New Linux desktop

[donecweb]

I have just gotten a new HP Media Center m1000 computer case with a 300 Watt power supply. Some guy bought the computer took the drives,motherboard, processor and disk for use in his server which he built with a Sonanta II case. He told his wife to sale the HP case for what she could get at a garage sale so I picked it up for $5.00. There is no dust at all inside and all the parts are there and some peaces are still wrapped in the original plastic bags. It's funny because just last week I said to my wife one of the best designed, built and looking cases I have seen were the new HP towers. Anyway I am going to use it to build from the ground up a Linux designed system to see just what it would be like since I have built many Desktops designed to run Windows in one version or another.

Any suggestions on motherboard and peripherals would be appreciated. I am thinking of using an AMD Athlon 64 X2 processor. I also plan on having 2 Gig of DDR memory.

I'll start with SimplyMEPIS and try and setup some test area for installing and testing other distros.

[SensoVision]

Congratulations with getting new case so cheap! It's hard to imagine that you could get it for this money 
Anyway regarding processor and memory and should work and wouldn't cause the problem. I would be more careful with choosing motherboard and chipset it's using...
you may either go with nForce as NVidia write drivers for Linux itself and they do it very well for NVidia graphic cards, can't say same thing about motherboards as didn't have enough experience to test it out.
I'm historically prefer VIA chipsets and when was buying new motherboard I've pick VIA based one as well since it's popular and drivers isn't a problem for it as well and available inside kernel(so you don't have to worry for additional installation).
I would avoid SIS and other less used brands of chipsets as you may have problems with supporting of them.
The best way to build Linux system IMHO is to find popular device which are used my many and tested by time, don't go with latest hardware available on the market as it's almost always need a bit of time for writing drivers and testing them out(and usually you'll have to deal with compiling latest kernel yourself).
Devices with SATA was a problem with Linux but it was long ago and problem was actually addressed faster than in Windows IMHO since Linux doesn't require floppy with drivers for installation which I find at least stupid nowadays...
For video card I would go NVidia as it's writing drivers for a long time and achieve good quality of driver, ATI should also work but sometimes it could cause you additional troubles.
If you not crazy about listening high quality music or something like this, than integrated soundcard should be sufficient and would shouldn't cause you much problem with installation.
Not sure if you need TV tuner or satellite DVB card so wouldn't give any advices here.
If you need modem for this PC, just as in Windows I would suggest buying external one, this way you will not overload processor with additional tasks and never have to worry about drivers.
Network equipment is widely supported in Linux so it's not likely you'll run into big problem with any network card.

Let me know if you need advice on some other equipment I forgot to mention.

[donecweb]

I would be more careful with choosing motherboard and chipset it's using...

That is my bigest concern and don't have any ideas yet.

you may either go with nForce as NVidia write drivers for Linux itself and they do it very well for NVidia graphic cards, can't say same thing about motherboards as didn't have enough experience to test it out.

It's funny but on the MEPIS Lovers forum most of the people recommend ATI graphic cards and complain that the drivers for the newer cards are not very good. On the other hand in my laptop I have a NVIDIA GeForce Go 7300 with 128 MB and it seems to work just fine once I used the correct driver.

I have an older ATI Radeon 7000 32 MB APG card lawing around and may start with it. I also have an old 128 Rage PRO laying around and a ATI Wonder card that has a TV tuner in it so I may start with one of those. But I am wanting to end up with something that has 128 MB or more and is just under the newest productions leading edge.

I'm historically prefer VIA chipsets and when was buying new motherboard I've pick VIA based one as well since it's popular and drivers isn't a problem for it as well and available inside kernel(so you don't have to worry for additional installation).

In the past I have also had good results with VIA chipsets but think I will need to do some research to decide. I need to keep the cost of the motherboard and processor down a bit and that seems to point to motherboards that have video, sound and network card built in. Not my preference though.

The best way to build Linux system IMHO is to find popular device which are used my many and tested by time, don't go with latest hardware available on the market as it's almost always need a bit of time for writing drivers and testing them out(and usually you'll have to deal with compiling latest kernel yourself).

That's my opinion also.

Devices with SATA was a problem with Linux but it was long ago and problem was actually addressed faster than in Windows IMHO since Linux doesn't require floppy with drivers for installation which I find at least stupid nowadays...

It seems to me that it is getting hard to find hard drives that are not SATA. My laptop doesn't have a flopy drive yet Quicken was designed to backup to a floppy but the USB Flash drive works well for it as Quicken see it as drive "E".

If you not crazy about listening high quality music or something like this, than integrated soundcard should be sufficient and would shouldn't cause you much problem with installation.

That is probably what will happen.

