Current version by: Nick
Title:
Feedback on the Linux config guide.
Text:
| For reference: This guide was made in 2013 and then pulled in 16 months. I made this at a time this was a common problem with my guides due to severe quality issues. If you were expecting this to be a preserved rehab, let me disappoint you now. It isn't. I tried, but it wasn't worth the trouble. | |
| So, this is what the 8 month delay got me. While the first 2-3 months were wasted (more on this later in the post), I made a call on how to get rid of that delay. It turns out that call to get rid of it was worth it. If I had opted to go with the original plans, this would have taken years to make. It was a effort that proved to be futile, at best. In regards to the text part, the last 6 months were spent making it work as a new guide. This basically killed a lot of my problems of making it work with the original content. | |
| - | '''NOTE: While this is a public release, I am only keeping it public for 2 weeks so I can see how much I |
| + | '''NOTE: While this is a public release, I am only keeping it public for 2 weeks so I can see how much I missed. I knocked a lot of the issues out, but I probably missed something seeing as I tried to keep it intact with modernization with years of newer hardware, which screwed it all up. Right now, I have to find a system but I know what I want. Until I find one I will be 45% behind on pictures and more or less 5-10% on content. I am WELL AWARE the guide is a work in progress. It will be made private again on the 25th.''' |
| == What has changed? == | |
| * All of the steps were rewritten from scratch, but not replaced. I still have the 2013 edits left, as I used the original steps. | |
| * I have decided hardware minimums had to be put in. You can read more about it in the specs in the guide if you want to see what I decided on. | |
| * I chose to leave Santa Rosa and Conroe behind. There are 2 reasons behind this. I did this because of line limitations vs what made sense to keep and get rid of. This is why I let SR/Conroe go and put Peryn/Wolfdale in place. I feel like SR/Conroe are nearly at the end of their life, if not very close. I do not expect the average reader to know that these chips are old enough their time is nearly over for even basic tasks. To me, anything older then Peryn or Wolfdale is old enough I feel it's time to move on. I also wanted something Core 2 related in the guide, but I didn't want it to be so old that the performance is no longer acceptable. | |
| * Merom was dropped, even before Santa Rosa. It has been obsolete for years. Being a gen one mobile C2D it has serious performance issues that have been showing for years. I feel like the performance gap is already bad enough as it is. | |
| * The age limit for hardware is set at 2007 for desktops and 2008 for laptops, up until 2012. I tried to go all out and update the guide with many, many years of hardware and it did not work. I decided to put a 8/9 year old cap on the hardware to make it easier to get done, and for readers to follow. Generally speaking, a system is considered obsolete after 10 years. This always isn't the rule as there can be exceptions but for most systems 10 years is the point it is considered obsolete. I didn't want to go to 10 but I also didn't want to make it too early. | |
| == What is new? == | |
| * I have added steps for wireless. This was something I never added because of the complexity at the time. I just didn't know enough to incorporate it at the time. Now that I do, I had a bit more confidence putting it in. I also wanted to wait until I got the core guide done before adding it to keep the progress I made at a normal pace. | |
| * I added a step for new hard drives. This is also a new addition because I have learned how bad some of them really are. I have seen a 7200.11 give the BSY error and crash the ATA Security set, a .12 have SMART issues and a .14 in it's natural habitat, which is needing replacement. On top of these 3 drives I have seen others start to have problems after 3 years in some cases. However, I am not mandating a new drive. I understand some people want to reuse it and see, so I added testing suggestions to make sure it's healthy, or just said it probably should be replaced so you don't have a age related issue. Very often, the health is mediocre to poor and the remaining life is 1-2 years. My opinion is they should be replaced but I know some people want to reuse them. I would rather put testing instructions in to save them the grief of not knowing how to verify the drives for long term stability. | |
| * The SSD step is new. At this point with cheap 256GB and 512GB SSD's they are not super expensive anymore. I do not have a new and used SSD step because of how new they are. Hard drives have been around forever, so I need two steps for that. | |
| * I have depreciated the chipset step, but did not remove it from the guide. I was going to remove it but I felt it was better if I depreciate it but keep it around. | |
| * The Linux variants have all been replaced. I removed the original ones I had there back then in favor of some more targeted ones. '''NOTE: The board with the chipset picture is the board from the old system. Consider it an Easter egg from the original guide. I kept it from the partout as a CPU holder due to the weak VRM and lack of Pentium D support. I am not mentioning this very much because I want to see how many people recognize the Conolly marker as being from a Dimension 5150. I didn't removed the heatsink and exposed the i945, but because I may need to reuse the board and 10 year old PIII style thermal pads are a nightmare to remove after 10 years I chose not to.''' | |
| == System acquisition and the many problems. == | |
| '''Part 1: Getting a actual system.''' | |
| The second part of the 8 months was spent finding a system. I got a HP IQ506 in April, but I needed 3 parts. I got it under the guise the parts would be easy to find, but it turns out it was quite the opposite foe one of the 3 parts, while the second one was only semi difficult. On top of that, I needed to find the screws. The screws weren't a big deal. I was able to get the thread numbers with a digital caliper that I need for 4. I could then take that information to a hardware store and get flat top screws. That was not a big deal. I also needed a bunch of other screws but I had a sample I could bring to get that sorted so I was in good shape for the screws I needed 11+ of. One of the good things about this system was HP only uses 3 screw types and they don't use different length screws. | |
| I needed the following parts to get it going initially: | |
| * Stand ($40-40 used; $70-80+ NOS; difficult to find) | |
| * RAM door ($10-20; semi difficult to find) | |
| * Power supply (varies widely; sometimes $20 but can be $50 or more; easy to find) | |
| Due to the cost of the stand, I decided I am better off getting a parts system. If I got a stand alone, I at least had the security of knowing you can buy the RAM door with a bit more ease compared to the stand. In the end, I used a parts system. This was because I gave up finding the stand so I figured a parts system would be easier to find. The condition of the parts system made it a literal parts system. This is the failure list it had: | |
| * Screen (Solid TAB failure lines; this happened on the iGPU LVDS connection as well as the dGPU LVDS connection) | |
| * GPU (HP white screen with colored lines syndrome) | |
| * MXMII GPU heatsink | |
| * Touch controller | |
| * Hard drive (7200.12; SMART data could not be read.) | |
| - | It was a parts system in the literal sense. A fair amount of parts on it are bad to the Since I only wanted it for the stand and RAM door, this was okay with me. |
| + | It was a parts system in the literal sense. A fair amount of parts on it are bad to the Since I only wanted it for the stand and RAM door, this was okay with me. |
| + | |
| The only parts that are good are: | |
| + | |
| * RAM | |
| * Motherboard | |
| * Inverter | |
| * CPU | |
| * CPU cooling fan | |
| * GPU cooling fan | |
| * CPU heatpipe cooler | |
| * Wireless | |
| * TV Tuner | |
| * Speakers | |
| * DVD drive | |
| * Chassis components | |
| - | Outside of this list, the system was shot beyond recovery. |
| + | Outside of this list, the system was shot beyond recovery. |
| '''Part 1.5: Getting a power supply''' | |
| + | |
| About a week later, I ended up getting the power supply I needed. This was $20 and I got it from the source I got the dead system from. This was it for initial parts to get it going. | |
| '''When things started getting bad''' | |
| + | |
| '''Part 2: The system acts up after being repaired''' | |
| While I did manage to find the parts, it started having backlight problems in May. At that point I decided to look at the lifespan left on the other parts before I decide to repair or consider it a total loss like the parts system. What I found was the condition of the drive was a lie. It was actually used and it had problems 2 years in (2014 manufacture) and the seller hid that by resetting the POH. It also had major SMART problems. Having to replace the drive was going to be another $50-ish on top of what the screen and inverter costs. | |
| What it would cost me to fix it: | |
| * Screen/Inverter ($80-100+; inverter was made of unobtanium. I usually change both to ensure the problem is gone. An inverter is usually $25.) | |
| * Hard drive ($70; WD Black 1TB) | |
| * DVD drive(12.7mm slot load; usually $20-25 on average) | |
| I priced the repairs out and I have decided the machine is a total loss. It's going to be WAY TOO EXPENSIVE to repair this machine. I still use it but a failure will be the end of it's run. I'm more annoyed at the fact it still had problems after the time I put into it more then anything. I didn't expect the Seagate to be reliable in the long run because my experience with Seagate is their drives are crap these days but the fact I took the seller on their word on the drive annoys me the most out of any of the failures it has had. The tip off was that the performance wasn't good on the drive, which usually means the drive has a problem. | |
| '''Part 3: The future beyond this system''' | |
| When issues like this happen, I try and look on the bright side as best as I reasonably can. On one hand it sucks I got screwed and the repairs were a waste of time. On the other hand I basically have a strong supply of these parts, which will give me an advantage if I need to repair one of these systems. In a way, I lost but in another I won. The systems are both a loss but I have 2 parts machines to pick from if I need anything for a repair on this series of system later on, with various problems and missing parts. The downside is I need a system again. | |
| Am I going with the IQ506 again? No. I've had 2 losers and do not want to go down this path again.I am going to be picking something a lot newer this time. As much as I'm sure the repairs would be welcomed I feel like the IQ506 is at the stage where repairs are rarely viable. You can fix it, but economics no longer make it worth it unless you have spare parts laying around. | |
| Despite ALL of this, I was able to push forward even without a system even though I intended to use the HP IQ506 initially, but decided to move on from to avoid these problems. I don't believe the third is a charm. After the 2nd has a problem I will walk and pick something else. I'm prepared with the information on what I want so this is going to be easy to achieve. | |
| - | Once we get past the initial part situation and then dealing with the major failures the second time that did it in for the IQ506, you have the remaining 4 months of the 8 months it took to do it. My enthusiasm about finding a system that was any good was burnt at the time due to all of the shenanigans, but at the same time I didn't feel like dropping out entirely because I felt I could make it happen anyway. I decided to refine the guide until my enthusiasm came back so I didn't ditch it but I also had time to think long and hard to avoid further problems like these HP AIO's have given me so far. |
| - | I was in a much better position without a system. I was not tied to a age and could do what I wanted, which made this process so much easier. Why not write the guide while imagining the good enough and perfect system at the same time, rather then chain myself to a 9 year old AIO that has a limited upgrade path and has given me problems with 2 examples straight? I can always buy the system when I finish the guide if I don't find a deal or buy it if I see a deal and mention it when I get the text done. |
| + | Once we get past the initial part situation and then dealing with the major failures the second time that did it in for the IQ506, you have the remaining 4 months of the 8 months it took to do it. My enthusiasm about finding a system that was any good was burnt at the time due to all of the shenanigans, but at the same time I didn't feel like dropping out entirely because I felt I could make it happen anyway. I decided to refine the guide until my enthusiasm came back so I didn't ditch it but I also had time to think long and hard to avoid further problems like these HP AIO's have given me so far. |
| + | |
| + | I was in a much better position without a system. I was not tied to a age and could do what I wanted, which made this process so much easier. Why not write the guide while imagining the good enough and perfect system at the same time, rather then chain myself to a 9 year old AIO that has a limited upgrade path and has given me problems with 2 examples straight? I can always buy the system when I finish the guide if I don't find a deal or buy it if I see a deal and mention it when I get the text done. |
| == Q&A on my decisions. == | |
| '''Why 2008 for laptops and AIO's?''' | |
| Multiple reasons. | |
| * This was when the first Peryn processors were released. I lined my hardware years up with the processors and left the rest neutral as there are times when some hardware's life is extended beyond the processor. | |
| * I feel more comfortable with 2008, as this is when LED panels started coming in. This is because I am finding cheap CCFL panels are starting to fail in mass in recent times. The good ones aren't as problematic yet but the cheaper grade ones are showing their age. I'd rather avoid CCFL as much as possible for that reason alone. | |
| * CCFL repair costs. When a inverter fails in a CCFL based system I like to change both to make sure the problem is gone. I can mix and match parts to a degree, but I don't like to do it beyond 3-6 months at most. I can go longer but I will only do that if I know the history and how it was treated. I usually do not know this information. As such, I change both and get it fixed in a way I can trust in the longer term. Lately, it's been getting very hard to find CCFL parts. Most of the panels are 5+ years old with many, many hours on it and you usually don't get it with the inverter included. On top of this, the prices have been going up in recent years due to the demand and lack of supply. The systems can be fixed, but the market has made them too expensive to repair vs getting a working one or going LED. | |
| * For AIO's, it's panel class. You will end up spending more to repair an AIO then you will on a new one. It's almost never worth trying to repair AIO systems based on that. | |
| '''Why 2007 for desktops?''' | |
| * Wolfdale came out in 2007. Again, matching years with first generation releases. | |
| * No panel concerns, seeing as most machines have a seprate LCD. If the LCD dies then you buy a new one and be done with it. It's not a major concern because of that alone. | |
| '''How I feel about going beyond my specs I decided on''' | |
| I picked specs that I could feel comfortable with the person building their first Linux system to get them in the right direction, so they don't have to fight performance issues on legacy hardware. I know from experience when old is too old. | |
| If you can figure out how to make it work, then I don't have a problem with someone using a SR laptop or a Conroe desktop or even Merom for that matter. My official position is any hardware that isn't up to par with what I decided on isn't going to be supported. | |
| However, I do encourage people to try and go beyond my first Linux PC specs if they have the skills to make it work. It's just something I will not be supporting and will be treated as a try at your own risk sort of deal. I will let it happen, but I am choosing not to support it officially. I am treating it as an official exception. | |
| '''Why did it take 8 months?''' | |
| It took 8 months for many reasons. Let's talk about the 2-3 month delay from the retrofit period first. | |
| '''More information on the 2-3 month retrofit''' | |
| I consider the first 2-3 months were wasted trying to make it work on the original content. After that kept causing me trouble for about 1-2 months, I decided to drop it and start with fresh content and treat it as a new guide rather then a legacy and modern hybrid. The problem was it made the guide hard to manage. In the hybrid situation I had 3 year old content that was written so badly it had to be replaced, combined with recent hardware and text that is written much better then the original text was. The accommodations I would have had to make to pull that off would have been time consuming and difficult. I would have to determine what is legacy content and modern content, and split it with more steps because I don't want to use all of my lines up and mix modern and legacy content together as this would be a waste of my 8 lines I have to work with. After all, I need it for the modern hardware too. Once I decided on what to consider legacy vs modern, I'd need to write the new text for the modern hardware and then revise the legacy content, if not just rewrite it altogether. This would have been a hassle and a huge tine consuming thing, which is what settled the decision to get rid of it. On top of all of that, some of it would have to be replaced because I blew it away earlier in the corrections. The only legacy hardware left was processors when I thought about it, so all of it would have needed to be replaced. I even blew away some of the CPU's in the process of doing that. | |
| While it would have been cool to have fresh content and legacy content, it's also more of a hassle then getting rid of it and replacing anything I deleted that can't be interchanged. It also doesn't make sense to do that in a environment where you are trying to make the guide modern. That's why I decided to drop the idea and start over without the legacy content. | |
| With that out of the way, here's the [https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Linux+Machine+configuration+%282007-2008+2009+2010+2011+2012%29/13130|link]. I think I have everything dealt with, but maybe I missed something. |
Discussion Topic:
Yes
Status:
open
Edit by: Nick
Title:
Feedback on the Linux config guide.
