Fantasy Linux Mint Tower suggestions

[Trillium]

Hi All,

I would like to make the migration to Linux Mint. I make digital teaching resources. I use PowerPoint to do that and need pdf maker and editing if possible, I use Adobe XI now. My HP Win7 machine is on it's last legs and my Dell Win10's viewer is driving me nuts.

Uploaded Impress to Win10 and it seems doable as a viable replacement for PowerPoint. Someone sent me a screen shot of the Linux viewer and it doesn't look like it cuts off the image or blocks it in anyway which is good news since Win10 does.

I can see if there is Linux driver support for components but the unknown factor for me with all this is about conflicts. Is there a list of Linux friendly components that do play nice with each other?

Right now with the Win10 machine I need a lot of memory for pulling up all the graphic files I look at which is 23GB and growing. I'm not a gamer. I have 16GB now in memory. But 32GB might be better ; )
I have a 2TB HD and only used a fraction of it. So this would be a good size for the new computer.
I do have two HP 27xi monitors I would like to keep but one is funky after two years. After a few minutes of warming up, if you turn the monitor off and on then the whole thing will stay lit. But I love working with two big monitors now.
I have a HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus that I would be keen on keeping but not a complete deal breaker. Kind of done with HP for countless reasons.
Due to physical reasons I use a wireless Logitech Trackball mouse and losing that would be huge.
I can replace my wireless Logitech keyboard if need be. The paint on the key have worm off way too soon. I am tempted to try out those keyboard stickers.
I do have a nice power supply I just installed in old Win7 machine I can salvage, EVGA SuperNova 650 G3. I know it is on the higher end of what I need but who knows I may want to add something more down the road.

Mobo?
Processor?
Graphics card?
Wireless card?
SSD?
Sound card?
Wireless keyboard?
Tower case?

Also if you know of a good vendor who sells the components, please share.

I need two machines and plan to build a new one, then ditch the old Win7 once I am good on the new Linux. If it all works out I may try to migrate the Win10 machine over to mint if possible. I can't be down for any time. So having two machines helps when problems occur.

I have wanted to go open source for about 2 decades but each time I tried it was just impossible due to lack of driver support. This time around I am thinking if I build it with Linux friendly components I can finally make the transition more smoothly and successfully. I read a thread here from someone who posted in 2013 about why he was heading back to Windows. He made some good points. Have things improved since then enough? Have the good computer component makers all caved into MS and don't offer driver support?

I am not a super geek and do not know code. I can edit if given the instructions but rebuilding directories sounds bit daunting.

I would like to export from Impress at 300dpi with Mint. With Windows I was able to edit the registry to do that with Win7. But with Win10 I can only get it to work if I set it up at 299dpi, at 300 it distorts the image! Win10 is just a failure on so many levels and I don't want to waste anymore time ranting about this hopeless company. If I already have to relearn where stuff is with Win10 why not jut migrate to Mint and Libre is my thinking and maybe it will work better. I know some graphics folks prefer Apple but I do like to be able to look under the hood. I have an iphone SE and wondering when they are going to make that a paperweight of sorts with planned update shutoff. I am so sick of being pulled around the nose by these large wasteful companies and hope to find a better alternative with Mint and Libre. I would also like to do this to learn enough to encourage others to make the migration. If I can do it you can do it.

I don't need clear tower box with the lights and coolers etc. But I could go with a bigger tower since the newer towers are so crammed which makes it an unnecessary headache to replace a component. Much like cars today, you can't get at anything unless you tear so much other stuff down. Plus I think a bigger tower would keep things a bit cooler.

I was told that my monitors will work with Linux.

My Comcast wireless Arris router/modem will work with Linux.

My cheapo 2:1 speakers will work. Not a deal breaker if not.

Having a card reader and usb ports upfront would be necessary.

I am not sure I need a dvd player and writer, I tend to use thumbdrives instead.

I don't use bluetooth.

I can't think of anything else to include.

Any insights or suggestions you have will be appreciated.

[MintBean]

For CPUs, SSDs and GPUs I usually go with what Tom's hardware recommends.

One of these CPUs. I would steer clear of the i3 and Pentium (not enough grunt). Anything else should serve you well. Any of these should work fine with Linux, but do a Google to check if you're choosing a Ryzen or latest gen Intel.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/best-cpus ... 33354.html

SSD: I would probably go for a smaller SSD to put the OS on and a separate hard disc for bulk storage. A 250GB SSD should be way more than enough for the OS, applications and any media you're working on if you want to pull it to the SSD for faster access. I might be tempted by a 500GB SSD as the prices are not massively more, but no point going higher than that.