Not sure if you need TV tuner or satellite DVB card so wouldn't give any advices here.
If you need modem for this PC, just as in Windows I would suggest buying external one, this way you will not overload processor with additional tasks and never have to worry about drivers.
Network equipment is widely supported in Linux so it's not likely you'll run into big problem with any network card.

If I decide to us a TV tuner I'll probably just use the one I have even if it is old. I don't need a satellite DVB card and the modem I use now is an external modem that is networked into my wifes desktop and my laptop. I will be using a network cable so I don't expect problems with it but there are often problems with wireless network cards.

Let me know if you need advice on some other equipment I forgot to mention.

I could use some advice on DVD and CD burners. My laptop has a dual layer DVD CD combo which works well but I am not sure which brand the used. I know I want one that is rather quiet. I am also wanting a 19 inch or better LCD display but don't know which ones are in my price range, available and of good enough quality for my uses.

[SensoVision]

That is my bigest concern and don't have any ideas yet.

I think that as long as you choose between Nforce and VIA there should be no big problems... The only thing I wish to warn you is not buy cheap motherboards which was manufactured in limited edition(I remember there was some motherboard which production was quickly stopped, and I wasn't able to boot Linux from it at all, all distros refuse to work, too bad I can't remember the model and chipset, but I can say it was probably manufactured in years between 2002-2003)

It's funny but on the MEPIS Lovers forum most of the people recommend ATI graphic cards and complain that the drivers for the newer cards are not very good. On the other hand in my laptop I have a NVIDIA GeForce Go 7300 with 128 MB and it seems to work just fine once I used the correct driver.

does it recommended by users who are use dual boot? As ATI offer cheaper solution with better performance for Windows so it's choice #1 for gamers here for last years. But under Linux their drivers show poor performance in 3d applications in the past, maybe now things changed for better, I didn't check as doesn't need to.

I have an older ATI Radeon 7000 32 MB APG card lawing around and may start with it. I also have an old 128 Rage PRO laying around and a ATI Wonder card that has a TV tuner in it so I may start with one of those. But I am wanting to end up with something that has 128 MB or more and is just under the newest productions leading edge.

all old video cards should work well with Linux kernel drivers so it's good idea to start with one of these.

In the past I have also had good results with VIA chipsets but think I will need to do some research to decide. I need to keep the cost of the motherboard and processor down a bit and that seems to point to motherboards that have video, sound and network card built in. Not my preference though.

I never dealt with motherboards with video cards built-in so not sure how well they supported...

I could use some advice on DVD and CD burners. My laptop has a dual layer DVD CD combo which works well but I am not sure which brand the used. I know I want one that is rather quiet.

I'm on Plextor 716a but I wouldn't recommend this model for Linux use now... Overall it's working well and I'm satisfied with burning and reading quality, noise could be easily regulated by changing speed in utility like QPXtool which also let you use Plextor features to check writing quality and so on.
But unfortunately Plextor using technology which determine disk quality and after 3 burning it decide which speed is better and it's become tricky to overwrite it... Next models from Plextor seems to have editable database of disk quality information so you can override speed settings.
I've used NEC also but got broken one which has problems with reading usual CDs, but DVD reading and writing was probably quieter than on Plextor...

I am also wanting a 19 inch or better LCD display but don't know which ones are in my price range, available and of good enough quality for my uses.

here I can't give you any good advice since I still doesn't collect enough money to replace my old CRT which seems to have some problem with colors already
Maybe someone else would advice you LCD.

[donecweb]

does it recommended by users who are use dual boot? As ATI offer cheaper solution with better performance for Windows so it's choice #1 for gamers here for last years. But under Linux their drivers show poor performance in 3d applications in the past, maybe now things changed for better, I didn't check as doesn't need to.
all old video cards should work well with Linux kernel drivers so it's good idea to start with one of these.

I had not thought of that and I believe most of the ATI recommendations came from dual booters and gamers.

I'm on Plextor 716a but I wouldn't recommend this model for Linux use now

I have had good results with both HP and LG in the past but need to do more research.

[SensoVision]

I have had good results with both HP and LG in the past but need to do more research.

I knew that LG manufacturing quality improved over years but previously I had CDROM made by them and it was worst device I've ever had, also a lot of people got various home appliances which break down quickly, so I generally avoid this brand(BTW I'm aware that it has a lot of patents in DVD field).

[donecweb]

I'm aware that it has a lot of patents in DVD field

I was not aware of this.

[Andy]

For a 19" LCD I recommend the one my son uses. It's a Mitsubishi Diamondcrysta RDTI95V The picture quality looks perfect and is good for games and watching video. He had it for 1.5 years now so the price must be reasonable.

For sound I would avoid onboard sound if you want to record any audio because of the poor signal-noise ratio you would get.

Also video. It's such an important part of a PC and cards can be very inexpensive so I would avoid integrated video unless you want to build a bargain-basement computer.