Buy Merlwiz A New Computer

[Kendall]

This came up in another thread asking about a 64 bit version of Mint Xfce, so I took a few moments and set up an email and Paypal to try and get enough money to buy Merwiz a new computer. At the very least it would be a great way for everyone to show their appreciation for all the hard work he does, especially considering all his other obligations. Anyway, follow the link below:

Buy Merlwiz A New Computer

And please add the following to your signature:

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[url=https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=buy%2emerlwiz%2ea%2enew%2ecomputer%40gmail%2ecom&lc=US&item_name=Buy%20Merlwiz%20a%20New%20Computer&currency_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF%3abtn_donateCC_LG%2egif%3aNonHosted]Buy Merlwiz A New Computer[/url]

[Aging Technogeek]

Kendall,

Quick work setting this up. You've got my donation.

[mintnoob]

Just a thought to anyone needing a computer, if you don't need the latest and greatest, find a used one on Craigslist. You can always find someone dumping a still good computer for cheap.

If people are concerned about reliability, I find that computers a couple years old are time-tested, so more unlikely to fail. New computers are not time-tested, so it's more of a gamble not get an extended warranty for one.

Anywho, I hope Merlwiz gets the one he wants because he deserves one, just like all the Mint makers do!

[frank392]

does he live in the USA? if yes were?

[merlwiz79]

Thank you to everyone who has or are going to donate.
This was very unexpected
This will mean I should be able to make a 64 bit Edition of Linux Mint 9 Xfce CE.

The obligations that Kendall speaks of is taking care of my wife who has many health problems.
April is going to be crazy for me as my wife has many things going on.
1st she is going to fly to a clinic to get a 3rd opinion about her jaw problems.
Then when she gets back she has to schedule a surgery to remove the ovarian cyst.
I think there is another thing going on but can't remember it at the moment.
I hope that the months after aren't as busy so I can work on Xfce CE Isadora.
I would like to get it out sooner than the last 2.

I currently have a custom built computer.
My Custom Build Specs:
Motherboard: Gigabyte P4 Titan GA-8IPE1000-G http://www.giga-byte.com/Products/Mothe ... uctID=1863
CPU: P4 Prescott 3.2 GHz FSB 800MHz Socket 478 (upgraded to it this year)
RAM 2 Gigs DDR400 (just added a Gig this year)
GPU: Geforce 5700 Ultra 128MB (just changed from a 5700LE)
Hard drives: 5 drives 4 IDE and 1 SATA. 500GB WD, 640GB Samsung, 160GB WD, 120GB WD, 40GB Maxtor(used for testing Xfce CE).

For the newer PC does anyone know which ones to avoid because of problems with Linux Mint/Ubuntu?

[GrayWizardLinux]

merlwiz - sorry to hear about all of the problems - I am in the same boat as you.

I recommend the thinkpads for laptops. you may want a desktop though and those i cannot comment on.

[exploder]

Stay away from the Foxconn A6VMX Motherboard, even after flashing the BIOS twice this thing still does not work right with anything Ubuntu based, (hard lockups at random, smart power led blinking ramdomly). Mandriva and PCLinuxOS 2010 are the only distributions that seem to work with this board. The smart power feature seems to be the culprit and for some reason even disabling the feature in the BIOS does not stop it from trying to work with the Ubuntu based systems. There was talk of Foxconn doing something to the BIOS to deliberately cause problems running Linux.

This thing fried several hard drives until the second BIOS update fixed the problem. The machine would boot up around 8 times with a new drive and then the drive would be dead. Even during the 8 times the system would run it had to be hard rebooted a couple times to even recognize the hard drive. I am stuck with the smart power issue because they have not issued any more BIOS updates. I installed a brand new power supply thinking that even though the old one tested good the +5 rail might be at fault, it was not, it is the oddball BIOS feature.

The board now works, not with the distro I want but after investing in a power supply, new RAM, graphics card (The on-board ATI graphics just were not supported very well...), and several SATA hard drives, I will run with this board until it fries. Stay away from Foxconn motherboards, they are nothing but trouble!

[Superewza]

I'm pretty good at speccing custom rigs... PM me with a budget and some requirements if you want

[idiotkiwi]

Could you please publish the results of the deliberation.

I am finding more and more distributions (including some Mint) will not work on my machine so I am looking at updating MB and CPU and would be grateful for the guidance. Current spec is K8M800 which uses Via graphics and AMD Sempron 2800 so pretty basic.
I will upgrade but will be middle of the range, not top.