Text:
| For reference: This guide was made in 2013 and then pulled in 16 months. I made this at a time this was a common problem with my guides due to severe quality issues. If you were expecting this to be a preserved rehab, let me disappoint you now. It isn't. I tried, but it wasn't worth the trouble. | |
| So, this is what the 8 month delay got me. While the first 2-3 months were wasted (more on this later in the post), I made a call on how to get rid of that delay. It turns out that call to get rid of it was worth it. If I had opted to go with the original plans, this would have taken years to make. It was a effort that proved to be futile, at best. In regards to the text part, the last 6 months were spent making it work as a new guide. This basically killed a lot of my problems of making it work with the original content. | |
| '''NOTE: While this is a public release, I am only keeping it public for 2 weeks so I can see how much I ended up missing. I knocked a lot of the issues out, but I probably missed something seeing as I tried to keep it intact with modernization with years of newer hardware, which screwed it all up. Right now, I have to find a system but I know what I want. Until I find one I will be 45% behind on pictures and more or less 5-10% on content. I am WELL AWARE the guide is a work in progress. It will be made private again on the 25th.''' | |
| == What has changed? == | |
| * All of the steps were rewritten from scratch, but not replaced. I still have the 2013 edits left, as I used the original steps. | |
| * I have decided hardware minimums had to be put in. You can read more about it in the specs in the guide if you want to see what I decided on. | |
| * I chose to leave Santa Rosa and Conroe behind. There are 2 reasons behind this. I did this because of line limitations vs what made sense to keep and get rid of. This is why I let SR/Conroe go and put Peryn/Wolfdale in place. I feel like SR/Conroe are nearly at the end of their life, if not very close. I do not expect the average reader to know that these chips are old enough their time is nearly over for even basic tasks. To me, anything older then Peryn or Wolfdale is old enough I feel it's time to move on. I also wanted something Core 2 related in the guide, but I didn't want it to be so old that the performance is no longer acceptable. | |
| * Merom was dropped, even before Santa Rosa. It has been obsolete for years. Being a gen one mobile C2D it has serious performance issues that have been showing for years. I feel like the performance gap is already bad enough as it is. | |
| * The age limit for hardware is set at 2007 for desktops and 2008 for laptops, up until 2012. I tried to go all out and update the guide with many, many years of hardware and it did not work. I decided to put a 8/9 year old cap on the hardware to make it easier to get done, and for readers to follow. Generally speaking, a system is considered obsolete after 10 years. This always isn't the rule as there can be exceptions but for most systems 10 years is the point it is considered obsolete. I didn't want to go to 10 but I also didn't want to make it too early. | |
| == What is new? == | |
| * I have added steps for wireless. This was something I never added because of the complexity at the time. I just didn't know enough to incorporate it at the time. Now that I do, I had a bit more confidence putting it in. I also wanted to wait until I got the core guide done before adding it to keep the progress I made at a normal pace. | |
| * I added a step for new hard drives. This is also a new addition because I have learned how bad some of them really are. I have seen a 7200.11 give the BSY error and crash the ATA Security set, a .12 have SMART issues and a .14 in it's natural habitat, which is needing replacement. On top of these 3 drives I have seen others start to have problems after 3 years in some cases. However, I am not mandating a new drive. I understand some people want to reuse it and see, so I added testing suggestions to make sure it's healthy, or just said it probably should be replaced so you don't have a age related issue. Very often, the health is mediocre to poor and the remaining life is 1-2 years. My opinion is they should be replaced but I know some people want to reuse them. I would rather put testing instructions in to save them the grief of not knowing how to verify the drives for long term stability. | |
| * The SSD step is new. At this point with cheap 256GB and 512GB SSD's they are not super expensive anymore. I do not have a new and used SSD step because of how new they are. Hard drives have been around forever, so I need two steps for that. | |
| * I have depreciated the chipset step, but did not remove it from the guide. I was going to remove it but I felt it was better if I depreciate it but keep it around. | |
| * The Linux variants have all been replaced. I removed the original ones I had there back then in favor of some more targeted ones. '''NOTE: The board with the chipset picture is the board from the old system. Consider it an Easter egg from the original guide. I kept it from the partout as a CPU holder due to the weak VRM and lack of Pentium D support. I am not mentioning this very much because I want to see how many people recognize the Conolly marker as being from a Dimension 5150. I didn't removed the heatsink and exposed the i945, but because I may need to reuse the board and 10 year old PIII style thermal pads are a nightmare to remove after 10 years I chose not to.''' | |
| == System acquisition and the many problems. == | |
| '''Part 1: Getting a actual system.''' | |
| The second part of the 8 months was spent finding a system. I got a HP IQ506 in April, but I needed 3 parts. I got it under the guise the parts would be easy to find, but it turns out it was quite the opposite foe one of the 3 parts, while the second one was only semi difficult. On top of that, I needed to find the screws. The screws weren't a big deal. I was able to get the thread numbers with a digital caliper that I need for 4. I could then take that information to a hardware store and get flat top screws. That was not a big deal. I also needed a bunch of other screws but I had a sample I could bring to get that sorted so I was in good shape for the screws I needed 11+ of. One of the good things about this system was HP only uses 3 screw types and they don't use different length screws. | |
| I needed the following parts to get it going initially: | |
| * Stand ($40-40 used; $70-80+ NOS; difficult to find) | |
| * RAM door ($10-20; semi difficult to find) | |
| * Power supply (varies widely; sometimes $20 but can be $50 or more; easy to find) | |
| - | Due to the cost of the stand, I decided I |
| + | Due to the cost of the stand, I decided I am better off getting a parts system. If I got a stand alone, I at least had the security of knowing you can buy the RAM door with a bit more ease compared to the stand. In the end, I used a parts system. This was because I gave up finding the stand so I figured a parts system would be easier to find. The condition of the parts system made it a literal parts system. This is the failure list it had: |
| - | * GPU (colored line issue; typical failure for these HP's.) |
| + | * Screen (Solid TAB failure lines; this happened on the iGPU LVDS connection as well as the dGPU LVDS connection) |
| + | * GPU (HP white screen with colored lines syndrome) |
| + | * MXMII GPU heatsink |
| + | * Touch controller |
| * Hard drive (7200.12; SMART data could not be read.) | |
| - | * Motherboard (bad iGPU.) |
| - | * Screen (colored lines; could be GPU, but screens are also prone to it too. I don't trust the screen to be reliable.) |
| - | * Touchscreen controller (Bad motherboard or controller? Never tested it beyond no touch response.) |
| - | It was a parts system in the literal sense. Nearly EVERYTHING was bad on it. I looked at it as a total loss with the failures it had, so it still sits in a broken state. I only took it for the stand and RAM door, so I don't exactly care to fix it. The only good parts left are chassis related. Everything else is broken. I also bought the power supply from the person who got me the donor. I ended up getting all 3 parts replaced, at nearly the same time. |
| + | It was a parts system in the literal sense. A fair amount of parts on it are bad to the Since I only wanted it for the stand and RAM door, this was okay with me. |
| + | The only parts that are good are: |
| + | * RAM |
| + | * Motherboard |
| + | * Inverter |
| + | * CPU |
| + | * CPU cooling fan |
| + | * GPU cooling fan |
| + | * CPU heatpipe cooler |
| + | * Wireless |
| + | * TV Tuner |
| + | * Speakers |
| + | * DVD drive |
| + | * Chassis components |
| + | Outside of this list, the system was shot beyond recovery. |
| + | |
| + | '''Part 1.5: Getting a power supply''' |
| + | About a week later, I ended up getting the power supply I needed. This was $20 and I got it from the source I got the dead system from. This was it for initial parts to get it going. |
| + | |
| + | '''When things started getting bad''' |
| '''Part 2: The system acts up after being repaired''' | |
| While I did manage to find the parts, it started having backlight problems in May. At that point I decided to look at the lifespan left on the other parts before I decide to repair or consider it a total loss like the parts system. What I found was the condition of the drive was a lie. It was actually used and it had problems 2 years in (2014 manufacture) and the seller hid that by resetting the POH. It also had major SMART problems. Having to replace the drive was going to be another $50-ish on top of what the screen and inverter costs. | |
| What it would cost me to fix it: | |
| - | * Screen ($80-100+) |
| - | * Inverter (Made of unobtainum; when found, usually $20-25) |
| + | * Screen/Inverter ($80-100+; inverter was made of unobtanium. I usually change both to ensure the problem is gone. An inverter is usually $25.) |
| * Hard drive ($70; WD Black 1TB) | |
| * DVD drive(12.7mm slot load; usually $20-25 on average) | |
| I priced the repairs out and I have decided the machine is a total loss. It's going to be WAY TOO EXPENSIVE to repair this machine. I still use it but a failure will be the end of it's run. I'm more annoyed at the fact it still had problems after the time I put into it more then anything. I didn't expect the Seagate to be reliable in the long run because my experience with Seagate is their drives are crap these days but the fact I took the seller on their word on the drive annoys me the most out of any of the failures it has had. The tip off was that the performance wasn't good on the drive, which usually means the drive has a problem. | |
| - | |
| + | '''Part 3: The future beyond this system''' |
| - | |
| + | When issues like this happen, I try and look on the bright side as best as I reasonably can. On one hand it sucks I got screwed and the repairs were a waste of time. On the other hand I basically have a strong supply of these parts, which will give me an advantage if I need to repair one of these systems. In a way, I lost but in another I won. The systems are both a loss but I have 2 parts machines to pick from if I need anything for a repair on this series of system later on, with various problems and missing parts. The downside is I need a system again. |
| - | |
| + | Am I going with the IQ506 again? No. I've had 2 losers and do not want to go down this path again.I am going to be picking something a lot newer this time. As much as I'm sure the repairs would be welcomed I feel like the IQ506 is at the stage where repairs are rarely viable. You can fix it, but economics no longer make it worth it unless you have spare parts laying around. |
| - | Once we get past the initial part situation and acquiring that and then dealing with additional failures that eventually led to the condition of the hard drive being a lie (leading me to think it has had excessive hours well before I got it), you get the remaining 4 months. This was spent refining it without a system because I know what I want so I wasn't in a position where I had to wait. I could write the guide while looking for my ideal machine so I could get both finding it and writing it done at the same time. |
| + | Despite ALL of this, I was able to push forward even without a system even though I intended to use the HP IQ506 initially, but decided to move on from to avoid these problems. I don't believe the third is a charm. After the 2nd has a problem I will walk and pick something else. I'm prepared with the information on what I want so this is going to be easy to achieve. |
| + | |
| + | Once we get past the initial part situation and then dealing with the major failures the second time that did it in for the IQ506, you have the remaining 4 months of the 8 months it took to do it. My enthusiasm about finding a system that was any good was burnt at the time due to all of the shenanigans, but at the same time I didn't feel like dropping out entirely because I felt I could make it happen anyway. I decided to refine the guide until my enthusiasm came back so I didn't ditch it but I also had time to think long and hard to avoid further problems like these HP AIO's have given me so far. |
| + | I was in a much better position without a system. I was not tied to a age and could do what I wanted, which made this process so much easier. Why not write the guide while imagining the good enough and perfect system at the same time, rather then chain myself to a 9 year old AIO that has a limited upgrade path and has given me problems with 2 examples straight? I can always buy the system when I finish the guide if I don't find a deal or buy it if I see a deal and mention it when I get the text done. |
| == Q&A on my decisions. == | |
| '''Why 2008 for laptops and AIO's?''' | |
| Multiple reasons. | |
| * This was when the first Peryn processors were released. I lined my hardware years up with the processors and left the rest neutral as there are times when some hardware's life is extended beyond the processor. | |
| * I feel more comfortable with 2008, as this is when LED panels started coming in. This is because I am finding cheap CCFL panels are starting to fail in mass in recent times. The good ones aren't as problematic yet but the cheaper grade ones are showing their age. I'd rather avoid CCFL as much as possible for that reason alone. | |
| * CCFL repair costs. When a inverter fails in a CCFL based system I like to change both to make sure the problem is gone. I can mix and match parts to a degree, but I don't like to do it beyond 3-6 months at most. I can go longer but I will only do that if I know the history and how it was treated. I usually do not know this information. As such, I change both and get it fixed in a way I can trust in the longer term. Lately, it's been getting very hard to find CCFL parts. Most of the panels are 5+ years old with many, many hours on it and you usually don't get it with the inverter included. On top of this, the prices have been going up in recent years due to the demand and lack of supply. The systems can be fixed, but the market has made them too expensive to repair vs getting a working one or going LED. | |
| * For AIO's, it's panel class. You will end up spending more to repair an AIO then you will on a new one. It's almost never worth trying to repair AIO systems based on that. | |
| '''Why 2007 for desktops?''' | |
| * Wolfdale came out in 2007. Again, matching years with first generation releases. | |
| * No panel concerns, seeing as most machines have a seprate LCD. If the LCD dies then you buy a new one and be done with it. It's not a major concern because of that alone. | |
| '''How I feel about going beyond my specs I decided on''' | |
| I picked specs that I could feel comfortable with the person building their first Linux system to get them in the right direction, so they don't have to fight performance issues on legacy hardware. I know from experience when old is too old. | |
| If you can figure out how to make it work, then I don't have a problem with someone using a SR laptop or a Conroe desktop or even Merom for that matter. My official position is any hardware that isn't up to par with what I decided on isn't going to be supported. | |
| However, I do encourage people to try and go beyond my first Linux PC specs if they have the skills to make it work. It's just something I will not be supporting and will be treated as a try at your own risk sort of deal. I will let it happen, but I am choosing not to support it officially. I am treating it as an official exception. | |
| '''Why did it take 8 months?''' | |
| It took 8 months for many reasons. Let's talk about the 2-3 month delay from the retrofit period first. | |
| - | '''2-3 month retrofit |
| + | '''More information on the 2-3 month retrofit''' |
| I consider the first 2-3 months were wasted trying to make it work on the original content. After that kept causing me trouble for about 1-2 months, I decided to drop it and start with fresh content and treat it as a new guide rather then a legacy and modern hybrid. The problem was it made the guide hard to manage. In the hybrid situation I had 3 year old content that was written so badly it had to be replaced, combined with recent hardware and text that is written much better then the original text was. The accommodations I would have had to make to pull that off would have been time consuming and difficult. I would have to determine what is legacy content and modern content, and split it with more steps because I don't want to use all of my lines up and mix modern and legacy content together as this would be a waste of my 8 lines I have to work with. After all, I need it for the modern hardware too. Once I decided on what to consider legacy vs modern, I'd need to write the new text for the modern hardware and then revise the legacy content, if not just rewrite it altogether. This would have been a hassle and a huge tine consuming thing, which is what settled the decision to get rid of it. On top of all of that, some of it would have to be replaced because I blew it away earlier in the corrections. The only legacy hardware left was processors when I thought about it, so all of it would have needed to be replaced. I even blew away some of the CPU's in the process of doing that. | |
| While it would have been cool to have fresh content and legacy content, it's also more of a hassle then getting rid of it and replacing anything I deleted that can't be interchanged. It also doesn't make sense to do that in a environment where you are trying to make the guide modern. That's why I decided to drop the idea and start over without the legacy content. | |
| With that out of the way, here's the [https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Linux+Machine+configuration+%282007-2008+2009+2010+2011+2012%29/13130|link]. I think I have everything dealt with, but maybe I missed something. |
Discussion Topic:
Yes
Status:
open
Edit by: Nick
Title:
Feedback on the Linux config guide.
