RJM62
Touchdown! Greaser!
- Joined
- Jun 15, 2007
- Messages
- 13,157
- Location
- Upstate New York
- Display Name
Display name:
Geek on the Hill
I needed to set up another Ubuntu workstation in my office and was going to just build a box, but I happened to stop at Office Depot and saw this machine on sale for four hundred bucks after rebate. I said to myself, "Rich, that's less than what you would pay for parts," so I bought one. They had another one on sale -- an HP, I think -- but it had ATI video. I prefer nVidia, especially on Linux machines.
I got home and booted into Ubuntu Live (Feisty), and everything important worked with no configuration at all. The el-cheapo PCI winmodem doesn't, but I don't need a dialup modem anyway and can easily replace it if I ever do need one.
The test having been successful, I deleted the Windows partition, started the Ubuntu install process, and took a shower. When I was done, I had a perfectly functional Ubuntu machine.
The nVidia video works great once you enable the restricted drivers (takes about three seconds). I played TuxRacer (or "Planet Penguin," as they now call it) for an hour or so just to make sure. The sound and NIC work fine, as well. I didn't test the card reader, but Linux sees it, so it should work fine. Same with the LPT port. Everything else seems to work just fine.
I suppose it would play DVD's beautifully, too, if I were to install VideoLAN and libdvdcss2, just speaking theoretically of course.
So basically, all I had to do was download updates, install the software I wanted, and configure Samba. Make a really nice Ubuntu box, and I couldn't have built one for that price.
Rich
I got home and booted into Ubuntu Live (Feisty), and everything important worked with no configuration at all. The el-cheapo PCI winmodem doesn't, but I don't need a dialup modem anyway and can easily replace it if I ever do need one.
The test having been successful, I deleted the Windows partition, started the Ubuntu install process, and took a shower. When I was done, I had a perfectly functional Ubuntu machine.
The nVidia video works great once you enable the restricted drivers (takes about three seconds). I played TuxRacer (or "Planet Penguin," as they now call it) for an hour or so just to make sure. The sound and NIC work fine, as well. I didn't test the card reader, but Linux sees it, so it should work fine. Same with the LPT port. Everything else seems to work just fine.
I suppose it would play DVD's beautifully, too, if I were to install VideoLAN and libdvdcss2, just speaking theoretically of course.
So basically, all I had to do was download updates, install the software I wanted, and configure Samba. Make a really nice Ubuntu box, and I couldn't have built one for that price.
Rich
