Over the past few weeks, I have been building myself a Desktop. It took me a while to locate and verify components which would work without issues in Linux. Any component reported to not behave nicely with linux was discarded.
It also took me a while to determine what exactly I wanted, since I am not really a gamer, but I also wanted a machine which I would not have to upgrade in a hurry. So, here is what I bought.
The Specs
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* Foxconn NF4SK8AA Motherboard with nvidia nforce4 controllers
* Processor - AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3700+
* Graphics Card - Nvidia 6600 GT
* Audio - Onboard, nvidia Ck804
* Ethernet - Onboard, CK804 Ethernet Controller (rev a3)
* BenQ 20.1″ LCD monitor
* TV Tuner Card - Sabrent TVFM with remote
* IDE Harddrives
I originally had It took me a while to get it set up, with the motherboard and the original graphics card I purchased being incompatible, though it was a pci-express card. So, to cut the long story short, I sent back the processor, sent back the graphics card, got a new graphics card! And then it was all good.
Operating Systems (in order of installation):
1. Windows
2. Kubuntu
Installing Windows
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Windows was relatively easy to install. The base install took very less time, less than 10 minutes or so.
Then, I had to install drivers. Then I had to reboot. Then I installed Service Pack2(I will be using http://www.nliteos.com/ for future installs). However, my computer was protected because the ethernet connection would not work (hey, its not a bug, its a feature!). Finally, after hunting for drivers on the net for about 3 days, I found something which works correctly.
The tvtuner card would not work with drivers supplied with cd. I had to download updated drivers from website. Also, the tv software which came with the card does not work.
Installing Ubuntu
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I installed Ubuntu Edgy using the Live CD. Installation was pretty painless. The monitor was detected, but the display was not at the best resolution of 1680×1050. However, a dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg fixed that. The nv driver seemed to work decently. The ethernet connection worked right off the bat, and this was how I confirmed that it was not a hardware issue.
Removed ubuntu-desktop by removing libgtk2.0-bin (does apt-get autoremove work for this?) and installed kubuntu-desktop. Used EasyUbuntu to install codecs.
tvtuner card was detected. both tvtime and kdetv work very nicely. Remote control works almost out of the box with the kernel handling the remote control button presses as keyboard events. I cannot use lirc without major recompilation of the kernel, some hacking etc which I obviously dont want to do. I need to figure out how/what tool to use to add the scancodes of the remote control.
Conclusion
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Comparing the two systems, base-install + drivers + apps, (K)ubuntu was far easier to install than Windows. Linux installation finished in about 30 minutes, and in contrast, Windows took much longer to install. For the first time, I felt that driver support was better on Linux than on Windows. Wow, things have progressed well in the past few years.
As more and more companies start making their applications for Linux, I think we will be closer to closing bug #1.
Comments 5
“For the first time, I felt that driver support was better on Linux than on Windows. Wow, things have progressed well in the past few years.”
Sure, but then you had been investing a lot of time to make sure you got hardware known to work with Linux …
Posted 20 Dec 2006 at 2:58 am ¶Yeah, the real difference between windows and linux is that when you think that the install is finished on windows, you’ll have to spend a few more hours to make everything work and to install all the apps you need.
On the other hand, Ubuntu’s install may seem a bit longer, but when it’s done, it’s done. And you have all your programs ready.
(please excuse my english, I’m French)
Posted 20 Dec 2006 at 3:58 am ¶Just to mention that it’s a good thing to publish/write about components that “work” under linux.
Posted 20 Dec 2006 at 9:08 am ¶We should promote as much as we can on vendors that actually support linux.
It’s impressive at what point, when hardware is supported, installation of a linux system, especially ubuntu (:p), can be dead simple.
I had the exact same experience a couple of weeks ago. My ubuntu powered laptop was on its knees due to all the beta
crapsoftware I had installed. I couldn’t even do my course projects (3d .NET programming, I was using mono + tao). So I thought I should install windows until the project was finished. And I did. On the third day (!!) after the install I had done all the Windows Updating and finding, installing, uninstalling, reinstalling (due to MS crappy “you can’t install .NET SDK 1.1 if you have 2.0, but the other way around is ok”).NET SDK, network, sound and graphics drivers. I installed ubuntu again in 30 min, did all the updates in 5 min, installed the dev pkgs i neededThe worst part is that after a 60 min installation of XP, from the CD that was actually delivered with the computer, neither the wireless network nor the wired network worked, at all!
The best part is that, WHILE INSTALLING Ubuntu, I could use the internet with firefox and gaim. Now, that is awesome.
Posted 20 Dec 2006 at 6:40 pm ¶I had that issue with nvidia cards+Breezy, and figured out that it was the nvidia drivers. Also, when my display crashed I accidentally removed the nv driver and had to reinstall it again. I have to admit it is a bit patchy and looking forward to see whether you have the same problems as I did. Watch out for startup screen hang in Kubuntu if you change the background (happens rarely, but happens nonetheless)!
Posted 03 Jan 2007 at 11:54 pm ¶Post a Comment