Samsung EVO is the tried and tested market leader for SSDs. Just recently there are two new contenders that are vying for position so it comes down to what's the best value.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/wd-blue-3 ... 33988.html
If there's not much in it, stick with the Samsung as they're the long term 'tried and tested' solution. I would go with a SATA connected SSD rather than PCIe etc unless every ounce of speed is a big issue. Even SATA SSDs are blazing and I don't think other interfaces are worth the extra money at this point in time.

If you go with an Intel processor with onboard graphics, that may be more than sufficient for you graphics needs. If not, go for Intel rather than AMD graphics cards. The latter are poorly supported on Linux.
The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is good value. You can always build the system and add a separate GPU later if you choose.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/best-gpus ... 33382.html

A couple of things to be aware of:
Open source office products suffer from interoperability issues with Microsoft products. Basically MS makes it as difficult as possible to be compatible with their formats. The situation is improving but you need to consider this.
Interacting with iPhones under Linux is flaky and can be broken by Apple updates. Android phones never give me any problems.

[Trillium]

Thank you MintBean for you response. Yes I have been poking around Tom's Hardware but they seem rather vague with their articles at times about best PC builds. I will assume they are speaking about MS supported components. I wish they would break down the Linux OS like they do for MS OS but they don't. So not sure how Linux friendly Tom's is.

I have different generations of i7s which I like but I read somewhere that Intel is not supporting Linux so that is why AMD were being used by some. So I am glad you are saying that Intel chips are still a possibility.

Yes I would prefer a SSD but they are so expensive : / So I may have to downsize from a cheap 2TB HD to a smaller better SSD hard drive. So it sounds like there should be no problem with Mint for HD. So will check out the Samsung offerings.

It gets so confusing now that the chips have a graphics ability and graphic cards are not a necessity, so yes I would give that a go first before adding on a card and will save me some money.

Well it doesn't surprise me in the least that MS is playing games once again with putting wrenches to other programs. They have done this for decades. I recall my browser in the 1990's that wouldn't work and then there was that big lawsuit. In my case I will be mostly making pdfs. I sometimes provide flattened PowerPoints so I will be cautious about doing those with Impress.

I just did some fiddling with Impress and it took me awhile to find things but was able to get it to export at 300dpi successfully. Changed the setting in options to not compress graphics and again was able to set the Impress file to 300dpi. It was almost too easy. I do hate the way Impress has the position tool marked with X and Y since I am used to seeing correct terms of horizontal and vertical so that will take some getting used to. Also it disables things too much so I have to figure out the special order of things to get things abled so I can change them. But with time and practice I am sure this will get easier. I am very exacting on my printables and I measure the borders right one to the .01 position and I found the margins to be much more exact with Impress or just super lucky. This I rarely get with PP. MS exporting would appear to be much more sloppy. So far I am Impressed with Impress.

I also found an article about vendor who build and ship Linux units and Eight Virtues is reasonably priced from what I can tell so that is another option. Thanks for adding to this discussion.

[MintBean]

Do yourself a favour and avoid 8 virtues. I just began to spec a system- the processor alone was TWICE THE PRICE of an identical brand new one from Amazon with similar stories on other components, plus a lot of the components don't mention a brand and I was comparing with premium brands.

[Trillium]

Thank you MintBean I am grateful for the heads up on 8Virtures.

[MintBean]

No worries. I recommend you post back before you pull the trigger on a purchase so people can comment.
If you can build a PC that's probably by far the cheapest way and gives you a full choice of components.

[Hoser Rob]

For a graphics card, Nvidia is the obvious 1st choice for support. Intel isn't too bad there and AMD is way behind.

Lots o' RAM. Linux/Unix uses spare RAM to cache software. This makes for a huge speedup.

[mr_raider]

Keep your nvidia card and reuse it. Get 16gbs of RAM. Get the biggest SSD you can afford. This advice generic and OS agnostic.

If you build an AMD Ryzen rig, consider that the b350 motherboards have had lot less issues with Linux, with MSI being the most compatible.

I know nothing of Skylake.

Some builds:

https://www.pcper.com/hwlb

[Trillium]

Edit: I am running into problems with Impress and it probably has partly to do with Win10 putting wrenches into it all but the rest is Impress. After two days trying to get into any kind of groove with this I am exhausted by the way this program is set up. It feels like too many were involved with the design and it is just all over the place for me. Thanks anyway.

[mr_raider]

You in Canada or Us?

Use pcpartpicker to price your build. Post your final build here and we can point out any inconsistencies.



https://ca.pcpartpicker.com

[Trillium]

Ok it may take me awhile.

