[conspire] quiet , and mepis 6.5

[Edmund J. Biow]

> Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2007 11:18:14 -0700
> From: Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com>
> Subject: Re: [conspire] quiet , and mepis 6.5
> To: conspire at linuxmafia.com
> Message-ID: <20070411181813.GH12186 at linuxmafia.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
>   
>
> I've had nothing but problems from Nvidia southbridges, and would go out
> of my way to avoid them, by the way.  They've sort of become the new
> Broadcom.  Not that Broadcom has gotten better, but that Nvidia has
> displaced them for sheer awfulness.
>   
Hmmm, I Googled 'nvidia southbridge problem' & 'nvidia southbridge
linux' and nothing grabbed me by the throat.  Maybe they just don't like
you, Rick. :)  I haven't noticed any problems and I have a Asus
A7N266-VM that is still in service after 5 years & thousands of hours,
still runs OpenSuse 10.0 next to my easy chair in my den. 

Say what you will about SUSE, they still support older releases better
than a lot of folks.  I have OpenSuse Firefox & Thunderbird 1.5.0.10 on
10.0 even though it was released in October, 2006.   My Mandriva 2006
from the same vintage petered out at FF 1.5.0.7 and is going to stop
getting base updates on the 13th.  I hope 2007.1 is released by then;
the DVD upgrade path isn't too bad in my experience. 
>   
>> Maxtor 160 GB Serial ATA/300 hard drive: $40
>>     
>
> Short warranty.
>   
Maxtor used to have a 1 year warranty, but they were taken over by
Seagate and have changed to a 3 year warranty, not quite as good as the
5 year warranty you often see on Seagate's own brand.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061129-8318.html

Even WD has moved to a 3 year warranty on many of its drives.  If the
extra couple of years warranty is a big deal, wait around and find a
good deal on a Seagate, I saw 250 GB for $50 about a week ago.  BTW, the
Seagate 750s have dropped about $50 in the last week, I've been seeing
them around for $230 at Frys.
>   
>> Samsung 18X DVD-RW: $30
>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151133
>> Nice Fortron power supply, about $30 at Newegg. 
>>     
>
> You can do a lot better.  Don't forget:  A weak power supply tends to
> take out other components, notably hard drives.
>   
Which is why I mentioned getting a Fortron rather than whatever POS
comes with the case below.  The least reliable Fortron apparently has a
lower failure rate than the most reliable Antec PS, & I've even had good
luck with Antec Smartpowers (though a friend did have an Antec explode
on him while he was tinkering, splattering his motherboard and beard
with goop, though it didn't do any lasting harm).
http://www.behardware.com/news/8550/power-supply-failure-rate.html
>   
>> Cheapo case, $27, shipped:
>> http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=CV-501-BLK&AID=10440852&CJPID=227502
>>     
>
> I personally tend to think this is an area where people skimp too much,
> and thereby get noisier cases than necessary.  You wouldn't think the
> baffling in a good Antec or Lian Li case would make that big a
> difference, but it can.
>   
I'd also recommend getting an Antec case, but I was trying to find stuff
that was on sale at the moment and I didn't see any good deals on Antecs
at the moment.    Apart from noise issues, it is just much pleasanter to
build up a well designed, solid case than some crepe paper POS. 

Actually, I just found an OK deal on an Antec case and 380 watt PS for
$40 plus shipping after MIR at Frys.com:
http://shop3.outpost.com/product/4814040
If you shop around you can find an Antec SLK1650 with an adequate 350
watt PS for $10-30 after MIR at Fry's, just not this week. 
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/messageview.php?catid=18&threadid=706859&highlight_key=y&keyword1=case
The very quiet Sonata with a 450 watt PS sometimes goes for $50-65 after
MIR, which is about what I speced for a Fortron and a no-name case. 

 That said, my first computer didn't have a very nice anything, monitor,
case, you name it. 
>   
>> 19" Hanns-G 19" LCD monitor, $148 after shipping & MIR:
>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?CMP=AFC-TechBargains&Item=N82E16824254009
>> Total: $400
>>     
>
> Don't forget:  The keyboard and monitor are the parts you interact with
> most, and so, funds permitting, are what you should pick with most care.
>   

Maybe YOU interact most with the keyboard, Rick, but I never touch one. 
AFAIC, if it can't be done with a rodent, its not worth doing, which
just happens to be the motto of my favorite usenet group,
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.bestiality.hamster.duct-tape.

Actually, I have a 17" Hanns-G, and while the $100 MIR took about 7
months to get here, it is quite a nice monitor.

>  
>   
>> BTW, what do folks recommend for moving an install to a larger hard drive? 
>>     
>
> Your choice of live CD, and rsync.  Don't forget to reinstall your
> bootloader, at the end.  See:  "Copying Directory Trees" on
> http://linuxmafia.com/kb/Admin/ .
>   
Thanks, Rick, I'll try again with rsync. 


-Ed
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos.