it isn't easy for everybody.
each of these people probably know something that is very easy for them, but difficult for you.
it's ok; it's diversity. it's good.

Well putting together the computer itself is the easy part. The hardest part would be doing all the research for compatibitly and what to do.

1 members found this post helpful.

Yeah, even so, I've found that the onboard ethernet is almost always a problem. All six of the recent desktop mobos I've bought have had problems with the onboard ethernet forcing me to buy and use a PCI ethernet card for 4 of them. I've also had problems with the onboard ethernet on my netbook. I've also had problems with onboard wifi, and even a wifi card that I bought. Some of the problems also occurred on Windoze.

The mobos were of different makes ranging from ASUS, ASRock, Gigabyte, Intel.

I've been building systems since putting together a '486 system back in the early '90s. (Prior to that I was doing custom upgrades to XTs and '386-based systems but those were obviously not running Linux.) I find knowing exactly what's inside is a big help. I can pick and choose components that are known to be Linux-compatible. While I do use some vendor-built systems, they're typically systems that I know will run Linux and that I've rescued from a fate in a dumpster or the recycler, for me homebrews are the best way to go.

I recently picked up a newsletter but put out by the public library in the town we're planning on moving to. They hold a class on building your own computer. I haven't had a chance to attend any of the sessions and I'm sure it's Windows-centric but it sounds interesting. So somebody thinks it's easy enough for regular folk to learn system building.

I've been building systems since the early '90s so I don't think the class would be particularly educational at this point but I'll likely attend a session to see what it's like. I'm hoping there'll be some interest in some of the attendees in alternate operating systems.

So somebody thinks it's easy enough for regular folk to learn system building.

techreport.com has a handy guide and video on building a computer:

http://techreport.com/review/23624/h...h-report-guide

Good luck, and let us how that goes.

Hi,

You can find loads of cookbooks on 'How to build a PC'. I have been building systems for a very long time. Trouble shooting a build can be a art that everyone may not have that ability. You can check list a trouble sheet but still some experiences and aptitude are necessary. Skill set is very important whenever attempting to diagnose a problem and knowing how to repair same. Diagnosis and intuitive sense will help one to get a new build up and running thus the experience along with the skill set wins out.

Most builds can be up and running in less than an hour for a experienced user. Research will help to insure that system generation will evolve from the parts acquisition that was a composed list before hand. Some hardware oriented sites like tomshardware.com can be a useful aid when certifying of potential hardware.
Hope this helps.
Have fun & enjoy!

laptops:
I've exclusively used laptops lately - and am not sure how to tear one apart - though I have upgraded them.

I only recently de-commissioned a laptop I bought in 2001. It was running XP for my wife and children and only had a 1/2 gig of RAM. It's screen went dark - it has normal brightness for all of 5 seconds after startup then you can barely see it's windows.

I'm not sure how to dismantle it, though. - Perhaps I might be able to find other older machines worth using at a recycling drop off facility??? Dunno.

webserver wish:
I would have liked to be able to create a webserver from an old machine, as I don't wish to spend a lot of money - but I'm not sure how old I can go, before processing power or useability with the latest versions of linux becomes a problem.

Whm1974:
- Don't believe I have - but, it could be that they're not into the effort, and find it comfortable to allow someone else to be on top of things.

If that old laptop only has a problem with the backlight (as it seems to work when you start the machine, have you tried enabling the backlight using programs like xbacklight or light) it would make a fine webserver, if you don't plan to use large databases or similar heavy applications.

These Dell T3400 make good web servers. http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...gement-124.jpg

So does this IBM E50 http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...gement-125.jpg
Edit. IBM M57 or M60 with dual cores are stronger though.
I get those free also.

For the laptop. If you shine a flash light on the screen and see everything.
Either the cable to back of lcd has worked loose.
Inverter for lcd is faulty.
Bad bulb maybe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSCJzA0EBo0

My first build had to have windows and linux, and involved an SiS6326 (When SiS was SiS and not bought out by PC Chips) and an AMD K6-2 350Mhz. Savants and old timers will nod knowingly, and feel my pain.

Every video card of the day had 16 modes which were always there, and every distro maker used these 16 modes for making their distro look fancy on whatever monitor I threw into the mix. Not the SiS 6326 :-(. It simply did not have them.

The AMD K6-350Mhz had this one instruction which it completed superfast - much faster than pentiums or pIIs (which was all we had back then). This resulted in crashes of kernel and windows. The linux Kernel was patched within the week. Windows had the pivotal instruction in their "When to blow myself up" timing loop which always ran, and that barfed with some crazy error "Unable to initialise device IOS." They had some desperate patch in the bowels of their website somewhere.

If you get past that sort of thing, you're fit to build PCs. Sometimes it's much easier, but you can't rely on it.

Hardware has evolved since then and there are far fewer extreme cases like that.

I can remember SiS chipsets not being very good but I had no ideal that they were that bad.

Used to build my own, almost did the last one, but I was getting ambitious about water cooling, which is another whole hobby. After a lot of research and pricing components, cases, hardware, I came to the conclusion that it is actually pretty cost effective to buy a custom made, and you get burn in testing and a warranty too, not to mention more respect from the motherboard manufacturer when their bios is needing a patch.

Hi,

My last build was for a water cooled system. Works great at a good price. Nice!