[marcia]

Hello Trillium,

I have to mention that I have nothing but good experiences with amd boards and linux. Out of the 5 computers only one has an intel board,the others are amd boards all with linux. The intel board is on a older lenova thinkpad w520 laptop. Good machine with linux, too. I am especially impressed with my two htpc's that I built 2 years ago. Both have amd gigabyte boards,16 gigs of ram and amd apu/cpus .

The apu/cpus are amd A6 6400K Dual core processor richland black edition 3.9ghz base and 4.1ghz max turbo. It is a socket fm2. Using linuxliteos on both since it was the easiest to install on them 2 years ago plus easiest for my husband to use for his htpc use. He was very new to linux. The graphics are great. Works well for Kodi and plex, internet, anything I have tried. We are not gamers so this has been adequate. Not using the proprietary amd drivers anymore since they no longer support it, but just the linuxliteos amd drivers work without problem. Cannot tell the difference. I am really impressed with these/apu/cpus that provide enough power and great graphics for our needs. They run very cool, too. If you need more graphics power then you can go with higher end apu/cpus from amd which seem to have great reviews and many good reviews from linux users. Just checked newegg.com and the apu/cpu is still available for 51.81 dollars and free shipping.

My linuxmint 17.3 cinnamon desktop machine uses a gigabyte amd board and added a nvidia graphic card. No apu/cpu on this build:

Mobo: AMD model: 990FXA-UD3 v: x.x Bios: American Megatrends v: FA date: 10/23/2012
CPU: Quad core AMD FX-4300 (-MCP-) cache: 8192 KB
flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm) bmips: 30539
clock speeds: max: 3800 MHz 1: 1400 MHz 2: 2600 MHz 3: 1800 MHz 4: 1400 MHz
Graphics: Card: NVIDIA GF116 [GeForce GTX 550 Ti] bus-ID: 01:00.0
Display Server: X.Org 1.17.1 driver: nvidia Resolution: 1920x1080@60.0hz
GLX Renderer: GeForce GTX 550 Ti/PCIe/SSE2
GLX Version: 4.4.0 NVIDIA 340.102 Direct Rendering: Yes
16 gigs of ram

Love my In-Win dragonrider atx full tower for this build. It is large with great fans, easy to work in, plus very well ventilated.
Also, I use a wireless logitech keyboard and mouse with my linuxliteos htpc computer and works without issue. Would believe
it would have to work with linuxmint, too.

This is my main machine and has always worked well with linuxmint. Have not understood why
some say stay away from amd. Plan to do a ryzen build sometime within the next 2 years.

Whatever you choose wish you well.

Sincerely,

marcia

[MintBean]

The latest Mint 18 is the one that has problems with AMD graphics. Just search the forums and you will see.

[mr_raider]

The latest Mint 18 is the one that has problems with AMD graphics. Just search the forums and you will see.

The situation is more complex than that. The newer cards (RX and above) can use teh amdgpu proprietary driver. However, considering that crypto miners have bought them up your chance of locating one is next to nil. The older cards (pre Voclanic Islands) work fine with the open source driver. My laptop uses an amd a12-8800 apu and it runs fine for light gaming and video acceleration in Kodi. I added some bleeding edge drivers but that's my masochism.

However, there is NO issue using AMD CPUs, since Mint 18.2 supports Ryzen out the box. Only some of the x370 boards from gigabyte and Asus have issues, but I bet kernel 4.11 solves most of the issues.

[TappiKid]

Thank you Fantasy for wording all the changes so well as your case is similar to mine and I am in the midst of the 'move' and I'm just finalizing things.

I have and love my HP Officejet 8600 All-In-One. I am still in the process of migrating from Windows 10 to Linux Mint Cinnamon 18.3. All is working well but I have this question since I am trying to do this and cannot figure it out:

In Windows 10 I had my scanner(printer) on the taskbar and could scan documents into various formats (pdf. jpg. ICR. and others) and I would choose what I was doing at the start and proceed there to scan, edit, and then save. I use this a lot. I would like to put that on my linux profile panel as I use this a lot. In the simple scan that is in Linux, I cannot see all these options. My printer is no longer in the technical support listings on HP to address this. Anyone have any help here? My thought is just to go 'find the file' (I have dual boot on my desktop with Win10 and Linux) in the Windows side and copy and paste it in Linux? Somehow I think I'm messing with internal stuff there I may not understand enough about and mess things up. Any help here would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks so much!
TappiKid

[marcia]

Hello,

I am not an expert on this but I would copy and paste the info from windows 10 and save it in a document so at least
you can refer to it. I would then either use xsane or sane to scan. Those programs may have more options. Someone else
here may have more knowledge and better ideas.

Good fortune.

Sincerely,

Marcia