[Discuss] Just initiated a new PC buy with Edge

[Alan W. Irwin]

Barbara and I have decided to buy a new Linux PC because we want to reduce
the computer noise in our office, we need more disk space (at least for
backups), our present equipment is getting really old, and we want to
replace it before catastrophic failure.

Here are some details you might be interested in.  Our two present systems
are an older shuttle (bought used several years ago) and a 2001 era 
classical 600 MHz Athlon box which is incredibly noisy. Each of these PC's
currently run independent Linux operating systems.

I will be running the new near-silent PC directly, and Barbara will be using
it indirectly via the old shuttle configured as a Linux thin client
(X-terminal) with essentially the same access and display speed at her
keyboard as I have at mine. That will allow us to retire the 600-MHz athlon.
Eliminating that large source of computer noise in our office should make a
tremendous improvement in the quality of our office life.

Another advantage of the thin client idea is all application software runs
on the PC and not the thin-client (which only runs X software to transmit
mouse moves and keystrokes to the PC and display the results on the
thin-client monitor). So the sysadmin task for the thin client (using LTSP
software) is essentially negligible, and the overall sysadmin work is
essentially halved from our current situation of maintaining two independent
Linux PC's.

One drawback of the current shuttle is it does not do 3D effects on Linux
(the graphics chip has 3D functionality, but the SiS corporation that
supplies that chip makes that functionality only available to MicroSoft).
Barbara is currently not too interested in 3D "eye-candy" for the desktop,
but if/when she changes her mind or when the shuttle gives up the ghost we
can look at what specialized hardware is available for 3D-capable
thin-clients.  That will presumably be a couple more years down the road,
when specialized, top-of-the-line, 3D-capable thin client hardware hopefully
will be more plentiful than now.  During my present search for such hardware
I found zillions of 2D-capable thin clients (typically for $100), but I
could only find one 3D-capable thin-client possibility (for the order of
$400).  It was not clear that it was really available because you had to
sign your identity away filling in a massive form with all sorts of personal
information to get them to even quote an exact price.  Needless to say, I
didn't go through that procedure.  This is why we are converting the shuttle
into a 2D thin client at this time rather than buying new 3D-capable
thin-client hardware.

Here is the hardware package for the new near-silent PC we are buying
from Edge computing (a small local chain of computer stores).

Intel e6550 processor (duo-core, 2.33 GHz, low power, low heat, and
therefore low noise and yearly power costs)

2 gb Crucial ddr2 667mhz (good quality ram, life time warranty)

ASUS P5K-V motherboard with Intel g33/ich9 chipset

Lian-Li PC-A05b case (all aluminum for light weight & small form factor)

Sparkle (Fortron) Server grade PSU (400w true)

Noctua s775 CPU Cooler (very high quality cooler)

Seagate 7200.10 500gb SATA2 7200RPM (lowest noise ratings) = ST3500630AS??

Pioneer 212 DVD-RW SATA

Ports that will be available from the back of the case are the following:
1 x COM
1 x PS/2 keyboard port
1 x External Serial ATA port
1 x Coaxial S/PDIF Out port
1 x VGA port
1 x IEEE1394a
1 x LAN (RJ-45) port
6 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
8-channel audio ports

Edge gives an overall 1-yr limited warranty where they will deal with all
the various manufacturer's warranties, and pay for labour and shipping if
anything breaks.

Edge does not offer a VLUG discount, but I was satisfied with their overall
price which was roughly $350 more than the price of the raw, unassembled
hardware components and $150 more than comparable assembled systems I could
buy off the internet without taking account of shipping costs, border fees,
etc. I like using local computer firms whenever possible since having that
local contact is worth something extra in my opinion.  However, historically
I have had some outrageous prices quoted by local firms for computer
equipment so you have to watch out for such local rip-offs.  However, in the
Edge case that does not seem to be happening at all, and instead they have
what appears to be a slim but reasonable margin with this deal which is
fine with me.

For now, for backup of data on the new large disk I will use the 80GB disk
in the shuttle until our use of the large disk exceeds 80GB (which may take
even another year or so since our actual current data size is much smaller
than 80GB and that drive is actually mostly filled with multiple backups of
our data). After we run out of backup space on the 80GB drive, I plan to buy
at least one 500GB external hard drive to store backups.  (See the previous
interesting thread on vlug about this large disk backup option.)