Text:
| For reference: This guide was made in 2013 and then pulled in 16 months. I made this at a time this was a common problem with my guides due to severe quality issues. If you were expecting this to be a preserved rehab, let me disappoint you now. It isn't. I tried, but it wasn't worth the trouble. | |
| So, this is what the 8 month delay got me. While the first 2-3 months were wasted (more on this later in the post), I made a call on how to get rid of that delay. It turns out that call to get rid of it was worth it. If I had opted to go with the original plans, this would have taken years to make. It was a effort that proved to be futile, at best. In regards to the text part, the last 6 months were spent making it work as a new guide. This basically killed a lot of my problems of making it work with the original content. | |
| - | '''NOTE: While this is a public release, I am only keeping it public for 2 weeks so I can see how much I ended up missing. I knocked a lot of the issues out, but I probably missed something seeing as I tried to keep it intact with modernization with years of newer hardware, which screwed it all up. Right now, I have to find a system but I know what I want. Until I find one |
| + | '''NOTE: While this is a public release, I am only keeping it public for 2 weeks so I can see how much I ended up missing. I knocked a lot of the issues out, but I probably missed something seeing as I tried to keep it intact with modernization with years of newer hardware, which screwed it all up. Right now, I have to find a system but I know what I want. Until I find one I will be 45% behind on pictures and more or less 5-10% on content. I am WELL AWARE the guide is a work in progress. It will be made private again on the 25th.''' |
| == What has changed? == | |
| * All of the steps were rewritten from scratch, but not replaced. I still have the 2013 edits left, as I used the original steps. | |
| * I have decided hardware minimums had to be put in. You can read more about it in the specs in the guide if you want to see what I decided on. | |
| * I chose to leave Santa Rosa and Conroe behind. There are 2 reasons behind this. I did this because of line limitations vs what made sense to keep and get rid of. This is why I let SR/Conroe go and put Peryn/Wolfdale in place. I feel like SR/Conroe are nearly at the end of their life, if not very close. I do not expect the average reader to know that these chips are old enough their time is nearly over for even basic tasks. To me, anything older then Peryn or Wolfdale is old enough I feel it's time to move on. I also wanted something Core 2 related in the guide, but I didn't want it to be so old that the performance is no longer acceptable. | |
| * Merom was dropped, even before Santa Rosa. It has been obsolete for years. Being a gen one mobile C2D it has serious performance issues that have been showing for years. I feel like the performance gap is already bad enough as it is. | |
| * The age limit for hardware is set at 2007 for desktops and 2008 for laptops, up until 2012. I tried to go all out and update the guide with many, many years of hardware and it did not work. I decided to put a 8/9 year old cap on the hardware to make it easier to get done, and for readers to follow. Generally speaking, a system is considered obsolete after 10 years. This always isn't the rule as there can be exceptions but for most systems 10 years is the point it is considered obsolete. I didn't want to go to 10 but I also didn't want to make it too early. | |
| == What is new? == | |
| * I have added steps for wireless. This was something I never added because of the complexity at the time. I just didn't know enough to incorporate it at the time. Now that I do, I had a bit more confidence putting it in. I also wanted to wait until I got the core guide done before adding it to keep the progress I made at a normal pace. | |
| * I added a step for new hard drives. This is also a new addition because I have learned how bad some of them really are. I have seen a 7200.11 give the BSY error and crash the ATA Security set, a .12 have SMART issues and a .14 in it's natural habitat, which is needing replacement. On top of these 3 drives I have seen others start to have problems after 3 years in some cases. However, I am not mandating a new drive. I understand some people want to reuse it and see, so I added testing suggestions to make sure it's healthy, or just said it probably should be replaced so you don't have a age related issue. Very often, the health is mediocre to poor and the remaining life is 1-2 years. My opinion is they should be replaced but I know some people want to reuse them. I would rather put testing instructions in to save them the grief of not knowing how to verify the drives for long term stability. | |
| * The SSD step is new. At this point with cheap 256GB and 512GB SSD's they are not super expensive anymore. I do not have a new and used SSD step because of how new they are. Hard drives have been around forever, so I need two steps for that. | |
| * I have depreciated the chipset step, but did not remove it from the guide. I was going to remove it but I felt it was better if I depreciate it but keep it around. | |
| * The Linux variants have all been replaced. I removed the original ones I had there back then in favor of some more targeted ones. '''NOTE: The board with the chipset picture is the board from the old system. Consider it an Easter egg from the original guide. I kept it from the partout as a CPU holder due to the weak VRM and lack of Pentium D support. I am not mentioning this very much because I want to see how many people recognize the Conolly marker as being from a Dimension 5150. I didn't removed the heatsink and exposed the i945, but because I may need to reuse the board and 10 year old PIII style thermal pads are a nightmare to remove after 10 years I chose not to.''' | |
| == System acquisition and the many problems. == | |
| '''Part 1: Getting a actual system.''' | |
| The second part of the 8 months was spent finding a system. I got a HP IQ506 in April, but I needed 3 parts. I got it under the guise the parts would be easy to find, but it turns out it was quite the opposite foe one of the 3 parts, while the second one was only semi difficult. On top of that, I needed to find the screws. The screws weren't a big deal. I was able to get the thread numbers with a digital caliper that I need for 4. I could then take that information to a hardware store and get flat top screws. That was not a big deal. I also needed a bunch of other screws but I had a sample I could bring to get that sorted so I was in good shape for the screws I needed 11+ of. One of the good things about this system was HP only uses 3 screw types and they don't use different length screws. | |
| I needed the following parts to get it going initially: | |
| * Stand ($40-40 used; $70-80+ NOS; difficult to find) | |
| * RAM door ($10-20; semi difficult to find) | |
| * Power supply (varies widely; sometimes $20 but can be $50 or more; easy to find) | |
| Due to the cost of the stand, I decided I may be better off getting a parts system. If I got a stand alone, I at least had the security of knowing you can buy the RAM door with a bit more ease compared to the stand. In the end, I used a parts system. This was because I gave up finding the stand so I figured a parts system would be easier to find. The condition of the parts system made it a literal parts system. This is the failure list it had: | |
| * GPU (colored line issue; typical failure for these HP's.) | |
| * Hard drive (7200.12; SMART data could not be read.) | |
| * Motherboard (bad iGPU.) | |
| * Screen (colored lines; could be GPU, but screens are also prone to it too. I don't trust the screen to be reliable.) | |
| * Touchscreen controller (Bad motherboard or controller? Never tested it beyond no touch response.) | |
| It was a parts system in the literal sense. Nearly EVERYTHING was bad on it. I looked at it as a total loss with the failures it had, so it still sits in a broken state. I only took it for the stand and RAM door, so I don't exactly care to fix it. The only good parts left are chassis related. Everything else is broken. I also bought the power supply from the person who got me the donor. I ended up getting all 3 parts replaced, at nearly the same time. | |
| '''Part 2: The system acts up after being repaired''' | |
| While I did manage to find the parts, it started having backlight problems in May. At that point I decided to look at the lifespan left on the other parts before I decide to repair or consider it a total loss like the parts system. What I found was the condition of the drive was a lie. It was actually used and it had problems 2 years in (2014 manufacture) and the seller hid that by resetting the POH. It also had major SMART problems. Having to replace the drive was going to be another $50-ish on top of what the screen and inverter costs. | |
| What it would cost me to fix it: | |
| * Screen ($80-100+) | |
| * Inverter (Made of unobtainum; when found, usually $20-25) | |
| * Hard drive ($70; WD Black 1TB) | |
| * DVD drive(12.7mm slot load; usually $20-25 on average) | |
| I priced the repairs out and I have decided the machine is a total loss. It's going to be WAY TOO EXPENSIVE to repair this machine. I still use it but a failure will be the end of it's run. I'm more annoyed at the fact it still had problems after the time I put into it more then anything. I didn't expect the Seagate to be reliable in the long run because my experience with Seagate is their drives are crap these days but the fact I took the seller on their word on the drive annoys me the most out of any of the failures it has had. The tip off was that the performance wasn't good on the drive, which usually means the drive has a problem. | |
| I try and look on the bright side with issues like that. On one hand it sucks I got scammed and the repairs were a waste of time. On the other I basically have a supply of rare and hard to find parts being these are AIO systems. The lies suck, but I think this is a case were I sort of won. I lost on the system, but I have 1 complete system and 1 that needs a stand. Outside of one missing stand, I have 2 complete systems loaded with parts. On the other hand I need to look for another system now. | |
| Am I going with the IQ506 again? No. I've had 2 losers. I do not feel like doing this again so I am going to be picking something a lot newer then this machine. As much as I'm sure the repairs would be welcomed I feel like the IQ506 is at the stage where repairs are only viable for small problems. You can fix it, but economics no longer make it worth the money to fix it unless you have a spare part surplus that's substantial. | |
| Beyond parts procurement and hardware issues, I was able to push forward even without a system even though I intended to use the HP IQ506. I just need to pick a different system and I know what I want anyway. | |
| Once we get past the initial part situation and acquiring that and then dealing with additional failures that eventually led to the condition of the hard drive being a lie (leading me to think it has had excessive hours well before I got it), you get the remaining 4 months. This was spent refining it without a system because I know what I want so I wasn't in a position where I had to wait. I could write the guide while looking for my ideal machine so I could get both finding it and writing it done at the same time. | |
| == Q&A on my decisions. == | |
| '''Why 2008 for laptops and AIO's?''' | |
| Multiple reasons. | |
| * This was when the first Peryn processors were released. I lined my hardware years up with the processors and left the rest neutral as there are times when some hardware's life is extended beyond the processor. | |
| * I feel more comfortable with 2008, as this is when LED panels started coming in. This is because I am finding cheap CCFL panels are starting to fail in mass in recent times. The good ones aren't as problematic yet but the cheaper grade ones are showing their age. I'd rather avoid CCFL as much as possible for that reason alone. | |
| * CCFL repair costs. When a inverter fails in a CCFL based system I like to change both to make sure the problem is gone. I can mix and match parts to a degree, but I don't like to do it beyond 3-6 months at most. I can go longer but I will only do that if I know the history and how it was treated. I usually do not know this information. As such, I change both and get it fixed in a way I can trust in the longer term. Lately, it's been getting very hard to find CCFL parts. Most of the panels are 5+ years old with many, many hours on it and you usually don't get it with the inverter included. On top of this, the prices have been going up in recent years due to the demand and lack of supply. The systems can be fixed, but the market has made them too expensive to repair vs getting a working one or going LED. | |
| * For AIO's, it's panel class. You will end up spending more to repair an AIO then you will on a new one. It's almost never worth trying to repair AIO systems based on that. | |
| '''Why 2007 for desktops?''' | |
| * Wolfdale came out in 2007. Again, matching years with first generation releases. | |
| * No panel concerns, seeing as most machines have a seprate LCD. If the LCD dies then you buy a new one and be done with it. It's not a major concern because of that alone. | |
| '''How I feel about going beyond my specs I decided on''' | |
| I picked specs that I could feel comfortable with the person building their first Linux system to get them in the right direction, so they don't have to fight performance issues on legacy hardware. I know from experience when old is too old. | |
| If you can figure out how to make it work, then I don't have a problem with someone using a SR laptop or a Conroe desktop or even Merom for that matter. My official position is any hardware that isn't up to par with what I decided on isn't going to be supported. | |
| However, I do encourage people to try and go beyond my first Linux PC specs if they have the skills to make it work. It's just something I will not be supporting and will be treated as a try at your own risk sort of deal. I will let it happen, but I am choosing not to support it officially. I am treating it as an official exception. | |
| '''Why did it take 8 months?''' | |
| It took 8 months for many reasons. Let's talk about the 2-3 month delay from the retrofit period first. | |
| '''2-3 month retrofit attempt''' | |
| I consider the first 2-3 months were wasted trying to make it work on the original content. After that kept causing me trouble for about 1-2 months, I decided to drop it and start with fresh content and treat it as a new guide rather then a legacy and modern hybrid. The problem was it made the guide hard to manage. In the hybrid situation I had 3 year old content that was written so badly it had to be replaced, combined with recent hardware and text that is written much better then the original text was. The accommodations I would have had to make to pull that off would have been time consuming and difficult. I would have to determine what is legacy content and modern content, and split it with more steps because I don't want to use all of my lines up and mix modern and legacy content together as this would be a waste of my 8 lines I have to work with. After all, I need it for the modern hardware too. Once I decided on what to consider legacy vs modern, I'd need to write the new text for the modern hardware and then revise the legacy content, if not just rewrite it altogether. This would have been a hassle and a huge tine consuming thing, which is what settled the decision to get rid of it. On top of all of that, some of it would have to be replaced because I blew it away earlier in the corrections. The only legacy hardware left was processors when I thought about it, so all of it would have needed to be replaced. I even blew away some of the CPU's in the process of doing that. | |
| While it would have been cool to have fresh content and legacy content, it's also more of a hassle then getting rid of it and replacing anything I deleted that can't be interchanged. It also doesn't make sense to do that in a environment where you are trying to make the guide modern. That's why I decided to drop the idea and start over without the legacy content. | |
| With that out of the way, here's the [https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Linux+Machine+configuration+%282007-2008+2009+2010+2011+2012%29/13130|link]. I think I have everything dealt with, but maybe I missed something. |
Discussion Topic:
Yes
Status:
open
Edit by: Nick
Title:
Feedback on the Linux config guide.
Text:
| For reference: This guide was made in 2013 and then pulled in 16 months. I made this at a time this was a common problem with my guides due to severe quality issues. If you were expecting this to be a preserved rehab, let me disappoint you now. It isn't. I tried, but it wasn't worth the trouble. | |
| So, this is what the 8 month delay got me. While the first 2-3 months were wasted (more on this later in the post), I made a call on how to get rid of that delay. It turns out that call to get rid of it was worth it. If I had opted to go with the original plans, this would have taken years to make. It was a effort that proved to be futile, at best. In regards to the text part, the last 6 months were spent making it work as a new guide. This basically killed a lot of my problems of making it work with the original content. | |
| - | '''NOTE: While this is a public release, I am only keeping it public for 2 weeks so I can see how much I ended up missing. I knocked a lot of the issues out, but I probably missed something seeing as I tried to keep it intact with modernization with years of newer hardware, which screwed it all up. Right now, I have to find a system but I know what I want. Until I find one for the right price it will be 5% incomplete.I am WELL aware of that.''' |
| + | '''NOTE: While this is a public release, I am only keeping it public for 2 weeks so I can see how much I ended up missing. I knocked a lot of the issues out, but I probably missed something seeing as I tried to keep it intact with modernization with years of newer hardware, which screwed it all up. Right now, I have to find a system but I know what I want. Until I find one for the right price it will be 5% incomplete.I am WELL aware of that. The guide will be made private again on the 25th.''' |
| == What has changed? == | |
| * All of the steps were rewritten from scratch, but not replaced. I still have the 2013 edits left, as I used the original steps. | |
| * I have decided hardware minimums had to be put in. You can read more about it in the specs in the guide if you want to see what I decided on. | |
| * I chose to leave Santa Rosa and Conroe behind. There are 2 reasons behind this. I did this because of line limitations vs what made sense to keep and get rid of. This is why I let SR/Conroe go and put Peryn/Wolfdale in place. I feel like SR/Conroe are nearly at the end of their life, if not very close. I do not expect the average reader to know that these chips are old enough their time is nearly over for even basic tasks. To me, anything older then Peryn or Wolfdale is old enough I feel it's time to move on. I also wanted something Core 2 related in the guide, but I didn't want it to be so old that the performance is no longer acceptable. | |
| * Merom was dropped, even before Santa Rosa. It has been obsolete for years. Being a gen one mobile C2D it has serious performance issues that have been showing for years. I feel like the performance gap is already bad enough as it is. | |
| * The age limit for hardware is set at 2007 for desktops and 2008 for laptops, up until 2012. I tried to go all out and update the guide with many, many years of hardware and it did not work. I decided to put a 8/9 year old cap on the hardware to make it easier to get done, and for readers to follow. Generally speaking, a system is considered obsolete after 10 years. This always isn't the rule as there can be exceptions but for most systems 10 years is the point it is considered obsolete. I didn't want to go to 10 but I also didn't want to make it too early. | |
| == What is new? == | |
| * I have added steps for wireless. This was something I never added because of the complexity at the time. I just didn't know enough to incorporate it at the time. Now that I do, I had a bit more confidence putting it in. I also wanted to wait until I got the core guide done before adding it to keep the progress I made at a normal pace. | |
| * I added a step for new hard drives. This is also a new addition because I have learned how bad some of them really are. I have seen a 7200.11 give the BSY error and crash the ATA Security set, a .12 have SMART issues and a .14 in it's natural habitat, which is needing replacement. On top of these 3 drives I have seen others start to have problems after 3 years in some cases. However, I am not mandating a new drive. I understand some people want to reuse it and see, so I added testing suggestions to make sure it's healthy, or just said it probably should be replaced so you don't have a age related issue. Very often, the health is mediocre to poor and the remaining life is 1-2 years. My opinion is they should be replaced but I know some people want to reuse them. I would rather put testing instructions in to save them the grief of not knowing how to verify the drives for long term stability. | |
| * The SSD step is new. At this point with cheap 256GB and 512GB SSD's they are not super expensive anymore. I do not have a new and used SSD step because of how new they are. Hard drives have been around forever, so I need two steps for that. | |
| * I have depreciated the chipset step, but did not remove it from the guide. I was going to remove it but I felt it was better if I depreciate it but keep it around. | |
| * The Linux variants have all been replaced. I removed the original ones I had there back then in favor of some more targeted ones. '''NOTE: The board with the chipset picture is the board from the old system. Consider it an Easter egg from the original guide. I kept it from the partout as a CPU holder due to the weak VRM and lack of Pentium D support. I am not mentioning this very much because I want to see how many people recognize the Conolly marker as being from a Dimension 5150. I didn't removed the heatsink and exposed the i945, but because I may need to reuse the board and 10 year old PIII style thermal pads are a nightmare to remove after 10 years I chose not to.''' | |
| == System acquisition and the many problems. == | |
| '''Part 1: Getting a actual system.''' | |
| The second part of the 8 months was spent finding a system. I got a HP IQ506 in April, but I needed 3 parts. I got it under the guise the parts would be easy to find, but it turns out it was quite the opposite foe one of the 3 parts, while the second one was only semi difficult. On top of that, I needed to find the screws. The screws weren't a big deal. I was able to get the thread numbers with a digital caliper that I need for 4. I could then take that information to a hardware store and get flat top screws. That was not a big deal. I also needed a bunch of other screws but I had a sample I could bring to get that sorted so I was in good shape for the screws I needed 11+ of. One of the good things about this system was HP only uses 3 screw types and they don't use different length screws. | |
| I needed the following parts to get it going initially: | |
| * Stand ($40-40 used; $70-80+ NOS; difficult to find) | |
| * RAM door ($10-20; semi difficult to find) | |
| * Power supply (varies widely; sometimes $20 but can be $50 or more; easy to find) | |
| Due to the cost of the stand, I decided I may be better off getting a parts system. If I got a stand alone, I at least had the security of knowing you can buy the RAM door with a bit more ease compared to the stand. In the end, I used a parts system. This was because I gave up finding the stand so I figured a parts system would be easier to find. The condition of the parts system made it a literal parts system. This is the failure list it had: | |
| * GPU (colored line issue; typical failure for these HP's.) | |
| * Hard drive (7200.12; SMART data could not be read.) | |
| * Motherboard (bad iGPU.) | |
| * Screen (colored lines; could be GPU, but screens are also prone to it too. I don't trust the screen to be reliable.) | |
| * Touchscreen controller (Bad motherboard or controller? Never tested it beyond no touch response.) | |
| It was a parts system in the literal sense. Nearly EVERYTHING was bad on it. I looked at it as a total loss with the failures it had, so it still sits in a broken state. I only took it for the stand and RAM door, so I don't exactly care to fix it. The only good parts left are chassis related. Everything else is broken. I also bought the power supply from the person who got me the donor. I ended up getting all 3 parts replaced, at nearly the same time. | |
| '''Part 2: The system acts up after being repaired''' | |
| While I did manage to find the parts, it started having backlight problems in May. At that point I decided to look at the lifespan left on the other parts before I decide to repair or consider it a total loss like the parts system. What I found was the condition of the drive was a lie. It was actually used and it had problems 2 years in (2014 manufacture) and the seller hid that by resetting the POH. It also had major SMART problems. Having to replace the drive was going to be another $50-ish on top of what the screen and inverter costs. | |
| What it would cost me to fix it: | |
| * Screen ($80-100+) | |
| * Inverter (Made of unobtainum; when found, usually $20-25) | |
| * Hard drive ($70; WD Black 1TB) | |
| * DVD drive(12.7mm slot load; usually $20-25 on average) | |
| I priced the repairs out and I have decided the machine is a total loss. It's going to be WAY TOO EXPENSIVE to repair this machine. I still use it but a failure will be the end of it's run. I'm more annoyed at the fact it still had problems after the time I put into it more then anything. I didn't expect the Seagate to be reliable in the long run because my experience with Seagate is their drives are crap these days but the fact I took the seller on their word on the drive annoys me the most out of any of the failures it has had. The tip off was that the performance wasn't good on the drive, which usually means the drive has a problem. | |
| I try and look on the bright side with issues like that. On one hand it sucks I got scammed and the repairs were a waste of time. On the other I basically have a supply of rare and hard to find parts being these are AIO systems. The lies suck, but I think this is a case were I sort of won. I lost on the system, but I have 1 complete system and 1 that needs a stand. Outside of one missing stand, I have 2 complete systems loaded with parts. On the other hand I need to look for another system now. | |
| Am I going with the IQ506 again? No. I've had 2 losers. I do not feel like doing this again so I am going to be picking something a lot newer then this machine. As much as I'm sure the repairs would be welcomed I feel like the IQ506 is at the stage where repairs are only viable for small problems. You can fix it, but economics no longer make it worth the money to fix it unless you have a spare part surplus that's substantial. | |
| Beyond parts procurement and hardware issues, I was able to push forward even without a system even though I intended to use the HP IQ506. I just need to pick a different system and I know what I want anyway. | |
| Once we get past the initial part situation and acquiring that and then dealing with additional failures that eventually led to the condition of the hard drive being a lie (leading me to think it has had excessive hours well before I got it), you get the remaining 4 months. This was spent refining it without a system because I know what I want so I wasn't in a position where I had to wait. I could write the guide while looking for my ideal machine so I could get both finding it and writing it done at the same time. | |
| == Q&A on my decisions. == | |
| '''Why 2008 for laptops and AIO's?''' | |
| Multiple reasons. | |
| * This was when the first Peryn processors were released. I lined my hardware years up with the processors and left the rest neutral as there are times when some hardware's life is extended beyond the processor. | |
| * I feel more comfortable with 2008, as this is when LED panels started coming in. This is because I am finding cheap CCFL panels are starting to fail in mass in recent times. The good ones aren't as problematic yet but the cheaper grade ones are showing their age. I'd rather avoid CCFL as much as possible for that reason alone. | |
| * CCFL repair costs. When a inverter fails in a CCFL based system I like to change both to make sure the problem is gone. I can mix and match parts to a degree, but I don't like to do it beyond 3-6 months at most. I can go longer but I will only do that if I know the history and how it was treated. I usually do not know this information. As such, I change both and get it fixed in a way I can trust in the longer term. Lately, it's been getting very hard to find CCFL parts. Most of the panels are 5+ years old with many, many hours on it and you usually don't get it with the inverter included. On top of this, the prices have been going up in recent years due to the demand and lack of supply. The systems can be fixed, but the market has made them too expensive to repair vs getting a working one or going LED. | |
| * For AIO's, it's panel class. You will end up spending more to repair an AIO then you will on a new one. It's almost never worth trying to repair AIO systems based on that. | |
| '''Why 2007 for desktops?''' | |
| * Wolfdale came out in 2007. Again, matching years with first generation releases. | |
| * No panel concerns, seeing as most machines have a seprate LCD. If the LCD dies then you buy a new one and be done with it. It's not a major concern because of that alone. | |
| '''How I feel about going beyond my specs I decided on''' | |
| I picked specs that I could feel comfortable with the person building their first Linux system to get them in the right direction, so they don't have to fight performance issues on legacy hardware. I know from experience when old is too old. | |
| If you can figure out how to make it work, then I don't have a problem with someone using a SR laptop or a Conroe desktop or even Merom for that matter. My official position is any hardware that isn't up to par with what I decided on isn't going to be supported. | |
| However, I do encourage people to try and go beyond my first Linux PC specs if they have the skills to make it work. It's just something I will not be supporting and will be treated as a try at your own risk sort of deal. I will let it happen, but I am choosing not to support it officially. I am treating it as an official exception. | |
| '''Why did it take 8 months?''' | |
| It took 8 months for many reasons. Let's talk about the 2-3 month delay from the retrofit period first. | |
| '''2-3 month retrofit attempt''' | |
| I consider the first 2-3 months were wasted trying to make it work on the original content. After that kept causing me trouble for about 1-2 months, I decided to drop it and start with fresh content and treat it as a new guide rather then a legacy and modern hybrid. The problem was it made the guide hard to manage. In the hybrid situation I had 3 year old content that was written so badly it had to be replaced, combined with recent hardware and text that is written much better then the original text was. The accommodations I would have had to make to pull that off would have been time consuming and difficult. I would have to determine what is legacy content and modern content, and split it with more steps because I don't want to use all of my lines up and mix modern and legacy content together as this would be a waste of my 8 lines I have to work with. After all, I need it for the modern hardware too. Once I decided on what to consider legacy vs modern, I'd need to write the new text for the modern hardware and then revise the legacy content, if not just rewrite it altogether. This would have been a hassle and a huge tine consuming thing, which is what settled the decision to get rid of it. On top of all of that, some of it would have to be replaced because I blew it away earlier in the corrections. The only legacy hardware left was processors when I thought about it, so all of it would have needed to be replaced. I even blew away some of the CPU's in the process of doing that. | |
| While it would have been cool to have fresh content and legacy content, it's also more of a hassle then getting rid of it and replacing anything I deleted that can't be interchanged. It also doesn't make sense to do that in a environment where you are trying to make the guide modern. That's why I decided to drop the idea and start over without the legacy content. | |
| With that out of the way, here's the [https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Linux+Machine+configuration+%282007-2008+2009+2010+2011+2012%29/13130|link]. I think I have everything dealt with, but maybe I missed something. |
Discussion Topic:
Yes
Status:
open
Edit by: Nick
Title:
Feedback on the Linux config guide.
