Is there any place that still sells desktops with Mint?

[FrogDemon]

I remember awhile back someone was selling systems with Mint pre-installed. I have searched the forums, but have not found anything. Maybe my meager search skills are failing me these days. So if anyone knows where, could you please post a link to the thread or a link to the site that does?

I am needing a full desktop system with at least a 22in monitor, 8gigs DDR3 1600 RAM, 350gig HDD with at least a 3.1 quad-core.

Thanx,
The Old Frog - FD - LF
Sal

[FrogDemon]

I guess not.... Thanx anyways.

[OldManHook]

I guess not.... Thanx anyways.

Did you do a Search Most of the Vendors will have a drop down with Mint Listed
You can check out theses
lxer.com
linuxpreloaded.com
pugetsystems.com

Some Sell with No OS
Luck

[FrogDemon]

Thanx OldManHook. I did try thinkpenguin.com, but their desktop system seems to be a low-end system. Will give the others a shot and thanx again.

Sal

[invader_tak]

You can buy the parts and by your powers combined assemble them into a desktop system with Mint installed. Otherwise you're just paying double the price for someone else to do it. Particularly when it comes to the monitor, that thing can be purchased independently of the system from Newegg. No lego-related skills required for that.

[FrogDemon]

@ invader_tak: That would be well and good, but, I have arthritis so bad, I wouldn't be able to do so and we won't mention the fact that I only have 25% vision in my left eye and 38% in my right. So I really don't mind paying someone.

[invader_tak]

That would be well and good, but, I have arthritis so bad, I wouldn't be able to do so and we won't mention the fact that I only have 25% vision in my left eye and 38% in my right. So I really don't mind paying someone.

I build computers. It would be unethical for me to just let you spend twice as much money as you have to, without offering some advice. The last performance computer I built was $1500, all high-quality parts, and the equivalent machine from a manufacturer cost well over $3000, and they're known to skimp on things like the power supply unit, CPU fan, the case, etc, and their tech support is terrible. A DIY computer has one person who personally picked out each and every part, and personally installed all of it, and you can talk to that specific person. Compare to being on hold for 20 minutes then being asked by someone with a script they refuse to deviate from and the attitude of an overworked TSA agent "is your computer plugged in?"

I highly, highly recommend finding someone with these skills in your area. Paying them, for example, $1750 for assembling $1500 worth of parts to build a $3000 computer is simply the better investment.

That said you'll have to talk to them a bit so they can put together the specifications. For instance, you'll have to approve the computer case for aesthetics, we'll need to know if games will be played on it to decide whether to include a video card, how much you care about noise to design the cooling system, and whether you have any preference for Intel/Nvidia or AMD to pick the CPU and GPU. Note you would have to tell a salesman this anyway. Its just that a DIY builder actually knows what they're talking about, and computer salesmen don't know when they're lying.

[Evil-K]

I know www.zareason.com has prebuilt computers that have Linux Mint pre-installed, and their prices are actually fairly reasonable. Anyone have any dealings with them?

[mudog]

yes ZaReason laptops offers Mint.

[Sammaul]

looking at those prices...far cheaper to build your own or go with a local builder...hell to build your own pc does not require a ton of knowledge just a little homework and some care...900 for a laptop running opensource software with pentium processor...neutered Sandy Bridge....WAY too much

[bimsebasse]

The point of e.g. a Mint laptop is a laptop tailored to the OS, you won't achieve that automatically by building your own laptop unless you know which parts work best with Mint or have the time and skill to patch the kernel.

[mank_in]

Maybe you can check this : http://www.linucity.com/Scripts/default.asp

[seppalta]

The high end hardware that you mentioned will cost a bundle in any new system regardless of operating system. Your one advantage is asking for a desktop which are not used much anymore. If I was in this market, and given that I am a very frugal person, I would watch the gamers market. Gamers are constantly turning over their already high end desktop systems for something new and supposedly faster. Often they will sell their old $3000-$4000 systems for $500-$800 just to get on to the next new thing! The computer section of your local Craig's List is a good place to watch for deals. Of course, you will have to install the Linux system yourself, but these days that is really easy given the installers that come with the installation disks, for example: http://www.osdisc.com/cgi-bin/view.cgi/ ... cd-pc.html.