On Tuesday we finalized the above order with Edge and there
is a good chance the new near-silent PC will be assembled late this week,
burned and tested over the weekend and ready for pickup early next week.

Edge were willing (for an extra fee) to attempt to install a Linux distro on
the new PC, but they make no guarantees of Linux compatibility so I did a
lot of compatibility research before hand.  That was made extremely
difficult by the near cutting-edge nature of some of the above hardware
components, and the lack of good documentation of what hardware works with
Linux.  (Unfortunately, the hardware compatibility HowTo at tldp is an
extremely dated joke by now.)

The Intel g33 chipset with X3000 graphical media accelerator is fully
supported by X.org.  Intel has revealed all X3000 specs and helps to support
some of the developers working on the X.org driver.  Searching the Debian,
Ubuntu, and LKML lists for g33 bugs indicate there have been some recent g33
problems with 3D, but it appears if you use the latest kernel and latest
mesa, you will be all right.

The IHC9 chipset natively supports 4 SATA II interfaces.  Searching LKML for
ICH9 and SATA indicated a lot of patching activity starting in kernel 2.6.18
or so with it beginning to tail off now so my guess is SATA II will be fully
supported for the latest kernels.  I am not quite so sure about the
additional JMicron chip that provides some legacy PATA support (which I
don't need) as well as one internal SATA and one external SATA port.  There
are a lot of LKML hits for JMicron, but I didn't pursue it further.  Anyhow,
if it doesn't work now the kernel types seem to be on the case and it will
almost certainly work in the future when I will probably need that external
SATA port for the external disk mentioned above.

I use the lm-sensors project to monitor hardware health.  That project does
support ICH9, but the question that is difficult to answer until I try it is
how well? The lm-sensors developers have an excellent track
record of dealing with problems, so if there are any current issues for the
relatively new ICH9 chip, I am sure the lm-sensors team should be able to
sort it out.

The sound chip on the ASUS P5K-V is a Realtek ALC883.  That appears to
be fully supported by recent Alsa versions.

The gigabit LAN chip on the ASUS P5K-V is the Attansic L1 for which there
is the atl1 kernel module that has been supported for a number of recent
kernels.

I am somewhat concerned by the Linux compatibility of the Pioneer 212 DVD-RW
SATA drive, but the growisofs project says the vast majority of modern
drives are Linux compatible, and the reviews of this drive have been awesome
so I decided to take a chance on it.

I have already decided after a couple years of trying it that Ubuntu is not
really right for my needs since it (rightly for new users) tries to hide
details that might confuse new users. However, I am not a new Linux user (to
say the least, :-) ), so I far prefer the up-front detailed control of my
distribution that I get with vanilla Debian. Since the above hardware set is
uncomfortably close to the cutting-edge of Linux compatibility, I plan to
use nothing but the latest kernel and latest Linux software to minimize or
eliminate possible Linux incompatibility issues.  Thus, to install Debian I
will use the lenny (Debian testing) installer to install Debian testing, and
I will report back here on Linux compatibility issues that I discover if
there are any.

The last computer I bought was the used shuttle in 2003 so the above new
hardware buy is my first _new_ computer buy since 2001. I think it is really
going to be nice for both of us to get that reduction in noise in the office
as well as the chance to run the latest feature-filled Linux software on top
of such a powerful new system. So aside from the remaining (hopefully
unjustified) anxiety about incompatibility, it feels like Christmas may come
early next week for us this year.  :-)

Alan
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Alan W. Irwin

Astronomical research affiliation with Department of Physics and Astronomy,
University of Victoria (astrowww.phys.uvic.ca).

Programming affiliations with the FreeEOS equation-of-state implementation
for stellar interiors (freeeos.sf.net); PLplot scientific plotting software
package (plplot.org); the libLASi project (unifont.org/lasi); the Loads of
Linux Links project (loll.sf.net); and the Linux Brochure Project
(lbproject.sf.net).
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Linux-powered Science
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