Text:
| For reference: This guide was made in 2013 and then pulled in 16 months. I made this at a time this was a common problem with my guides due to severe quality issues. If you were expecting this to be a preserved rehab, let me disappoint you now. It isn't. I tried, but it wasn't worth the trouble. | |
| So, this is what the 8 month delay got me. While the first 2-3 months were wasted (more on this later in the post), I made a call on how to get rid of that delay. It turns out that call to get rid of it was worth it. If I had opted to go with the original plans, this would have taken years to make. It was a effort that proved to be futile, at best. In regards to the text part, the last 6 months were spent making it work as a new guide. This basically killed a lot of my problems of making it work with the original content. | |
| '''NOTE: While this is a public release, I am only keeping it public for 2 weeks so I can see how much I ended up missing. I knocked a lot of the issues out, but I probably missed something seeing as I tried to keep it intact with modernization with years of newer hardware, which screwed it all up. Right now, I have to find a system but I know what I want. Until I find one for the right price it will be 5% incomplete.I am WELL aware of that.''' | |
| == What has changed? == | |
| * All of the steps were rewritten from scratch, but not replaced. I still have the 2013 edits left, as I used the original steps. | |
| * I have decided hardware minimums had to be put in. You can read more about it in the specs in the guide if you want to see what I decided on. | |
| - | * I |
| + | * I chose to leave Santa Rosa and Conroe behind. There are 2 reasons behind this. I did this because of line limitations vs what made sense to keep and get rid of. This is why I let SR/Conroe go and put Peryn/Wolfdale in place. I feel like SR/Conroe are nearly at the end of their life, if not very close. I do not expect the average reader to know that these chips are old enough their time is nearly over for even basic tasks. To me, anything older then Peryn or Wolfdale is old enough I feel it's time to move on. I also wanted something Core 2 related in the guide, but I didn't want it to be so old that the performance is no longer acceptable. |
| * Merom was dropped, even before Santa Rosa. It has been obsolete for years. Being a gen one mobile C2D it has serious performance issues that have been showing for years. I feel like the performance gap is already bad enough as it is. | |
| * The age limit for hardware is set at 2007 for desktops and 2008 for laptops, up until 2012. I tried to go all out and update the guide with many, many years of hardware and it did not work. I decided to put a 8/9 year old cap on the hardware to make it easier to get done, and for readers to follow. Generally speaking, a system is considered obsolete after 10 years. This always isn't the rule as there can be exceptions but for most systems 10 years is the point it is considered obsolete. I didn't want to go to 10 but I also didn't want to make it too early. | |
| == What is new? == | |
| * I have added steps for wireless. This was something I never added because of the complexity at the time. I just didn't know enough to incorporate it at the time. Now that I do, I had a bit more confidence putting it in. I also wanted to wait until I got the core guide done before adding it to keep the progress I made at a normal pace. | |
| * I added a step for new hard drives. This is also a new addition because I have learned how bad some of them really are. I have seen a 7200.11 give the BSY error and crash the ATA Security set, a .12 have SMART issues and a .14 in it's natural habitat, which is needing replacement. On top of these 3 drives I have seen others start to have problems after 3 years in some cases. However, I am not mandating a new drive. I understand some people want to reuse it and see, so I added testing suggestions to make sure it's healthy, or just said it probably should be replaced so you don't have a age related issue. Very often, the health is mediocre to poor and the remaining life is 1-2 years. My opinion is they should be replaced but I know some people want to reuse them. I would rather put testing instructions in to save them the grief of not knowing how to verify the drives for long term stability. | |
| * The SSD step is new. At this point with cheap 256GB and 512GB SSD's they are not super expensive anymore. I do not have a new and used SSD step because of how new they are. Hard drives have been around forever, so I need two steps for that. | |
| * I have depreciated the chipset step, but did not remove it from the guide. I was going to remove it but I felt it was better if I depreciate it but keep it around. | |
| * The Linux variants have all been replaced. I removed the original ones I had there back then in favor of some more targeted ones. '''NOTE: The board with the chipset picture is the board from the old system. Consider it an Easter egg from the original guide. I kept it from the partout as a CPU holder due to the weak VRM and lack of Pentium D support. I am not mentioning this very much because I want to see how many people recognize the Conolly marker as being from a Dimension 5150. I didn't removed the heatsink and exposed the i945, but because I may need to reuse the board and 10 year old PIII style thermal pads are a nightmare to remove after 10 years I chose not to.''' | |
| == System acquisition and the many problems. == | |
| '''Part 1: Getting a actual system.''' | |
| The second part of the 8 months was spent finding a system. I got a HP IQ506 in April, but I needed 3 parts. I got it under the guise the parts would be easy to find, but it turns out it was quite the opposite foe one of the 3 parts, while the second one was only semi difficult. On top of that, I needed to find the screws. The screws weren't a big deal. I was able to get the thread numbers with a digital caliper that I need for 4. I could then take that information to a hardware store and get flat top screws. That was not a big deal. I also needed a bunch of other screws but I had a sample I could bring to get that sorted so I was in good shape for the screws I needed 11+ of. One of the good things about this system was HP only uses 3 screw types and they don't use different length screws. | |
| I needed the following parts to get it going initially: | |
| * Stand ($40-40 used; $70-80+ NOS; difficult to find) | |
| * RAM door ($10-20; semi difficult to find) | |
| * Power supply (varies widely; sometimes $20 but can be $50 or more; easy to find) | |
| Due to the cost of the stand, I decided I may be better off getting a parts system. If I got a stand alone, I at least had the security of knowing you can buy the RAM door with a bit more ease compared to the stand. In the end, I used a parts system. This was because I gave up finding the stand so I figured a parts system would be easier to find. The condition of the parts system made it a literal parts system. This is the failure list it had: | |
| * GPU (colored line issue; typical failure for these HP's.) | |
| * Hard drive (7200.12; SMART data could not be read.) | |
| * Motherboard (bad iGPU.) | |
| * Screen (colored lines; could be GPU, but screens are also prone to it too. I don't trust the screen to be reliable.) | |
| * Touchscreen controller (Bad motherboard or controller? Never tested it beyond no touch response.) | |
| It was a parts system in the literal sense. Nearly EVERYTHING was bad on it. I looked at it as a total loss with the failures it had, so it still sits in a broken state. I only took it for the stand and RAM door, so I don't exactly care to fix it. The only good parts left are chassis related. Everything else is broken. I also bought the power supply from the person who got me the donor. I ended up getting all 3 parts replaced, at nearly the same time. | |
| '''Part 2: The system acts up after being repaired''' | |
| While I did manage to find the parts, it started having backlight problems in May. At that point I decided to look at the lifespan left on the other parts before I decide to repair or consider it a total loss like the parts system. What I found was the condition of the drive was a lie. It was actually used and it had problems 2 years in (2014 manufacture) and the seller hid that by resetting the POH. It also had major SMART problems. Having to replace the drive was going to be another $50-ish on top of what the screen and inverter costs. | |
| What it would cost me to fix it: | |
| * Screen ($80-100+) | |
| * Inverter (Made of unobtainum; when found, usually $20-25) | |
| * Hard drive ($70; WD Black 1TB) | |
| * DVD drive(12.7mm slot load; usually $20-25 on average) | |
| I priced the repairs out and I have decided the machine is a total loss. It's going to be WAY TOO EXPENSIVE to repair this machine. I still use it but a failure will be the end of it's run. I'm more annoyed at the fact it still had problems after the time I put into it more then anything. I didn't expect the Seagate to be reliable in the long run because my experience with Seagate is their drives are crap these days but the fact I took the seller on their word on the drive annoys me the most out of any of the failures it has had. The tip off was that the performance wasn't good on the drive, which usually means the drive has a problem. | |
| I try and look on the bright side with issues like that. On one hand it sucks I got scammed and the repairs were a waste of time. On the other I basically have a supply of rare and hard to find parts being these are AIO systems. The lies suck, but I think this is a case were I sort of won. I lost on the system, but I have 1 complete system and 1 that needs a stand. Outside of one missing stand, I have 2 complete systems loaded with parts. On the other hand I need to look for another system now. | |
| Am I going with the IQ506 again? No. I've had 2 losers. I do not feel like doing this again so I am going to be picking something a lot newer then this machine. As much as I'm sure the repairs would be welcomed I feel like the IQ506 is at the stage where repairs are only viable for small problems. You can fix it, but economics no longer make it worth the money to fix it unless you have a spare part surplus that's substantial. | |
| Beyond parts procurement and hardware issues, I was able to push forward even without a system even though I intended to use the HP IQ506. I just need to pick a different system and I know what I want anyway. | |
| Once we get past the initial part situation and acquiring that and then dealing with additional failures that eventually led to the condition of the hard drive being a lie (leading me to think it has had excessive hours well before I got it), you get the remaining 4 months. This was spent refining it without a system because I know what I want so I wasn't in a position where I had to wait. I could write the guide while looking for my ideal machine so I could get both finding it and writing it done at the same time. | |
| == Q&A on my decisions. == | |
| '''Why 2008 for laptops and AIO's?''' | |
| Multiple reasons. | |
| * This was when the first Peryn processors were released. I lined my hardware years up with the processors and left the rest neutral as there are times when some hardware's life is extended beyond the processor. | |
| * I feel more comfortable with 2008, as this is when LED panels started coming in. This is because I am finding cheap CCFL panels are starting to fail in mass in recent times. The good ones aren't as problematic yet but the cheaper grade ones are showing their age. I'd rather avoid CCFL as much as possible for that reason alone. | |
| * CCFL repair costs. When a inverter fails in a CCFL based system I like to change both to make sure the problem is gone. I can mix and match parts to a degree, but I don't like to do it beyond 3-6 months at most. I can go longer but I will only do that if I know the history and how it was treated. I usually do not know this information. As such, I change both and get it fixed in a way I can trust in the longer term. Lately, it's been getting very hard to find CCFL parts. Most of the panels are 5+ years old with many, many hours on it and you usually don't get it with the inverter included. On top of this, the prices have been going up in recent years due to the demand and lack of supply. The systems can be fixed, but the market has made them too expensive to repair vs getting a working one or going LED. | |
| * For AIO's, it's panel class. You will end up spending more to repair an AIO then you will on a new one. It's almost never worth trying to repair AIO systems based on that. | |
| '''Why 2007 for desktops?''' | |
| * Wolfdale came out in 2007. Again, matching years with first generation releases. | |
| * No panel concerns, seeing as most machines have a seprate LCD. If the LCD dies then you buy a new one and be done with it. It's not a major concern because of that alone. | |
| '''How I feel about going beyond my specs I decided on''' | |
| I picked specs that I could feel comfortable with the person building their first Linux system to get them in the right direction, so they don't have to fight performance issues on legacy hardware. I know from experience when old is too old. | |
| If you can figure out how to make it work, then I don't have a problem with someone using a SR laptop or a Conroe desktop or even Merom for that matter. My official position is any hardware that isn't up to par with what I decided on isn't going to be supported. | |
| However, I do encourage people to try and go beyond my first Linux PC specs if they have the skills to make it work. It's just something I will not be supporting and will be treated as a try at your own risk sort of deal. I will let it happen, but I am choosing not to support it officially. I am treating it as an official exception. | |
| '''Why did it take 8 months?''' | |
| It took 8 months for many reasons. Let's talk about the 2-3 month delay from the retrofit period first. | |
| '''2-3 month retrofit attempt''' | |
| I consider the first 2-3 months were wasted trying to make it work on the original content. After that kept causing me trouble for about 1-2 months, I decided to drop it and start with fresh content and treat it as a new guide rather then a legacy and modern hybrid. The problem was it made the guide hard to manage. In the hybrid situation I had 3 year old content that was written so badly it had to be replaced, combined with recent hardware and text that is written much better then the original text was. The accommodations I would have had to make to pull that off would have been time consuming and difficult. I would have to determine what is legacy content and modern content, and split it with more steps because I don't want to use all of my lines up and mix modern and legacy content together as this would be a waste of my 8 lines I have to work with. After all, I need it for the modern hardware too. Once I decided on what to consider legacy vs modern, I'd need to write the new text for the modern hardware and then revise the legacy content, if not just rewrite it altogether. This would have been a hassle and a huge tine consuming thing, which is what settled the decision to get rid of it. On top of all of that, some of it would have to be replaced because I blew it away earlier in the corrections. The only legacy hardware left was processors when I thought about it, so all of it would have needed to be replaced. I even blew away some of the CPU's in the process of doing that. | |
| While it would have been cool to have fresh content and legacy content, it's also more of a hassle then getting rid of it and replacing anything I deleted that can't be interchanged. It also doesn't make sense to do that in a environment where you are trying to make the guide modern. That's why I decided to drop the idea and start over without the legacy content. | |
| With that out of the way, here's the [https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Linux+Machine+configuration+%282007-2008+2009+2010+2011+2012%29/13130|link]. I think I have everything dealt with, but maybe I missed something. |
Discussion Topic:
Yes
Status:
open
Edit by: Nick
Title:
Feedback on the Linux config guide.