[FrogDemon]

Sorry it has taken so long to reply. Was in the hospital for a bit and am now just feeling well enough to get online. Anyways, one of my neighbor's kids builds systems, so I have asked them. Their son will do it and only charge me an extra $200 above the parts. Thanx for all the advice.

FD

[DrHu]

http://linuxpreloaded.com/
The usual type of list available, however you don't' really need that process, since Linux of any type these days is either just as easy or easier to install than windows or Apple OS products..

Of course the only easier way than doing it yourself (might take all of 1/2hr) is buying one of the main platforms with the OS already there, such as windows or Apple OS.
--and what a lot of people do, since there are often good sale or low prices on windows based machines, is buy one and multiboot Windows + Linux; there are many guides available describing how to do this

• I would only check the hardware specs and then search the internet for any problems using/supporting those devices on Linux
  --the main issues are some graphics chips, processors and mainboard devices : all likely the absolute latest/newest hardware, most other devices/systems (integrated graphics etc) are reasonably well supported..
  --but some research is still warranted..

[FrogDemon]

I have that covered. Already burned my DVD, so once the system is built I'll install it.

[FrogDemon]

Time to update this now that I have my system. I went with an AMD Phenom II 970 BE on an Asus M5A97 mobo. 16gigs 1800 DDR3 ram, nVidia GTX 550ti. This system is smokin' hot! I am now running Win7, because I am having issues getting Mint or any distro loaded on it.

I can load out of date distros with ease, but the newer ones fail. I tried the RC LMDE and made 2 posts about it on the Mint blog. Post #s 135 and 140. I will quote the here:

135. Old Frog Says:
April 13th, 2012 at 10:02 am

Tried loading this live and modprobe returns Unix mod not found in mods.dep or some such. Also I get a ton of noveau errors. That’s where it stays. Left system running 15mins, just to be sure.

MD5 checks out. Tried re-burning another disk, just making sure it wasn’t a bad burn. Same thing as before.

My system specs:
AMD Phenom II 970 BE
nVidia GTX 550 ti
Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1800MHz – 4×4 = 16gigs

Never had an issue like this before.

140. Old Frog Says:
April 13th, 2012 at 11:12 am

In continuance from post #135:

I forgot to mention that the mobo is an Asus M5A97. Doubt if all that makes a difference.

I have tried both x86 and the x64 and both have the same issue. Will wait for the final and see if that works for me.

-Old Frog

So, if anyone has any advice, I'd be happy to give them a try.

[AlbertP]

Please edit compatibility mode on the boot menu with the E key (press a key during Auto boot in 10 seconds) and add nomodeset at the end, before the --. Then you can boot without nouveau problems and install Linux on your computer. After install, you can use the same trick to get your Linux system to boot - hold Shift key right after the BIOS screen disappears, edit Linux Mint and add nomodeset at the end of the next-to-last line. When that's done you can install the nvidia graphics driver and it'll work OK.

[FrogDemon]

Thanx Albert, I have already tried that. With the no unix found error on the LiveDVD, it's goin to be hard. I have tried a few distros already just to see:

The x86 releases have major issues. Has to be the fact that each mem slot is running 4gigs. But am not sure. Ubuntu 10.04.4 x64 has 0 issues. 12.04 Beta x64 will not load. After the initial load screen with the tiny pic of the keyboard, all I get is a flashing cursor and that's the end. Fedora 17 beta and Fedora 16 also has issues. Fedora 14-15 all good. LMDE 201204 RC x64 gives a modprobe error about unix not being found in the mods.dep. Mint 12 x64 seemed fine for awhile, then crashed to terminal.

I'm not a no0b when it comes to linux, but, I am not a Guru either, but this has me stumped.