Hi, Thanks for the fast answer, full of information and common-sense. I'll insert a couple of words at the appropiate places... On Fri, Mar 17, 2006 at 01:50:26PM +0200, Gilboa Davara wrote: > On Fri, 2006-03-17 at 12:15 +0200, Avraham Rosenberg wrote: > > Hi linuxers, > > Yesterday, after installing a minimal version of kernel 2.6.8 - > > based Debian and playing a little with grub's automatically created > > mebu.lst (it is the first time I am using grub), the computer > > ceased to recognize the partitions on the first HD. > > As I had an uptodate list of the partition table, I booted in > > Knoppix and was able to restore it. > > But, as this is not the first sign of tiredness from my 5.5-years > > old Celeron, seems a God-sent signal that it is time to replace it. > > > > I shall write down my list of preferred options, some of them > > with a question mark, because I am not sure they are wise, and > > would be very thankful for comments: > > 1- Quiet case with at least one forward usb port > > Any modem machine should work just fine. > > > 2- P4 or equivalent AMD processor 2.5-3GHz > > I'll start by saying that I'm a long time AMD fan, so take my words with > a grain of salt. > Reason being: > A. AMD is faster. (At least till the Intel Conroe core is release - > ~Q3/2006) > B. AMD uses cheaper DDRI memory. > C. Unlike Intel AMD tend to have longer socket longevity. (A > 939/Athlon/Sempron64 board should be upgradable - to a Sempron CPU, > throughout 2006 into 2007) > D. AMD's 64bit performance (especially if -march k8) is much better then > current generation P4s. > E. If you are looking for el-cheapo solution nothing beats the > 754/Sempron combo. What is that ? > > > 3- 32 or 64 bit processor ? In the case of a 64 bit processor, > > prefer AMD ? > > Getting a 32bit processor right now is a bit... well... miss-guided. > > > 4- 500 Mb RAM. Prefer DDRam over SDRam ? > > Get at least 1GB. > Get DDR/400 memory. (Should cost your around 700nis/GB) > > > 5- I would prefer a motherboard with 2-3 expansion slots. > > Make sure you get a PCI-E capable board. > (PCI-E express) > > > 6- I don't know if BIOS that support boot from USBkey are common. > > That may be an advantage. > > Yes they are. > > > 7- A 40Gb HD seems to be plenty for my needs. Type ? Make: avoid > > Samsung ? > > I doubt that you'll find one. > Get a 80GB drive. There are pretty cheap right now. (~350nis) > > > 8- IDE type CD or DVD burner > > LG, NEC, Toshiba. DVD-RW+/- are pretty cheap these days. > > > 9- 3.5 in floppy drive. Prefer Sony ? > > Umm.... 50nis ;) > Anybody still produces 3.5 floppies? Sorry, I meant 2.5 in > > > > > A sore point about the motherboard is the built in graphic card. > > Configuring X with the Sis adaptor and my MAG 786PFs monitor is, > > in my experience non-trivial. And these seem to be quite popular. > > Has anyone had adifferent experiance, or I should avoid such > > motherboards at all costs ? > > I pretty much dislike on-board solutions; They are slow as hell and down > the line, once X.org goes Xgl/Air/etc, you'll be out of the loop. > Get an el-cheap ATI/nVidia card instead. > > > > > I would also appreciate references about vendors in the region of > > Rishon Lezion - Rehovot (I live in Rehovot). I am wary of vendors > > who promise to install a certain component and replace it with > > an "equivalent" or "better" one, which they happened to have > > under the hand while building the computer. Fighing against that > > is very difficult, especially if you do not discover it > > immediately. > > I usually buy hardware/computer from on-line vendors. > They are pretty cheap and you can order exact hardware specification > down the bolt. Any vendor you had good experience with ? > > > > > The computer will serve for surfing the internet, to make some > > calculations the results of which might require graphic > > presentation and assisting my dwindling memory. Maybe burning a > > CD or DVD from time to time. > > > > Thanks in advance, Avraham > > Couple of questions. > A. What your budget. Considering my modest performance needs, this is not really an issue. I do not need to look for the cheapest. On the other hand buying much above my needs does not make sense, in the eyes of a man of my generation (I am 73). > B. For how many years do you plan on buying this machine? Do not plan: Until it dies or becomes far behind the standard needs (first thing that happens) > > Gilboa > > > ================================================================= > To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with > the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command > echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] >
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