Text:
| For reference: This guide was made in 2013 and then pulled in 16 months. I made this at a time this was a common problem with my guides due to severe quality issues. If you were expecting this to be a preserved rehab, let me disappoint you now. It isn't. I tried, but it wasn't worth the trouble. | |
| So, this is what the 8 month delay got me. While the first 2-3 months were wasted (more on this later in the post), I made a call on how to get rid of that delay. It turns out that call to get rid of it was worth it. If I had opted to go with the original plans, this would have taken years to make. It was a effort that proved to be futile, at best. In regards to the text part, the last 6 months were spent making it work as a new guide. This basically killed a lot of my problems of making it work with the original content. | |
| '''NOTE: While this is a public release, I am only keeping it public for 2 weeks so I can see how much I ended up missing. I knocked a lot of the issues out, but I probably missed something seeing as I tried to keep it intact with modernization with years of newer hardware, which screwed it all up. Right now, I have to find a system but I know what I want. Until I find one for the right price it will be 5% incomplete.I am WELL aware of that.''' | |
| == What has changed? == | |
| * All of the steps were rewritten from scratch, but not replaced. I still have the 2013 edits left, as I used the original steps. | |
| * I have decided hardware minimums had to be put in. You can read more about it in the specs in the guide if you want to see what I decided on. | |
| * I have chosen to leave Santa Rosa and Conroe behind. There are 2 reasons behind this. I did this because of line limitations vs what made sense to keep and get rid of. This is why I let SR/Conroe go and put Peryn/Wolfdale in place. I feel like SR/Conroe are nearly at the end of their life, if not very close. I do not expect the average reader to know that these chips are old enough their time is nearly over for even basic tasks. To me, anything older then Peryn or Wolfdale is old enough I feel it's time to move on. I also wanted something Core 2 related in the guide, but I didn't want it to be so old that the performance is no longer acceptable. | |
| * Merom was dropped, even before Santa Rosa. It has been obsolete for years. Being a gen one mobile C2D it has serious performance issues that have been showing for years. I feel like the performance gap is already bad enough as it is. | |
| * The age limit for hardware is set at 2007 for desktops and 2008 for laptops, up until 2012. I tried to go all out and update the guide with many, many years of hardware and it did not work. I decided to put a 8/9 year old cap on the hardware to make it easier to get done, and for readers to follow. Generally speaking, a system is considered obsolete after 10 years. This always isn't the rule as there can be exceptions but for most systems 10 years is the point it is considered obsolete. I didn't want to go to 10 but I also didn't want to make it too early. | |
| == What is new? == | |
| * I have added steps for wireless. This was something I never added because of the complexity at the time. I just didn't know enough to incorporate it at the time. Now that I do, I had a bit more confidence putting it in. I also wanted to wait until I got the core guide done before adding it to keep the progress I made at a normal pace. | |
| * I added a step for new hard drives. This is also a new addition because I have learned how bad some of them really are. I have seen a 7200.11 give the BSY error and crash the ATA Security set, a .12 have SMART issues and a .14 in it's natural habitat, which is needing replacement. On top of these 3 drives I have seen others start to have problems after 3 years in some cases. However, I am not mandating a new drive. I understand some people want to reuse it and see, so I added testing suggestions to make sure it's healthy, or just said it probably should be replaced so you don't have a age related issue. Very often, the health is mediocre to poor and the remaining life is 1-2 years. My opinion is they should be replaced but I know some people want to reuse them. I would rather put testing instructions in to save them the grief of not knowing how to verify the drives for long term stability. | |
| * The SSD step is new. At this point with cheap 256GB and 512GB SSD's they are not super expensive anymore. I do not have a new and used SSD step because of how new they are. Hard drives have been around forever, so I need two steps for that. | |
| * I have depreciated the chipset step, but did not remove it from the guide. I was going to remove it but I felt it was better if I depreciate it but keep it around. | |
| * The Linux variants have all been replaced. I removed the original ones I had there back then in favor of some more targeted ones. '''NOTE: The board with the chipset picture is the board from the old system. Consider it an Easter egg from the original guide. I kept it from the partout as a CPU holder due to the weak VRM and lack of Pentium D support. I am not mentioning this very much because I want to see how many people recognize the Conolly marker as being from a Dimension 5150. I didn't removed the heatsink and exposed the i945, but because I may need to reuse the board and 10 year old PIII style thermal pads are a nightmare to remove after 10 years I chose not to.''' | |
| == System acquisition and the many problems. == | |
| - | '''Part 1: Getting a actual system''' |
| + | '''Part 1: Getting a actual system.''' |
| The second part of the 8 months was spent finding a system. I got a HP IQ506 in April, but I needed 3 parts. I got it under the guise the parts would be easy to find, but it turns out it was quite the opposite foe one of the 3 parts, while the second one was only semi difficult. On top of that, I needed to find the screws. The screws weren't a big deal. I was able to get the thread numbers with a digital caliper that I need for 4. I could then take that information to a hardware store and get flat top screws. That was not a big deal. I also needed a bunch of other screws but I had a sample I could bring to get that sorted so I was in good shape for the screws I needed 11+ of. One of the good things about this system was HP only uses 3 screw types and they don't use different length screws. | |
| I needed the following parts to get it going initially: | |
| * Stand ($40-40 used; $70-80+ NOS; difficult to find) | |
| * RAM door ($10-20; semi difficult to find) | |
| * Power supply (varies widely; sometimes $20 but can be $50 or more; easy to find) | |
| Due to the cost of the stand, I decided I may be better off getting a parts system. If I got a stand alone, I at least had the security of knowing you can buy the RAM door with a bit more ease compared to the stand. In the end, I used a parts system. This was because I gave up finding the stand so I figured a parts system would be easier to find. The condition of the parts system made it a literal parts system. This is the failure list it had: | |
| * GPU (colored line issue; typical failure for these HP's.) | |
| * Hard drive (7200.12; SMART data could not be read.) | |
| * Motherboard (bad iGPU.) | |
| * Screen (colored lines; could be GPU, but screens are also prone to it too. I don't trust the screen to be reliable.) | |
| * Touchscreen controller (Bad motherboard or controller? Never tested it beyond no touch response.) | |
| It was a parts system in the literal sense. Nearly EVERYTHING was bad on it. I looked at it as a total loss with the failures it had, so it still sits in a broken state. I only took it for the stand and RAM door, so I don't exactly care to fix it. The only good parts left are chassis related. Everything else is broken. I also bought the power supply from the person who got me the donor. I ended up getting all 3 parts replaced, at nearly the same time. | |
| '''Part 2: The system acts up after being repaired''' | |
| While I did manage to find the parts, it started having backlight problems in May. At that point I decided to look at the lifespan left on the other parts before I decide to repair or consider it a total loss like the parts system. What I found was the condition of the drive was a lie. It was actually used and it had problems 2 years in (2014 manufacture) and the seller hid that by resetting the POH. It also had major SMART problems. Having to replace the drive was going to be another $50-ish on top of what the screen and inverter costs. | |
| What it would cost me to fix it: | |
| * Screen ($80-100+) | |
| * Inverter (Made of unobtainum; when found, usually $20-25) | |
| * Hard drive ($70; WD Black 1TB) | |
| * DVD drive(12.7mm slot load; usually $20-25 on average) | |
| I priced the repairs out and I have decided the machine is a total loss. It's going to be WAY TOO EXPENSIVE to repair this machine. I still use it but a failure will be the end of it's run. I'm more annoyed at the fact it still had problems after the time I put into it more then anything. I didn't expect the Seagate to be reliable in the long run because my experience with Seagate is their drives are crap these days but the fact I took the seller on their word on the drive annoys me the most out of any of the failures it has had. The tip off was that the performance wasn't good on the drive, which usually means the drive has a problem. | |
| I try and look on the bright side with issues like that. On one hand it sucks I got scammed and the repairs were a waste of time. On the other I basically have a supply of rare and hard to find parts being these are AIO systems. The lies suck, but I think this is a case were I sort of won. I lost on the system, but I have 1 complete system and 1 that needs a stand. Outside of one missing stand, I have 2 complete systems loaded with parts. On the other hand I need to look for another system now. | |
| Am I going with the IQ506 again? No. I've had 2 losers. I do not feel like doing this again so I am going to be picking something a lot newer then this machine. As much as I'm sure the repairs would be welcomed I feel like the IQ506 is at the stage where repairs are only viable for small problems. You can fix it, but economics no longer make it worth the money to fix it unless you have a spare part surplus that's substantial. | |
| Beyond parts procurement and hardware issues, I was able to push forward even without a system even though I intended to use the HP IQ506. I just need to pick a different system and I know what I want anyway. | |
| Once we get past the initial part situation and acquiring that and then dealing with additional failures that eventually led to the condition of the hard drive being a lie (leading me to think it has had excessive hours well before I got it), you get the remaining 4 months. This was spent refining it without a system because I know what I want so I wasn't in a position where I had to wait. I could write the guide while looking for my ideal machine so I could get both finding it and writing it done at the same time. | |
| - | |
| + | == Q&A on my decisions. == |
| '''Why 2008 for laptops and AIO's?''' | |
| Multiple reasons. | |
| * This was when the first Peryn processors were released. I lined my hardware years up with the processors and left the rest neutral as there are times when some hardware's life is extended beyond the processor. | |
| * I feel more comfortable with 2008, as this is when LED panels started coming in. This is because I am finding cheap CCFL panels are starting to fail in mass in recent times. The good ones aren't as problematic yet but the cheaper grade ones are showing their age. I'd rather avoid CCFL as much as possible for that reason alone. | |
| * CCFL repair costs. When a inverter fails in a CCFL based system I like to change both to make sure the problem is gone. I can mix and match parts to a degree, but I don't like to do it beyond 3-6 months at most. I can go longer but I will only do that if I know the history and how it was treated. I usually do not know this information. As such, I change both and get it fixed in a way I can trust in the longer term. Lately, it's been getting very hard to find CCFL parts. Most of the panels are 5+ years old with many, many hours on it and you usually don't get it with the inverter included. On top of this, the prices have been going up in recent years due to the demand and lack of supply. The systems can be fixed, but the market has made them too expensive to repair vs getting a working one or going LED. | |
| * For AIO's, it's panel class. You will end up spending more to repair an AIO then you will on a new one. It's almost never worth trying to repair AIO systems based on that. | |
| '''Why 2007 for desktops?''' | |
| * Wolfdale came out in 2007. Again, matching years with first generation releases. | |
| * No panel concerns, seeing as most machines have a seprate LCD. If the LCD dies then you buy a new one and be done with it. It's not a major concern because of that alone. | |
| '''How I feel about going beyond my specs I decided on''' | |
| I picked specs that I could feel comfortable with the person building their first Linux system to get them in the right direction, so they don't have to fight performance issues on legacy hardware. I know from experience when old is too old. | |
| If you can figure out how to make it work, then I don't have a problem with someone using a SR laptop or a Conroe desktop or even Merom for that matter. My official position is any hardware that isn't up to par with what I decided on isn't going to be supported. | |
| However, I do encourage people to try and go beyond my first Linux PC specs if they have the skills to make it work. It's just something I will not be supporting and will be treated as a try at your own risk sort of deal. I will let it happen, but I am choosing not to support it officially. I am treating it as an official exception. | |
| '''Why did it take 8 months?''' | |
| It took 8 months for many reasons. Let's talk about the 2-3 month delay from the retrofit period first. | |
| '''2-3 month retrofit attempt''' | |
| I consider the first 2-3 months were wasted trying to make it work on the original content. After that kept causing me trouble for about 1-2 months, I decided to drop it and start with fresh content and treat it as a new guide rather then a legacy and modern hybrid. The problem was it made the guide hard to manage. In the hybrid situation I had 3 year old content that was written so badly it had to be replaced, combined with recent hardware and text that is written much better then the original text was. The accommodations I would have had to make to pull that off would have been time consuming and difficult. I would have to determine what is legacy content and modern content, and split it with more steps because I don't want to use all of my lines up and mix modern and legacy content together as this would be a waste of my 8 lines I have to work with. After all, I need it for the modern hardware too. Once I decided on what to consider legacy vs modern, I'd need to write the new text for the modern hardware and then revise the legacy content, if not just rewrite it altogether. This would have been a hassle and a huge tine consuming thing, which is what settled the decision to get rid of it. On top of all of that, some of it would have to be replaced because I blew it away earlier in the corrections. The only legacy hardware left was processors when I thought about it, so all of it would have needed to be replaced. I even blew away some of the CPU's in the process of doing that. | |
| While it would have been cool to have fresh content and legacy content, it's also more of a hassle then getting rid of it and replacing anything I deleted that can't be interchanged. It also doesn't make sense to do that in a environment where you are trying to make the guide modern. That's why I decided to drop the idea and start over without the legacy content. | |
| - | |
| With that out of the way, here's the [https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Linux+Machine+configuration+%282007-2008+2009+2010+2011+2012%29/13130|link]. I think I have everything dealt with, but maybe I missed something. |
Discussion Topic:
Yes
Status:
open
Edit by: Nick
Title:
Feedback on the Linux config guide.
