operating systems or memory/processor intensive applications. It sports a whopping 128MB of RAM - less than my video card has, and with a Celeron* processor that runs at about 300MHz (yes that’s right, there’s no “G” in that Hz), even installing a simple program can take forever. I don’t blame the laptop of course - in it’s hay-day it was super fast - back when operating systems could function well in 32MB RAM this thing was blazing. But today, if you don’t have at least 1GB on your system your geek friends will laugh at you. Kubuntu would not install on it - the memory requirements told me I had to have more than 128MB RAM for a system installation. Debian fared a bit better since it can run the installer within 128, but the hardware is so old that much of it didn’t function - and who makes drivers for systems that are a decade+ old? The operating system loaded just fine, but the networking card I had was useless. I was filled with frustration. I slapped on a copy of XP. Surprisingly, it did install, even though it took nearly 4 hours. No, I’m not kidding. 4 hours. There really are some systems that aren’t meant to run the latest operating systems. I guess I should have left Windows 98 on it which ran beautifully. But who doesn’t like to blow away and reinstall their system from time to time? I know people who rebuild their systems every 6 months on a schedule.
So now I’ve got two Debian servers, one Vista Ultimate machine, a wireless pocket pc running Windows Mobile 5, and a 10 year old laptop that actually runs XP quite well. (The hint here is to use the laptop to remote desktop over to the Debian/Vista boxes - that way I’m using the processor on the laptop only to draw the screen, not to run any other apps) Add to that two wireless networks, one for use when I’m inside the house and the other for my evenings/weekends in the cabana in the back yard, and I’m set for computers. My next project will be to wirelessly stream music, video, and pictures from my desktop to the stereo/TV in the living room. I don’t currently own any products that do that, and am hesitant to drill holes in the wall and run cables from my computer’s video out card to the stereo system…my dream is that one day every single device in my house will be wi-fi or Bluetooth* and just integrate without excessive configuration. The way technology is going, I don’t think that dream is far off.
So what do you have in your digital home / office? Do you collect as many computers as you can, or do you function with only one system? What’s your next cool gadget for your home? Can you wow us and the other readers with your “home of the future”?
* Brands and products mentioned in this post are trademarks of their respective companies. * Debian screen-shot (debian1.png) and wireless network (Wireless_network.jpg) used under free license via Wikimedia Commons.