Michael, FreeGeek boxen are good choices, come with Mint Cinnamon installed (so you can do a drive transplant and be up and running quickly), and you can throw money at upgrades later when you wish. FreeGeek's request for donations is just that; a non-mandatory request.
But, do you want to tackle fixing your Optiplex? What is the service tag? It would show your exact model and therefore the part numbers. I can look it up for you. VGA and DVI http://iogear.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2209/~/what-is-the-difference-between-dvi-a%2C-dvi-d-and-dvi-i%3F ports are still in use, and you can get DVI-DisplayPort, VGA-DisplayPort, DVI-HDMI and VGA-DisplayPort adapters at Fry's if needed to fit a new-to-you video card. DisplayPort and HDMI are the New Thing these days. A lot of video cards will have dual DVI. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/SystemRequirements lists the current system requirements for Ubuntu, and therefore Mint. Microtech on SE McLoughlin in Orc Grove has hardware, although not within an order of magnitude of Fry's. -- HDDs and SSDs are SATA, SAS, or NVMe/PCIe 3.0. SATA III https://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/8142/~/difference-between-sata-i%2C-sata-ii-and-sata-iii is the default standard these days for drives, and comes in 3.5" HDDs, 2.5" SSDs and HDDs, and M.2 SSD modules https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/02/understanding-m-2-the-interface-that-will-speed-up-your-next-ssd/ for newer motherboards. M.2 drives really aren't faster than 2.5" drives per se. SAS is only twice as fast as SATA III, and is rare enough that there's no significant economy of scale. NVMe is a super-duper standard for faster SSDs, in both M.2 modules and 2.5" drives. I am still putting SATA III drives in servers and desktops when I spec out machines to be built for users at A Large International Company With Many, Many Plants In Hillsboro, but my next machine will have NVMe. - Got more questions? Happy to help, contact me directly. -- -- 73/Best regards de John Bartley K7AAY CN85oj •|||||||• tel 503-227-8539 [email protected] > > _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