Text:
| For reference: This guide was made in 2013 and then pulled in 16 months. I made this at a time this was a common problem with my guides due to severe quality issues. If you were expecting this to be a preserved rehab, let me disappoint you now. It isn't. I tried, but it wasn't worth the trouble. | |
| So, this is what the 8 month delay got me. While the first 2-3 months were wasted (more on this later in the post), I made a call on how to get rid of that delay. It turns out that call to get rid of it was worth it. If I had opted to go with the original plans, this would have taken years to make. It was a effort that proved to be futile, at best. In regards to the text part, the last 6 months were spent making it work as a new guide. This basically killed a lot of my problems of making it work with the original content. | |
| '''NOTE: While this is a public release, I am only keeping it public for 2 weeks so I can see how much I ended up missing. I knocked a lot of the issues out, but I probably missed something seeing as I tried to keep it intact with modernization with years of newer hardware, which screwed it all up. Right now, I have to find a system but I know what I want. Until I find one for the right price it will be 5% incomplete.I am WELL aware of that.''' | |
| == What has changed? == | |
| * All of the steps were rewritten from scratch, but not replaced. I still have the 2013 edits left, as I used the original steps. | |
| * I have decided hardware minimums had to be put in. You can read more about it in the specs in the guide if you want to see what I decided on. | |
| * I have chosen to leave Santa Rosa and Conroe behind. There are 2 reasons behind this. I did this because of line limitations vs what made sense to keep and get rid of. This is why I let SR/Conroe go and put Peryn/Wolfdale in place. I feel like SR/Conroe are nearly at the end of their life, if not very close. I do not expect the average reader to know that these chips are old enough their time is nearly over for even basic tasks. To me, anything older then Peryn or Wolfdale is old enough I feel it's time to move on. I also wanted something Core 2 related in the guide, but I didn't want it to be so old that the performance is no longer acceptable. | |
| * Merom was dropped, even before Santa Rosa. It has been obsolete for years. Being a gen one mobile C2D it has serious performance issues that have been showing for years. I feel like the performance gap is already bad enough as it is. | |
| * The age limit for hardware is set at 2007 for desktops and 2008 for laptops, up until 2012. I tried to go all out and update the guide with many, many years of hardware and it did not work. I decided to put a 8/9 year old cap on the hardware to make it easier to get done, and for readers to follow. Generally speaking, a system is considered obsolete after 10 years. This always isn't the rule as there can be exceptions but for most systems 10 years is the point it is considered obsolete. I didn't want to go to 10 but I also didn't want to make it too early. | |
| + | |
| + | == What is new? == |
| + | |
| + | * I have added steps for wireless. This was something I never added because of the complexity at the time. I just didn't know enough to incorporate it at the time. Now that I do, I had a bit more confidence putting it in. I also wanted to wait until I got the core guide done before adding it to keep the progress I made at a normal pace. |
| + | * I added a step for new hard drives. This is also a new addition because I have learned how bad some of them really are. I have seen a 7200.11 give the BSY error and crash the ATA Security set, a .12 have SMART issues and a .14 in it's natural habitat, which is needing replacement. On top of these 3 drives I have seen others start to have problems after 3 years in some cases. However, I am not mandating a new drive. I understand some people want to reuse it and see, so I added testing suggestions to make sure it's healthy, or just said it probably should be replaced so you don't have a age related issue. Very often, the health is mediocre to poor and the remaining life is 1-2 years. My opinion is they should be replaced but I know some people want to reuse them. I would rather put testing instructions in to save them the grief of not knowing how to verify the drives for long term stability. |
| + | * The SSD step is new. At this point with cheap 256GB and 512GB SSD's they are not super expensive anymore. I do not have a new and used SSD step because of how new they are. Hard drives have been around forever, so I need two steps for that. |
| + | * I have depreciated the chipset step, but did not remove it from the guide. I was going to remove it but I felt it was better if I depreciate it but keep it around. |
| + | * The Linux variants have all been replaced. I removed the original ones I had there back then in favor of some more targeted ones. '''NOTE: The board with the chipset picture is the board from the old system. Consider it an Easter egg from the original guide. I kept it from the partout as a CPU holder due to the weak VRM and lack of Pentium D support. I am not mentioning this very much because I want to see how many people recognize the Conolly marker as being from a Dimension 5150. I didn't removed the heatsink and exposed the i945, but because I may need to reuse the board and 10 year old PIII style thermal pads are a nightmare to remove after 10 years I chose not to.''' |
| + | |
| + | == System acquisition and the many problems. == |
| + | |
| + | '''Part 1: Getting a actual system''' |
| + | |
| + | The second part of the 8 months was spent finding a system. I got a HP IQ506 in April, but I needed 3 parts. I got it under the guise the parts would be easy to find, but it turns out it was quite the opposite foe one of the 3 parts, while the second one was only semi difficult. On top of that, I needed to find the screws. The screws weren't a big deal. I was able to get the thread numbers with a digital caliper that I need for 4. I could then take that information to a hardware store and get flat top screws. That was not a big deal. I also needed a bunch of other screws but I had a sample I could bring to get that sorted so I was in good shape for the screws I needed 11+ of. One of the good things about this system was HP only uses 3 screw types and they don't use different length screws. |
| + | |
| + | I needed the following parts to get it going initially: |
| + | |
| + | * Stand ($40-40 used; $70-80+ NOS; difficult to find) |
| + | * RAM door ($10-20; semi difficult to find) |
| + | * Power supply (varies widely; sometimes $20 but can be $50 or more; easy to find) |
| + | |
| + | Due to the cost of the stand, I decided I may be better off getting a parts system. If I got a stand alone, I at least had the security of knowing you can buy the RAM door with a bit more ease compared to the stand. In the end, I used a parts system. This was because I gave up finding the stand so I figured a parts system would be easier to find. The condition of the parts system made it a literal parts system. This is the failure list it had: |
| + | |
| + | * GPU (colored line issue; typical failure for these HP's.) |
| + | * Hard drive (7200.12; SMART data could not be read.) |
| + | * Motherboard (bad iGPU.) |
| + | * Screen (colored lines; could be GPU, but screens are also prone to it too. I don't trust the screen to be reliable.) |
| + | * Touchscreen controller (Bad motherboard or controller? Never tested it beyond no touch response.) |
| + | |
| + | It was a parts system in the literal sense. Nearly EVERYTHING was bad on it. I looked at it as a total loss with the failures it had, so it still sits in a broken state. I only took it for the stand and RAM door, so I don't exactly care to fix it. The only good parts left are chassis related. Everything else is broken. I also bought the power supply from the person who got me the donor. I ended up getting all 3 parts replaced, at nearly the same time. |
| + | |
| + | '''Part 2: The system acts up after being repaired''' |
| + | |
| + | While I did manage to find the parts, it started having backlight problems in May. At that point I decided to look at the lifespan left on the other parts before I decide to repair or consider it a total loss like the parts system. What I found was the condition of the drive was a lie. It was actually used and it had problems 2 years in (2014 manufacture) and the seller hid that by resetting the POH. It also had major SMART problems. Having to replace the drive was going to be another $50-ish on top of what the screen and inverter costs. |
| + | |
| + | What it would cost me to fix it: |
| + | |
| + | * Screen ($80-100+) |
| + | * Inverter (Made of unobtainum; when found, usually $20-25) |
| + | * Hard drive ($70; WD Black 1TB) |
| + | * DVD drive(12.7mm slot load; usually $20-25 on average) |
| + | |
| + | I priced the repairs out and I have decided the machine is a total loss. It's going to be WAY TOO EXPENSIVE to repair this machine. I still use it but a failure will be the end of it's run. I'm more annoyed at the fact it still had problems after the time I put into it more then anything. I didn't expect the Seagate to be reliable in the long run because my experience with Seagate is their drives are crap these days but the fact I took the seller on their word on the drive annoys me the most out of any of the failures it has had. The tip off was that the performance wasn't good on the drive, which usually means the drive has a problem. |
| + | |
| + | I try and look on the bright side with issues like that. On one hand it sucks I got scammed and the repairs were a waste of time. On the other I basically have a supply of rare and hard to find parts being these are AIO systems. The lies suck, but I think this is a case were I sort of won. I lost on the system, but I have 1 complete system and 1 that needs a stand. Outside of one missing stand, I have 2 complete systems loaded with parts. On the other hand I need to look for another system now. |
| + | |
| + | Am I going with the IQ506 again? No. I've had 2 losers. I do not feel like doing this again so I am going to be picking something a lot newer then this machine. As much as I'm sure the repairs would be welcomed I feel like the IQ506 is at the stage where repairs are only viable for small problems. You can fix it, but economics no longer make it worth the money to fix it unless you have a spare part surplus that's substantial. |
| + | |
| + | Beyond parts procurement and hardware issues, I was able to push forward even without a system even though I intended to use the HP IQ506. I just need to pick a different system and I know what I want anyway. |
| + | |
| + | Once we get past the initial part situation and acquiring that and then dealing with additional failures that eventually led to the condition of the hard drive being a lie (leading me to think it has had excessive hours well before I got it), you get the remaining 4 months. This was spent refining it without a system because I know what I want so I wasn't in a position where I had to wait. I could write the guide while looking for my ideal machine so I could get both finding it and writing it done at the same time. |
| Some Q&A on some of my decisions here: | |
| '''Why 2008 for laptops and AIO's?''' | |
| Multiple reasons. | |
| * This was when the first Peryn processors were released. I lined my hardware years up with the processors and left the rest neutral as there are times when some hardware's life is extended beyond the processor. | |
| * I feel more comfortable with 2008, as this is when LED panels started coming in. This is because I am finding cheap CCFL panels are starting to fail in mass in recent times. The good ones aren't as problematic yet but the cheaper grade ones are showing their age. I'd rather avoid CCFL as much as possible for that reason alone. | |
| * CCFL repair costs. When a inverter fails in a CCFL based system I like to change both to make sure the problem is gone. I can mix and match parts to a degree, but I don't like to do it beyond 3-6 months at most. I can go longer but I will only do that if I know the history and how it was treated. I usually do not know this information. As such, I change both and get it fixed in a way I can trust in the longer term. Lately, it's been getting very hard to find CCFL parts. Most of the panels are 5+ years old with many, many hours on it and you usually don't get it with the inverter included. On top of this, the prices have been going up in recent years due to the demand and lack of supply. The systems can be fixed, but the market has made them too expensive to repair vs getting a working one or going LED. | |
| * For AIO's, it's panel class. You will end up spending more to repair an AIO then you will on a new one. It's almost never worth trying to repair AIO systems based on that. | |
| '''Why 2007 for desktops?''' | |
| * Wolfdale came out in 2007. Again, matching years with first generation releases. | |
| * No panel concerns, seeing as most machines have a seprate LCD. If the LCD dies then you buy a new one and be done with it. It's not a major concern because of that alone. | |
| '''How I feel about going beyond my specs I decided on''' | |
| I picked specs that I could feel comfortable with the person building their first Linux system to get them in the right direction, so they don't have to fight performance issues on legacy hardware. I know from experience when old is too old. | |
| If you can figure out how to make it work, then I don't have a problem with someone using a SR laptop or a Conroe desktop or even Merom for that matter. My official position is any hardware that isn't up to par with what I decided on isn't going to be supported. | |
| However, I do encourage people to try and go beyond my first Linux PC specs if they have the skills to make it work. It's just something I will not be supporting and will be treated as a try at your own risk sort of deal. I will let it happen, but I am choosing not to support it officially. I am treating it as an official exception. | |
| - | == What is new? == |
| - | |
| - | * I have added steps for wireless. This was something I never added because of the complexity at the time. I just didn't know enough to incorporate it at the time. Now that I do, I had a bit more confidence putting it in. I also wanted to wait until I got the core guide done before adding it to keep the progress I made at a normal pace. |
| - | * I added a step for new hard drives. This is also a new addition because I have learned how bad some of them really are. I have seen a 7200.11 give the BSY error and crash the ATA Security set, a .12 have SMART issues and a .14 in it's natural habitat, which is needing replacement. On top of these 3 drives I have seen others start to have problems after 3 years in some cases. However, I am not mandating a new drive. I understand some people want to reuse it and see, so I added testing suggestions to make sure it's healthy, or just said it probably should be replaced so you don't have a age related issue. Very often, the health is mediocre to poor and the remaining life is 1-2 years. My opinion is they should be replaced but I know some people want to reuse them. I would rather put testing instructions in to save them the grief of not knowing how to verify the drives for long term stability. |
| - | * The SSD step is new. At this point with cheap 256GB and 512GB SSD's they are not super expensive anymore. I do not have a new and used SSD step because of how new they are. Hard drives have been around forever, so I need two steps for that. |
| - | * I have depreciated the chipset step, but did not remove it from the guide. I was going to remove it but I felt it was better if I depreciate it but keep it around. |
| - | * The Linux variants have all been replaced. I removed the original ones I had there back then in favor of some more targeted ones. '''NOTE: The board with the chipset picture is the board from the old system. Consider it an Easter egg from the original guide. I kept it from the partout as a CPU holder due to the weak VRM and lack of Pentium D support. I am not mentioning this very much because I want to see how many people recognize the Conolly marker as being from a Dimension 5150. I didn't removed the heatsink and exposed the i945, but because I may need to reuse the board and 10 year old PIII style thermal pads are a nightmare to remove after 10 years I chose not to.''' |
| - | |
| - | ==Why did it take 8 months?== |
| + | '''Why did it take 8 months?''' |
| It took 8 months for many reasons. Let's talk about the 2-3 month delay from the retrofit period first. | |
| '''2-3 month retrofit attempt''' | |
| I consider the first 2-3 months were wasted trying to make it work on the original content. After that kept causing me trouble for about 1-2 months, I decided to drop it and start with fresh content and treat it as a new guide rather then a legacy and modern hybrid. The problem was it made the guide hard to manage. In the hybrid situation I had 3 year old content that was written so badly it had to be replaced, combined with recent hardware and text that is written much better then the original text was. The accommodations I would have had to make to pull that off would have been time consuming and difficult. I would have to determine what is legacy content and modern content, and split it with more steps because I don't want to use all of my lines up and mix modern and legacy content together as this would be a waste of my 8 lines I have to work with. After all, I need it for the modern hardware too. Once I decided on what to consider legacy vs modern, I'd need to write the new text for the modern hardware and then revise the legacy content, if not just rewrite it altogether. This would have been a hassle and a huge tine consuming thing, which is what settled the decision to get rid of it. On top of all of that, some of it would have to be replaced because I blew it away earlier in the corrections. The only legacy hardware left was processors when I thought about it, so all of it would have needed to be replaced. I even blew away some of the CPU's in the process of doing that. | |
| While it would have been cool to have fresh content and legacy content, it's also more of a hassle then getting rid of it and replacing anything I deleted that can't be interchanged. It also doesn't make sense to do that in a environment where you are trying to make the guide modern. That's why I decided to drop the idea and start over without the legacy content. | |
| - | '''Part 2: Getting a system''' |
| - | |
| - | The second part of the waste time was spent looking for parts for the system. I got a HP IQ506 in April, but I needed 3 parts. I got it under the guise the parts would be easy to find, but it turns out it was quite the opposite foe one of the 3 parts, while the second one was only semi difficult. On top of that, I needed to find the screws. The screws weren't a big deal. I was able to get the thread numbers with a digital caliper that I need for 4. I could then take that information to a hardware store and get flat top screws. That was not a big deal. I also needed a bunch of other screws but I had a sample I could bring to get that sorted so I was in good shape for the screws I needed 11+ of. One of the good things about this system was HP only uses 3 screw types and they don't use different length screws. |
| - | |
| - | I needed the following parts to get it going initially: |
| - | |
| - | * Stand ($40-40 used; $70-80+ NOS; difficult to find) |
| - | * RAM door ($10-20; semi difficult to find) |
| - | * Power supply (varies widely; sometimes $20 but can be $50 or more; easy to find) |
| - | |
| - | Due to the cost of the stand, I decided I may be better off getting a parts system. If I got a stand alone, I at least had the security of knowing you can buy the RAM door with a bit more ease compared to the stand. In the end, I used a parts system. This was because I gave up finding the stand so I figured a parts system would be easier to find. The condition of the parts system made it a literal parts system. This is the failure list it had: |
| - | |
| - | * GPU (colored line issue; typical failure for these HP's.) |
| - | * Hard drive (7200.12; SMART data could not be read.) |
| - | * Motherboard (bad iGPU.) |
| - | * Screen (colored lines; could be GPU, but screens are also prone to it too. I don't trust the screen to be reliable.) |
| - | * Touchscreen controller (Bad motherboard or controller? Never tested it beyond no touch response.) |
| - | |
| - | It was a parts system in the literal sense. Nearly EVERYTHING was bad on it. I looked at it as a total loss with the failures it had, so it still sits in a broken state. I only took it for the stand and RAM door, so I don't exactly care to fix it. The only good parts left are chassis related. Everything else is broken. I also bought the power supply from the person who got me the donor. I ended up getting all 3 parts replaced, at nearly the same time. |
| - | |
| - | '''Part 3: The system acts up after being repaired''' |
| - | |
| - | While I did manage to find the parts, it started having backlight problems in May. At that point I decided to look at the lifespan left on the other parts before I decide to repair or consider it a total loss like the parts system. What I found was the condition of the drive was a lie. It was actually used and it had problems 2 years in (2014 manufacture) and the seller hid that by resetting the POH. It also had major SMART problems. Having to replace the drive was going to be another $50-ish on top of what the screen and inverter costs. |
| - | |
| - | What it would cost me to fix it: |
| - | |
| - | * Screen ($80-100+) |
| - | * Inverter (Made of unobtainum; when found, usually $20-25) |
| - | * Hard drive ($70; WD Black 1TB) |
| - | * DVD drive(12.7mm slot load; usually $20-25 on average) |
| - | |
| - | I priced the repairs out and I have decided the machine is a total loss. It's going to be WAY TOO EXPENSIVE to repair this machine. I still use it but a failure will be the end of it's run. I'm more annoyed at the fact it still had problems after the time I put into it more then anything. I didn't expect the Seagate to be reliable in the long run because my experience with Seagate is their drives are crap these days but the fact I took the seller on their word on the drive annoys me the most out of any of the failures it has had. The tip off was that the performance wasn't good on the drive, which usually means the drive has a problem. |
| - | |
| - | I try and look on the bright side with issues like that. On one hand it sucks I got scammed and the repairs were a waste of time. On the other I basically have a supply of rare and hard to find parts being these are AIO systems. The lies suck, but I think this is a case were I sort of won. I lost on the system, but I have 1 complete system and 1 that needs a stand. Outside of one missing stand, I have 2 complete systems loaded with parts. On the other hand I need to look for another system now. |
| - | |
| - | Am I going with the IQ506 again? No. I've had 2 losers. I do not feel like doing this again so I am going to be picking something a lot newer then this machine. As much as I'm sure the repairs would be welcomed I feel like the IQ506 is at the stage where repairs are only viable for small problems. You can fix it, but economics no longer make it worth the money to fix it unless you have a spare part surplus that's substantial. |
| - | |
| - | Beyond parts procurement and hardware issues, I was able to push forward even without a system even though I intended to use the HP IQ506. I just need to pick a different system and I know what I want anyway. |
| - | |
| - | Once we get past the parts that involve parts procurement, serious hardware failures and lying sellers, then you get the remaining 4 months. This was spent refining it without a system because I know what I want so I wasn't in a position where I had to wait. I could write the guide while looking for my ideal machine so I could get both finding it and writing it done at the same time. |
| With that out of the way, here's the [https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Linux+Machine+configuration+%282007-2008+2009+2010+2011+2012%29/13130|link]. I think I have everything dealt with, but maybe I missed something. |
Discussion Topic:
Yes
Status:
open
Edit by: Nick
Title:
Feedback on the Linux config guide.
