On 11/09/13 16:07, Paul Stimpson wrote:
Hi Peter,
On 11/09/13 12:21, Peter Alefounder wrote:
I have been considering what new motherboard + processor to get that
will work with Linux without any problems. I like the look of this
one, MSI FM2-A75MA-E35:
http://uk.msi.com/product/mb/FM2-A75MA-E35.html
There days, with the notable exception of the wifi on some laptops and
horrid chipsets like those from SiS, I don't worry about the "will it
work" question any more. I've not installed on any machine in the last
3 years that was a total brick. All my recent machines have been Intel
chipsets, which were very well supported.
As I wrote in previous thread, there should be no problem with any
motherboard, but I will go to Intel platform - all because of AMD
graphics card driver. You are going to use integrated GPU and I am sure
that Intel HD Graphics will be much less problematic. Check this link
http://askubuntu.com/questions/151445/which-ati-amd-or-intel-or-nvidia-graphics-for-unity?rq=1
It has a VGA socket and a sufficient number of USB sockets. It
appears to come with something called Winki 3, "a free Linux-based
O/S which is based on the Linux core". Has anyone any experience of
using that? Is it safe to assume that the board would work with
Debian?
One possible problem that I have noticed is that I currently have a
board that uses a single 20-pin ATX connector. The FM2-A75MA-E35
requires a 24-pin connector and a separate 4-pin 12v CPU power
connector. I will have to investigate whether my PSU has a 4-pin
connector. Maplin have an 20 to 24-pin adaptor, and for that to
work, no extra voltages would be required. So why was the change
from 20-pin connectors made and would I be better advised to get a
new case or PSU?e
I generally reckon on 3-5 years' life for a PSU. If your PSU is older
than 3 years then I would pension it off or, more likely, get a new
case so my new toy is shiny too. If your PSU is that age, it may not
have SATA power connectors for newer drives either. Has the old PSU
got enough watts for the stuff you intend to put into the machine? If
the machine has legacy PATA (IDE) drives then they are probably
towards the end of their service life too and you would get better
performance, and freedom from the worry the drives are going conk out
on you, from going to modern SATA drives.
New processors - and in case of upgrade also graphics cards - are using
mostly 12V line, while old components used 5V line. As you had old
Athlon configuration and you don't have 24pin connector your PSU
probably is not good for modern setup. Check cheap FSP 300W PSU units (I
don't remember exact model number, check maximum power on +12V line) or
go to XFX 450W/550W Pro PSU - very good, reliable and quiet power
supplies - I have three of them and no problems at all.
The web page also gives links for a number of drivers. Are boards
supplied with the latest drivers or would I have to install these,
something I have no idea of how to do?
It's been my experience with Ubuntu that almost every driver is
already rolled into it so it should just be a matter of install-and-go.
You usually don't need any drivers for motherboard. Extra drivers are
required mostly for graphics cards and some wireless adapters, but in
Ubuntu there is easy application that informs you about available drivers
I gave up building new machines a while back. I found that I just
couldn't replace the board, RAM, drives, graphics card and PSU for
less than I could buy a well-chosen new machine. Have you looked at
the Dell Outlet Store (go to Dell.co.uk, go down to the navigation box
towards the bottom of the page and you will find the link at the
bottom of the first column). They sell production-failure and
warranty-return machines there that have been fixed and retested. You
only get a 3 month warranty but the price is very good and I'm of the
opinion that if it lasts past the first month, it's a good machine and
it's generally not going to self-destruct. I would see how much you
could get an equivalent or better brand-new machine in the outlet for.
What is your intended use for the machine? I'm into 3D rendered games
and handling video. The highest performance CPU I could find that
would fit in that board was a dual core. For my usage, I would
consider it a little underpowered.
Bests,
Paul.
At the end, if you are Debian user, but you don't feel very safe with
starting with new Debian from scratch, I am suggesting that you should
try Ubuntu (or K/X/Lubuntu) - it is Debian based, have very good support
and work just out of the box while Debian needs much more configuration.
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