Thanks

Euan

[GrayWizardLinux]

I will try to add another $5-10 US this weekend.

[ArcherSeven]

As for computers to avoid: I was working on a Dell ... latitude maybe, I can't remember, when it decided that grub2 was not gonna cooperate. Long story short: Dell does some weird things that causes grub2 to have issues, (Particularly newer Dells, seen the issue twice, never a problem on older Dells) so I'd just avoid them. Got some weird BIOS too. Anyways, just my input. I have an Acer laptop that I adore and run a 64bit version of Arch Linux (though I've run Mint on it as well) on my desktop with an Intel Q6600 gskill RAM 2x2gb, Atheros AR5001 Wireless Network Adapter driver ath5k, that came with my aBit mobo and no hardware problems anywhere. Hope that helps.

[timber]

Hi Kendall
I'm on board as soon as we can manage it, I've been out of a job for more than a year but will try to scrape together enough to for at least a token donation for this.
I think it 's a wonderful plan and want to help bring it to fruition if I can. Give me a little time and we will see what we can do.
The way I see it is that we are all in the same boat ... and Merlwiz has helped us by bringing us a new OS in spite of hard times. The least we can do is to help him do what he does so well, create and make life better for the rest of us. Many thanks to Merlwiz ... we wish you and yours the very best!
Life is not easy for many of us right now but together we can do wonders ... let's stick together to make this happen.

Dave
(aka timber)

p.s. My Sony Vaio has been great, although it's 32 bit ... I'm sure they have a 64 bit version now that would be great.

[merlwiz79]

Please don't donate if you are having a hard time.
I don't want to make it harder on anyone.
There are so many other things you can do to help Linux Mint.
That's one of the best things of open source.

[Superewza]

Precisely why my offer still stands. To be honest if you have above average technical know how (which we all obviously do) then anything other than building your own desktop is a bit silly

[GrayWizardLinux]

sent you a PM Kendall - need an address to send the donation I promised.

[merlwiz79]

Thinking about building the PC.
Dosen't include Hard drive, Graphics card and DVD burner.
Case: $29.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811147109

Power Supply(Unsure): $89.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817182069

Motherboard(I think should work with linux): $84.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131603

RAM: $48.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820134790

CPU(Unsure): $87.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819103847

Graphics Card(Nvidia PCI Express 2.0 x16 with fan): http://www.nvidia.com/object/graphics_c ... y_now.html

DVD burner(SATA):

Clems donation will cover everything posted so far.
Anyone have any ideas/changes?

Also thanks to everyone that has/will donated.

[merlwiz79]

Here is an idea of what I was thinking of getting.
Case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811147109
Hard Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136073
Motherboard(Reviews say it works with linux): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131603
Graphics Card(darxide has it in a Helena install): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814261059
Power Supply: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817182069
Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820231276
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819103846
DVD Burner(deka316 has it with a Helena Install): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827106335
Total: $568.92(with shipping)

Anyone have any Input on what should be changed?
Anything incompatible with Linux?
Not sure what the total amount of all the donations but think it's about $600.

[MysticGold04]

Just my opinion, but it seems like you have lots of good stuff, so why skimp out with the case?!

Here is a nice case/PS combo that should work good: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDeal ... mbo.345220

or something similar... again.. JMO

[merlwiz79]

Just my opinion, but it seems like you have lots of good stuff, so why skimp out with the case?!

Here is a nice case/PS combo that should work good: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDeal ... mbo.345220

or something similar... again.. JMO

Thanks for the info.
If I use the link you use it comes to $558.92.
It's a better case but what about the power supply.
It only has 1 rail instead of 4 and it's only 620 Watts.
It should be able to handle everything I put in it though.
The power supply calculator said I would need 503 Watts.

[MysticGold04]

All of that equipment should run fine with the 620w PS from Antec even with a single rail. You definitely will not need a monster PS to run only those components. If you are talking about adding 3 or 4 hard drives, more disc burners, multiple video cards, then yes you'd need a much more powerful PS.

I have almost the same system in your specs running on one of these PSU units:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

Just trying to help you out to get the best bang for your $$

Heck, even this combo would be great, just add the case and PS. I realize that the RAM isnt DDR3, but that system should be plenty capable for years to come. Just double up to get 4GB. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBund ... mbo.353781