Text:
| For reference: This guide was made in 2013 and then pulled in 16 months. I made this at a time this was a common problem with my guides due to severe quality issues. If you were expecting this to be a preserved rehab, let me disappoint you now. It isn't. I tried, but it wasn't worth the trouble. | |
| So, this is what the 8 month delay got me. While the first 2-3 months were wasted (more on this later in the post), I made a call on how to get rid of that delay. It turns out that call to get rid of it was worth it. If I had opted to go with the original plans, this would have taken years to make. It was a effort that proved to be futile, at best. In regards to the text part, the last 6 months were spent making it work as a new guide. This basically killed a lot of my problems of making it work with the original content. | |
| '''NOTE: While this is a public release, I am only keeping it public for 2 weeks so I can see how much I ended up missing. I knocked a lot of the issues out, but I probably missed something seeing as I tried to keep it intact with modernization with years of newer hardware, which screwed it all up. Right now, I have to find a system but I know what I want. Until I find one for the right price it will be 5% incomplete.I am WELL aware of that.''' | |
| == What has changed? == | |
| - | * All of the steps were rewritten from scratch, but not replaced. I still have the 2013 edits left, as I used the original steps |
| - | * I have decided hardware minimums had to be put in. You can read more about it in the specs |
| - | * I have chosen to leave Santa Rosa and Conroe behind. |
| - | * Merom was dropped |
| + | * All of the steps were rewritten from scratch, but not replaced. I still have the 2013 edits left, as I used the original steps. |
| + | * I have decided hardware minimums had to be put in. You can read more about it in the specs in the guide if you want to see what I decided on. |
| + | * I have chosen to leave Santa Rosa and Conroe behind. There are 2 reasons behind this. I did this because of line limitations vs what made sense to keep and get rid of. This is why I let SR/Conroe go and put Peryn/Wolfdale in place. I feel like SR/Conroe are nearly at the end of their life, if not very close. I do not expect the average reader to know that these chips are old enough their time is nearly over for even basic tasks. To me, anything older then Peryn or Wolfdale is old enough I feel it's time to move on. I also wanted something Core 2 related in the guide, but I didn't want it to be so old that the performance is no longer acceptable. |
| + | * Merom was dropped, even before Santa Rosa. It has been obsolete for years. Being a gen one mobile C2D it has serious performance issues that have been showing for years. I feel like the performance gap is already bad enough as it is. |
| * The age limit for hardware is set at 2007 for desktops and 2008 for laptops, up until 2012. I tried to go all out and update the guide with many, many years of hardware and it did not work. I decided to put a 8/9 year old cap on the hardware to make it easier to get done, and for readers to follow. Generally speaking, a system is considered obsolete after 10 years. This always isn't the rule as there can be exceptions but for most systems 10 years is the point it is considered obsolete. I didn't want to go to 10 but I also didn't want to make it too early. | |
| Some Q&A on some of my decisions here: | |
| '''Why 2008 for laptops and AIO's?''' | |
| Multiple reasons. | |
| * This was when the first Peryn processors were released. I lined my hardware years up with the processors and left the rest neutral as there are times when some hardware's life is extended beyond the processor. | |
| * I feel more comfortable with 2008, as this is when LED panels started coming in. This is because I am finding cheap CCFL panels are starting to fail in mass in recent times. The good ones aren't as problematic yet but the cheaper grade ones are showing their age. I'd rather avoid CCFL as much as possible for that reason alone. | |
| * CCFL repair costs. When a inverter fails in a CCFL based system I like to change both to make sure the problem is gone. I can mix and match parts to a degree, but I don't like to do it beyond 3-6 months at most. I can go longer but I will only do that if I know the history and how it was treated. I usually do not know this information. As such, I change both and get it fixed in a way I can trust in the longer term. Lately, it's been getting very hard to find CCFL parts. Most of the panels are 5+ years old with many, many hours on it and you usually don't get it with the inverter included. On top of this, the prices have been going up in recent years due to the demand and lack of supply. The systems can be fixed, but the market has made them too expensive to repair vs getting a working one or going LED. | |
| * For AIO's, it's panel class. You will end up spending more to repair an AIO then you will on a new one. It's almost never worth trying to repair AIO systems based on that. | |
| '''Why 2007 for desktops?''' | |
| * Wolfdale came out in 2007. Again, matching years with first generation releases. | |
| * No panel concerns, seeing as most machines have a seprate LCD. If the LCD dies then you buy a new one and be done with it. It's not a major concern because of that alone. | |
| '''How I feel about going beyond my specs I decided on''' | |
| I picked specs that I could feel comfortable with the person building their first Linux system to get them in the right direction, so they don't have to fight performance issues on legacy hardware. I know from experience when old is too old. | |
| If you can figure out how to make it work, then I don't have a problem with someone using a SR laptop or a Conroe desktop or even Merom for that matter. My official position is any hardware that isn't up to par with what I decided on isn't going to be supported. | |
| However, I do encourage people to try and go beyond my first Linux PC specs if they have the skills to make it work. It's just something I will not be supporting and will be treated as a try at your own risk sort of deal. I will let it happen, but I am choosing not to support it officially. I am treating it as an official exception. | |
| == What is new? == | |
| * I have added steps for wireless. This was something I never added because of the complexity at the time. I just didn't know enough to incorporate it at the time. Now that I do, I had a bit more confidence putting it in. I also wanted to wait until I got the core guide done before adding it to keep the progress I made at a normal pace. | |
| * I added a step for new hard drives. This is also a new addition because I have learned how bad some of them really are. I have seen a 7200.11 give the BSY error and crash the ATA Security set, a .12 have SMART issues and a .14 in it's natural habitat, which is needing replacement. On top of these 3 drives I have seen others start to have problems after 3 years in some cases. However, I am not mandating a new drive. I understand some people want to reuse it and see, so I added testing suggestions to make sure it's healthy, or just said it probably should be replaced so you don't have a age related issue. Very often, the health is mediocre to poor and the remaining life is 1-2 years. My opinion is they should be replaced but I know some people want to reuse them. I would rather put testing instructions in to save them the grief of not knowing how to verify the drives for long term stability. | |
| * The SSD step is new. At this point with cheap 256GB and 512GB SSD's they are not super expensive anymore. I do not have a new and used SSD step because of how new they are. Hard drives have been around forever, so I need two steps for that. | |
| * I have depreciated the chipset step, but did not remove it from the guide. I was going to remove it but I felt it was better if I depreciate it but keep it around. | |
| * The Linux variants have all been replaced. I removed the original ones I had there back then in favor of some more targeted ones. '''NOTE: The board with the chipset picture is the board from the old system. Consider it an Easter egg from the original guide. I kept it from the partout as a CPU holder due to the weak VRM and lack of Pentium D support. I am not mentioning this very much because I want to see how many people recognize the Conolly marker as being from a Dimension 5150. I didn't removed the heatsink and exposed the i945, but because I may need to reuse the board and 10 year old PIII style thermal pads are a nightmare to remove after 10 years I chose not to.''' | |
| ==Why did it take 8 months?== | |
| It took 8 months for many reasons. Let's talk about the 2-3 month delay from the retrofit period first. | |
| '''2-3 month retrofit attempt''' | |
| I consider the first 2-3 months were wasted trying to make it work on the original content. After that kept causing me trouble for about 1-2 months, I decided to drop it and start with fresh content and treat it as a new guide rather then a legacy and modern hybrid. The problem was it made the guide hard to manage. In the hybrid situation I had 3 year old content that was written so badly it had to be replaced, combined with recent hardware and text that is written much better then the original text was. The accommodations I would have had to make to pull that off would have been time consuming and difficult. I would have to determine what is legacy content and modern content, and split it with more steps because I don't want to use all of my lines up and mix modern and legacy content together as this would be a waste of my 8 lines I have to work with. After all, I need it for the modern hardware too. Once I decided on what to consider legacy vs modern, I'd need to write the new text for the modern hardware and then revise the legacy content, if not just rewrite it altogether. This would have been a hassle and a huge tine consuming thing, which is what settled the decision to get rid of it. On top of all of that, some of it would have to be replaced because I blew it away earlier in the corrections. The only legacy hardware left was processors when I thought about it, so all of it would have needed to be replaced. I even blew away some of the CPU's in the process of doing that. | |
| While it would have been cool to have fresh content and legacy content, it's also more of a hassle then getting rid of it and replacing anything I deleted that can't be interchanged. It also doesn't make sense to do that in a environment where you are trying to make the guide modern. That's why I decided to drop the idea and start over without the legacy content. | |
| '''Part 2: Getting a system''' | |
| The second part of the waste time was spent looking for parts for the system. I got a HP IQ506 in April, but I needed 3 parts. I got it under the guise the parts would be easy to find, but it turns out it was quite the opposite foe one of the 3 parts, while the second one was only semi difficult. On top of that, I needed to find the screws. The screws weren't a big deal. I was able to get the thread numbers with a digital caliper that I need for 4. I could then take that information to a hardware store and get flat top screws. That was not a big deal. I also needed a bunch of other screws but I had a sample I could bring to get that sorted so I was in good shape for the screws I needed 11+ of. One of the good things about this system was HP only uses 3 screw types and they don't use different length screws. | |
| I needed the following parts to get it going initially: | |
| * Stand ($40-40 used; $70-80+ NOS; difficult to find) | |
| * RAM door ($10-20; semi difficult to find) | |
| * Power supply (varies widely; sometimes $20 but can be $50 or more; easy to find) | |
| Due to the cost of the stand, I decided I may be better off getting a parts system. If I got a stand alone, I at least had the security of knowing you can buy the RAM door with a bit more ease compared to the stand. In the end, I used a parts system. This was because I gave up finding the stand so I figured a parts system would be easier to find. The condition of the parts system made it a literal parts system. This is the failure list it had: | |
| * GPU (colored line issue; typical failure for these HP's.) | |
| * Hard drive (7200.12; SMART data could not be read.) | |
| * Motherboard (bad iGPU.) | |
| * Screen (colored lines; could be GPU, but screens are also prone to it too. I don't trust the screen to be reliable.) | |
| * Touchscreen controller (Bad motherboard or controller? Never tested it beyond no touch response.) | |
| It was a parts system in the literal sense. Nearly EVERYTHING was bad on it. I looked at it as a total loss with the failures it had, so it still sits in a broken state. I only took it for the stand and RAM door, so I don't exactly care to fix it. The only good parts left are chassis related. Everything else is broken. I also bought the power supply from the person who got me the donor. I ended up getting all 3 parts replaced, at nearly the same time. | |
| '''Part 3: The system acts up after being repaired''' | |
| While I did manage to find the parts, it started having backlight problems in May. At that point I decided to look at the lifespan left on the other parts before I decide to repair or consider it a total loss like the parts system. What I found was the condition of the drive was a lie. It was actually used and it had problems 2 years in (2014 manufacture) and the seller hid that by resetting the POH. It also had major SMART problems. Having to replace the drive was going to be another $50-ish on top of what the screen and inverter costs. | |
| What it would cost me to fix it: | |
| * Screen ($80-100+) | |
| * Inverter (Made of unobtainum; when found, usually $20-25) | |
| * Hard drive ($70; WD Black 1TB) | |
| * DVD drive(12.7mm slot load; usually $20-25 on average) | |
| I priced the repairs out and I have decided the machine is a total loss. It's going to be WAY TOO EXPENSIVE to repair this machine. I still use it but a failure will be the end of it's run. I'm more annoyed at the fact it still had problems after the time I put into it more then anything. I didn't expect the Seagate to be reliable in the long run because my experience with Seagate is their drives are crap these days but the fact I took the seller on their word on the drive annoys me the most out of any of the failures it has had. The tip off was that the performance wasn't good on the drive, which usually means the drive has a problem. | |
| I try and look on the bright side with issues like that. On one hand it sucks I got scammed and the repairs were a waste of time. On the other I basically have a supply of rare and hard to find parts being these are AIO systems. The lies suck, but I think this is a case were I sort of won. I lost on the system, but I have 1 complete system and 1 that needs a stand. Outside of one missing stand, I have 2 complete systems loaded with parts. On the other hand I need to look for another system now. | |
| Am I going with the IQ506 again? No. I've had 2 losers. I do not feel like doing this again so I am going to be picking something a lot newer then this machine. As much as I'm sure the repairs would be welcomed I feel like the IQ506 is at the stage where repairs are only viable for small problems. You can fix it, but economics no longer make it worth the money to fix it unless you have a spare part surplus that's substantial. | |
| Beyond parts procurement and hardware issues, I was able to push forward even without a system even though I intended to use the HP IQ506. I just need to pick a different system and I know what I want anyway. | |
| Once we get past the parts that involve parts procurement, serious hardware failures and lying sellers, then you get the remaining 4 months. This was spent refining it without a system because I know what I want so I wasn't in a position where I had to wait. I could write the guide while looking for my ideal machine so I could get both finding it and writing it done at the same time. | |
| With that out of the way, here's the [https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Linux+Machine+configuration+%282007-2008+2009+2010+2011+2012%29/13130|link]. I think I have everything dealt with, but maybe I missed something. |
Discussion Topic:
Yes
Status:
open
Edit by: Nick
Title:
Feedback on the Linux config guide.
Text:
| For reference: This guide was made in 2013 and then pulled in 16 months. I made this at a time this was a common problem with my guides due to severe quality issues. If you were expecting this to be a preserved rehab, let me disappoint you now. It isn't. I tried, but it wasn't worth the trouble. | |
| So, this is what the 8 month delay got me. While the first 2-3 months were wasted (more on this later in the post), I made a call on how to get rid of that delay. It turns out that call to get rid of it was worth it. If I had opted to go with the original plans, this would have taken years to make. It was a effort that proved to be futile, at best. In regards to the text part, the last 6 months were spent making it work as a new guide. This basically killed a lot of my problems of making it work with the original content. | |
| '''NOTE: While this is a public release, I am only keeping it public for 2 weeks so I can see how much I ended up missing. I knocked a lot of the issues out, but I probably missed something seeing as I tried to keep it intact with modernization with years of newer hardware, which screwed it all up. Right now, I have to find a system but I know what I want. Until I find one for the right price it will be 5% incomplete.I am WELL aware of that.''' | |
| == What has changed? == | |
| * All of the steps were rewritten from scratch, but not replaced. I still have the 2013 edits left, as I used the original steps from the old guide. | |
| * I have decided hardware minimums had to be put in. You can read more about it in the specs, but the short version is I decided on the following: Intel minimums are Peryn/Wolfdale; Preferred is Westmere and ideal is Sandy Bridge. AMD is Tigrus as a budget acceptable minimim and Dunabe is ideal. Anything older needs a performance check compared to newer options. Desktops are AM3+ ideal, AM3 is acceptable and AM2 is the minimum. | |
| - | * I have chosen to leave Santa Rosa and Conroe behind. This has 2 rationales behind it. One is line space. Being limited to 8 lines, something had to go. I decided I would rather have Peryn/Wolfdale and drop SR/Conroe in order to not have too many lines for hardware that only have one or 2 parts that are close enough to the end of their useful like it's not worth keeping them around. It was also a experience move. I don't expect people to know how dated SR/Conroe are and I will have to hear it when they have a problem with these systems because the 9 year old processor can't handle basic tasks as well as it used to compared to something like Peryn/Wolfdale. To me, anything less then Peryn or Wolfdale is long in the tooth and I feel like it's time to move onto Peryn/Wolfdale. I wanted something Core 2 in the guide, but I didn't want it to be so old that the performance is no longer acceptable for basic tasks. |
| + | * I have chosen to leave Santa Rosa and Conroe behind. This has 2 rationales behind it. One is line space. Being limited to 8 lines, something had to go. I decided I would rather have Peryn/Wolfdale and drop SR/Conroe in order to not have too many lines for hardware that only have one or 2 parts that are close enough to the end of their useful like it's not worth keeping them around. It was also a experience move. I don't expect people to know how dated SR/Conroe are and I will have to hear it when they have a problem with these systems because the 9 year old processor can't handle basic tasks as well as it used to compared to something like Peryn/Wolfdale. To me, anything less then Peryn or Wolfdale is long in the tooth and I feel like it's time to move onto Peryn/Wolfdale. I wanted something Core 2 related in the guide, but I didn't want it to be so old that the performance is no longer acceptable for basic tasks. |
| * Merom was dropped instantly. It's been obsolete for years. Being a gen one mobile C2D it has serious performance issues that have been showing for years. I feel like the performance gap is already bad enough that I would rather remove it altogether. Merom is just going to keep going downhill. | |
| * The age limit for hardware is set at 2007 for desktops and 2008 for laptops, up until 2012. I tried to go all out and update the guide with many, many years of hardware and it did not work. I decided to put a 8/9 year old cap on the hardware to make it easier to get done, and for readers to follow. Generally speaking, a system is considered obsolete after 10 years. This always isn't the rule as there can be exceptions but for most systems 10 years is the point it is considered obsolete. I didn't want to go to 10 but I also didn't want to make it too early. | |
| + | |
| Some Q&A on some of my decisions here: | |
| + | |
| '''Why 2008 for laptops and AIO's?''' | |
| + | |
| Multiple reasons. | |
| + | |
| * This was when the first Peryn processors were released. I lined my hardware years up with the processors and left the rest neutral as there are times when some hardware's life is extended beyond the processor. | |
| * I feel more comfortable with 2008, as this is when LED panels started coming in. This is because I am finding cheap CCFL panels are starting to fail in mass in recent times. The good ones aren't as problematic yet but the cheaper grade ones are showing their age. I'd rather avoid CCFL as much as possible for that reason alone. | |
| * CCFL repair costs. When a inverter fails in a CCFL based system I like to change both to make sure the problem is gone. I can mix and match parts to a degree, but I don't like to do it beyond 3-6 months at most. I can go longer but I will only do that if I know the history and how it was treated. I usually do not know this information. As such, I change both and get it fixed in a way I can trust in the longer term. Lately, it's been getting very hard to find CCFL parts. Most of the panels are 5+ years old with many, many hours on it and you usually don't get it with the inverter included. On top of this, the prices have been going up in recent years due to the demand and lack of supply. The systems can be fixed, but the market has made them too expensive to repair vs getting a working one or going LED. | |
| * For AIO's, it's panel class. You will end up spending more to repair an AIO then you will on a new one. It's almost never worth trying to repair AIO systems based on that. | |
| + | |
| '''Why 2007 for desktops?''' | |
| + | |
| * Wolfdale came out in 2007. Again, matching years with first generation releases. | |
| * No panel concerns, seeing as most machines have a seprate LCD. If the LCD dies then you buy a new one and be done with it. It's not a major concern because of that alone. | |
| + | |
| '''How I feel about going beyond my specs I decided on''' | |
| + | |
| I picked specs that I could feel comfortable with the person building their first Linux system to get them in the right direction, so they don't have to fight performance issues on legacy hardware. I know from experience when old is too old. | |
| - | If you can figure out how to make it work, then I don't have a problem with someone using a SR laptop or a Conroe desktop or even Merom for that matter. My official position is any hardware that isn't up to par with what I decided on isn't going to be supported. |
| + | |
| + | If you can figure out how to make it work, then I don't have a problem with someone using a SR laptop or a Conroe desktop or even Merom for that matter. My official position is any hardware that isn't up to par with what I decided on isn't going to be supported. |
| + | |
| However, I do encourage people to try and go beyond my first Linux PC specs if they have the skills to make it work. It's just something I will not be supporting and will be treated as a try at your own risk sort of deal. I will let it happen, but I am choosing not to support it officially. I am treating it as an official exception. | |
| + | |
| == What is new? == | |
| + | |
| * I have added steps for wireless. This was something I never added because of the complexity at the time. I just didn't know enough to incorporate it at the time. Now that I do, I had a bit more confidence putting it in. I also wanted to wait until I got the core guide done before adding it to keep the progress I made at a normal pace. | |
| * I added a step for new hard drives. This is also a new addition because I have learned how bad some of them really are. I have seen a 7200.11 give the BSY error and crash the ATA Security set, a .12 have SMART issues and a .14 in it's natural habitat, which is needing replacement. On top of these 3 drives I have seen others start to have problems after 3 years in some cases. However, I am not mandating a new drive. I understand some people want to reuse it and see, so I added testing suggestions to make sure it's healthy, or just said it probably should be replaced so you don't have a age related issue. Very often, the health is mediocre to poor and the remaining life is 1-2 years. My opinion is they should be replaced but I know some people want to reuse them. I would rather put testing instructions in to save them the grief of not knowing how to verify the drives for long term stability. | |
| * The SSD step is new. At this point with cheap 256GB and 512GB SSD's they are not super expensive anymore. I do not have a new and used SSD step because of how new they are. Hard drives have been around forever, so I need two steps for that. | |
| * I have depreciated the chipset step, but did not remove it from the guide. I was going to remove it but I felt it was better if I depreciate it but keep it around. | |
| * The Linux variants have all been replaced. I removed the original ones I had there back then in favor of some more targeted ones. '''NOTE: The board with the chipset picture is the board from the old system. Consider it an Easter egg from the original guide. I kept it from the partout as a CPU holder due to the weak VRM and lack of Pentium D support. I am not mentioning this very much because I want to see how many people recognize the Conolly marker as being from a Dimension 5150. I didn't removed the heatsink and exposed the i945, but because I may need to reuse the board and 10 year old PIII style thermal pads are a nightmare to remove after 10 years I chose not to.''' | |
| ==Why did it take 8 months?== | |
| It took 8 months for many reasons. Let's talk about the 2-3 month delay from the retrofit period first. | |
| '''2-3 month retrofit attempt''' | |
| I consider the first 2-3 months were wasted trying to make it work on the original content. After that kept causing me trouble for about 1-2 months, I decided to drop it and start with fresh content and treat it as a new guide rather then a legacy and modern hybrid. The problem was it made the guide hard to manage. In the hybrid situation I had 3 year old content that was written so badly it had to be replaced, combined with recent hardware and text that is written much better then the original text was. The accommodations I would have had to make to pull that off would have been time consuming and difficult. I would have to determine what is legacy content and modern content, and split it with more steps because I don't want to use all of my lines up and mix modern and legacy content together as this would be a waste of my 8 lines I have to work with. After all, I need it for the modern hardware too. Once I decided on what to consider legacy vs modern, I'd need to write the new text for the modern hardware and then revise the legacy content, if not just rewrite it altogether. This would have been a hassle and a huge tine consuming thing, which is what settled the decision to get rid of it. On top of all of that, some of it would have to be replaced because I blew it away earlier in the corrections. The only legacy hardware left was processors when I thought about it, so all of it would have needed to be replaced. I even blew away some of the CPU's in the process of doing that. | |
| While it would have been cool to have fresh content and legacy content, it's also more of a hassle then getting rid of it and replacing anything I deleted that can't be interchanged. It also doesn't make sense to do that in a environment where you are trying to make the guide modern. That's why I decided to drop the idea and start over without the legacy content. | |
| '''Part 2: Getting a system''' | |
| The second part of the waste time was spent looking for parts for the system. I got a HP IQ506 in April, but I needed 3 parts. I got it under the guise the parts would be easy to find, but it turns out it was quite the opposite foe one of the 3 parts, while the second one was only semi difficult. On top of that, I needed to find the screws. The screws weren't a big deal. I was able to get the thread numbers with a digital caliper that I need for 4. I could then take that information to a hardware store and get flat top screws. That was not a big deal. I also needed a bunch of other screws but I had a sample I could bring to get that sorted so I was in good shape for the screws I needed 11+ of. One of the good things about this system was HP only uses 3 screw types and they don't use different length screws. | |
| I needed the following parts to get it going initially: | |
| * Stand ($40-40 used; $70-80+ NOS; difficult to find) | |
| * RAM door ($10-20; semi difficult to find) | |
| * Power supply (varies widely; sometimes $20 but can be $50 or more; easy to find) | |
| Due to the cost of the stand, I decided I may be better off getting a parts system. If I got a stand alone, I at least had the security of knowing you can buy the RAM door with a bit more ease compared to the stand. In the end, I used a parts system. This was because I gave up finding the stand so I figured a parts system would be easier to find. The condition of the parts system made it a literal parts system. This is the failure list it had: | |
| * GPU (colored line issue; typical failure for these HP's.) | |
| * Hard drive (7200.12; SMART data could not be read.) | |
| * Motherboard (bad iGPU.) | |
| * Screen (colored lines; could be GPU, but screens are also prone to it too. I don't trust the screen to be reliable.) | |
| * Touchscreen controller (Bad motherboard or controller? Never tested it beyond no touch response.) | |
| It was a parts system in the literal sense. Nearly EVERYTHING was bad on it. I looked at it as a total loss with the failures it had, so it still sits in a broken state. I only took it for the stand and RAM door, so I don't exactly care to fix it. The only good parts left are chassis related. Everything else is broken. I also bought the power supply from the person who got me the donor. I ended up getting all 3 parts replaced, at nearly the same time. | |
| '''Part 3: The system acts up after being repaired''' | |
| While I did manage to find the parts, it started having backlight problems in May. At that point I decided to look at the lifespan left on the other parts before I decide to repair or consider it a total loss like the parts system. What I found was the condition of the drive was a lie. It was actually used and it had problems 2 years in (2014 manufacture) and the seller hid that by resetting the POH. It also had major SMART problems. Having to replace the drive was going to be another $50-ish on top of what the screen and inverter costs. | |
| What it would cost me to fix it: | |
| * Screen ($80-100+) | |
| * Inverter (Made of unobtainum; when found, usually $20-25) | |
| * Hard drive ($70; WD Black 1TB) | |
| * DVD drive(12.7mm slot load; usually $20-25 on average) | |
| I priced the repairs out and I have decided the machine is a total loss. It's going to be WAY TOO EXPENSIVE to repair this machine. I still use it but a failure will be the end of it's run. I'm more annoyed at the fact it still had problems after the time I put into it more then anything. I didn't expect the Seagate to be reliable in the long run because my experience with Seagate is their drives are crap these days but the fact I took the seller on their word on the drive annoys me the most out of any of the failures it has had. The tip off was that the performance wasn't good on the drive, which usually means the drive has a problem. | |
| I try and look on the bright side with issues like that. On one hand it sucks I got scammed and the repairs were a waste of time. On the other I basically have a supply of rare and hard to find parts being these are AIO systems. The lies suck, but I think this is a case were I sort of won. I lost on the system, but I have 1 complete system and 1 that needs a stand. Outside of one missing stand, I have 2 complete systems loaded with parts. On the other hand I need to look for another system now. | |
| Am I going with the IQ506 again? No. I've had 2 losers. I do not feel like doing this again so I am going to be picking something a lot newer then this machine. As much as I'm sure the repairs would be welcomed I feel like the IQ506 is at the stage where repairs are only viable for small problems. You can fix it, but economics no longer make it worth the money to fix it unless you have a spare part surplus that's substantial. | |
| Beyond parts procurement and hardware issues, I was able to push forward even without a system even though I intended to use the HP IQ506. I just need to pick a different system and I know what I want anyway. | |
| Once we get past the parts that involve parts procurement, serious hardware failures and lying sellers, then you get the remaining 4 months. This was spent refining it without a system because I know what I want so I wasn't in a position where I had to wait. I could write the guide while looking for my ideal machine so I could get both finding it and writing it done at the same time. | |
| With that out of the way, here's the [https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Linux+Machine+configuration+%282007-2008+2009+2010+2011+2012%29/13130|link]. I think I have everything dealt with, but maybe I missed something. |
Discussion Topic:
Yes
Status:
open
Edit by: Nick
Title:
Feedback on the Linux config guide.
Text:
| For reference: This guide was made in 2013 and then pulled in 16 months. I made this at a time this was a common problem with my guides due to severe quality issues. If you were expecting this to be a preserved rehab, let me disappoint you now. It isn't. I tried, but it wasn't worth the trouble. | |
| So, this is what the 8 month delay got me. While the first 2-3 months were wasted (more on this later in the post), I made a call on how to get rid of that delay. It turns out that call to get rid of it was worth it. If I had opted to go with the original plans, this would have taken years to make. It was a effort that proved to be futile, at best. In regards to the text part, the last 6 months were spent making it work as a new guide. This basically killed a lot of my problems of making it work with the original content. | |
| '''NOTE: While this is a public release, I am only keeping it public for 2 weeks so I can see how much I ended up missing. I knocked a lot of the issues out, but I probably missed something seeing as I tried to keep it intact with modernization with years of newer hardware, which screwed it all up. Right now, I have to find a system but I know what I want. Until I find one for the right price it will be 5% incomplete.I am WELL aware of that.''' | |
| == What has changed? == | |
| * All of the steps were rewritten from scratch, but not replaced. I still have the 2013 edits left, as I used the original steps from the old guide. | |
| - | * I have decided hardware minimums had to be placed. You can read more about it in the specs, but the short version is I decided on the following: Intel minimums are Peryn/Wolfdale; Preferred is Westmere and ideal is Sandy Bridge. AMD is Tigrus as a budget acceptable minimim and Dunabe is ideal. Anything older needs a performance check compared to newer options. Desktops are AM3+ ideal, AM3 is acceptable and AM2 is the minimum. |
| - | * I have chosen to leave Santa Rosa and Conroe behind. This has 2 rationales behind it. One is line space. I had to make a call, limited to 8 lines. Because of this, I chose to drop SR/Conroe and go to Peryn/Wolfdale for Intel. This was also part performance sustainability. SR/Conroe is getting long in the tooth. It's almost time to move on at this stage. Merom has been obsolete for ages, so I didn't even consider it. As I stated in previous posts I *encourage* people to think outside of the box and make these machines I did not list as good for the guide run Linux. I just am choosing not to support the idea beyond encouragement to try, but I do like the idea of making these older machines good again with something like Linux. I fit C2D hardware in, so I am happy and it all worked out. I can have my Peryn/Wolfdale baseline and say I encourage people to try and push the limits and go beyond what I put in the guide. |
| - | * The age limit for hardware is now 2007 for desktops and 2008 for laptops. This extends until 2012. I tried to add new hardware to an old guide, but that also did not work out. All it did was delay this further. After 10 years a system is generally seen as obsolete so 8-9 years is VERY good for a age range. It's 1 year shy of 10 years. For laptops, the 2008 year was also motivated with the increasing trouble of CCFL panels and inverters. It seems like the cheaper ones are starting to have flickering issues. It's better to replace both the inverter and panel to knock the problem out, but the problems are two fold. New inverters are hard finds and screens are VERY hard to find. If you do, it's often more then a new laptop! It also played out well with the Peryn decision, since a lot of systems started moving to LED in 2008, which is the minimum year for laptops. NON AIO desktops are not a concern, but AIO's are. I would follow my rule with laptops on a AIO to be safe. |
| - | |
| + | * I have decided hardware minimums had to be put in. You can read more about it in the specs, but the short version is I decided on the following: Intel minimums are Peryn/Wolfdale; Preferred is Westmere and ideal is Sandy Bridge. AMD is Tigrus as a budget acceptable minimim and Dunabe is ideal. Anything older needs a performance check compared to newer options. Desktops are AM3+ ideal, AM3 is acceptable and AM2 is the minimum. |
| + | * I have chosen to leave Santa Rosa and Conroe behind. This has 2 rationales behind it. One is line space. Being limited to 8 lines, something had to go. I decided I would rather have Peryn/Wolfdale and drop SR/Conroe in order to not have too many lines for hardware that only have one or 2 parts that are close enough to the end of their useful like it's not worth keeping them around. It was also a experience move. I don't expect people to know how dated SR/Conroe are and I will have to hear it when they have a problem with these systems because the 9 year old processor can't handle basic tasks as well as it used to compared to something like Peryn/Wolfdale. To me, anything less then Peryn or Wolfdale is long in the tooth and I feel like it's time to move onto Peryn/Wolfdale. I wanted something Core 2 in the guide, but I didn't want it to be so old that the performance is no longer acceptable for basic tasks. |
| + | * Merom was dropped instantly. It's been obsolete for years. Being a gen one mobile C2D it has serious performance issues that have been showing for years. I feel like the performance gap is already bad enough that I would rather remove it altogether. Merom is just going to keep going downhill. |
| + | * The age limit for hardware is set at 2007 for desktops and 2008 for laptops, up until 2012. I tried to go all out and update the guide with many, many years of hardware and it did not work. I decided to put a 8/9 year old cap on the hardware to make it easier to get done, and for readers to follow. Generally speaking, a system is considered obsolete after 10 years. This always isn't the rule as there can be exceptions but for most systems 10 years is the point it is considered obsolete. I didn't want to go to 10 but I also didn't want to make it too early. |
| + | Some Q&A on some of my decisions here: |
| + | '''Why 2008 for laptops and AIO's?''' |
| + | Multiple reasons. |
| + | * This was when the first Peryn processors were released. I lined my hardware years up with the processors and left the rest neutral as there are times when some hardware's life is extended beyond the processor. |
| + | * I feel more comfortable with 2008, as this is when LED panels started coming in. This is because I am finding cheap CCFL panels are starting to fail in mass in recent times. The good ones aren't as problematic yet but the cheaper grade ones are showing their age. I'd rather avoid CCFL as much as possible for that reason alone. |
| + | * CCFL repair costs. When a inverter fails in a CCFL based system I like to change both to make sure the problem is gone. I can mix and match parts to a degree, but I don't like to do it beyond 3-6 months at most. I can go longer but I will only do that if I know the history and how it was treated. I usually do not know this information. As such, I change both and get it fixed in a way I can trust in the longer term. Lately, it's been getting very hard to find CCFL parts. Most of the panels are 5+ years old with many, many hours on it and you usually don't get it with the inverter included. On top of this, the prices have been going up in recent years due to the demand and lack of supply. The systems can be fixed, but the market has made them too expensive to repair vs getting a working one or going LED. |
| + | * For AIO's, it's panel class. You will end up spending more to repair an AIO then you will on a new one. It's almost never worth trying to repair AIO systems based on that. |
| + | '''Why 2007 for desktops?''' |
| + | * Wolfdale came out in 2007. Again, matching years with first generation releases. |
| + | * No panel concerns, seeing as most machines have a seprate LCD. If the LCD dies then you buy a new one and be done with it. It's not a major concern because of that alone. |
| + | '''How I feel about going beyond my specs I decided on''' |
| + | I picked specs that I could feel comfortable with the person building their first Linux system to get them in the right direction, so they don't have to fight performance issues on legacy hardware. I know from experience when old is too old. |
| + | If you can figure out how to make it work, then I don't have a problem with someone using a SR laptop or a Conroe desktop or even Merom for that matter. My official position is any hardware that isn't up to par with what I decided on isn't going to be supported. |
| + | However, I do encourage people to try and go beyond my first Linux PC specs if they have the skills to make it work. It's just something I will not be supporting and will be treated as a try at your own risk sort of deal. I will let it happen, but I am choosing not to support it officially. I am treating it as an official exception. |
| == What is new? == | |
| - | |
| - | * I have added steps for wireless. This was something I have never added then because of the complexity of it, but made work this time. It took 4 steps to make work, but that's because I had to make whitelist steps along with the brands I could fit in. I also waited until I got the core guide done before adding it to keep the progress I made at a normal pace. |
| - | * I added a step for new hard drives. This is also a new addition because I have learned how bad some of them really are. I have seen a 7200.11 give the BSY wrror and crash the ATA Security set, a .12 have SMART issues and a .14 in it's natural condition of having serious problems. On top of these 3 drives I have seen others start to have problems after 3 years in some cases. However, I am not mandating a new drive be installed. I understand some people want to reuse it and see, so I just added testing suggestions to make sure it's healthy or an outright note to change it for your own good. These used drives and their quality are reflected in the POH and errors they often have. I personally do not like to reuse them but I know some people will. I think having testing suggestions and new sizes, along with a nudge is fair. |
| - | * The SSD step is also new. At this point with cheap 256GB and 512GB SSD's they are not super expensive anymore. I do not have a new and used SSD step setup here, because of how new they are. Hard drives have been around forever, so I need two steps for that. 2 steps for SSD's is a waste. |
| + | * I have added steps for wireless. This was something I never added because of the complexity at the time. I just didn't know enough to incorporate it at the time. Now that I do, I had a bit more confidence putting it in. I also wanted to wait until I got the core guide done before adding it to keep the progress I made at a normal pace. |
| + | * I added a step for new hard drives. This is also a new addition because I have learned how bad some of them really are. I have seen a 7200.11 give the BSY error and crash the ATA Security set, a .12 have SMART issues and a .14 in it's natural habitat, which is needing replacement. On top of these 3 drives I have seen others start to have problems after 3 years in some cases. However, I am not mandating a new drive. I understand some people want to reuse it and see, so I added testing suggestions to make sure it's healthy, or just said it probably should be replaced so you don't have a age related issue. Very often, the health is mediocre to poor and the remaining life is 1-2 years. My opinion is they should be replaced but I know some people want to reuse them. I would rather put testing instructions in to save them the grief of not knowing how to verify the drives for long term stability. |
| + | * The SSD step is new. At this point with cheap 256GB and 512GB SSD's they are not super expensive anymore. I do not have a new and used SSD step because of how new they are. Hard drives have been around forever, so I need two steps for that. |
| * I have depreciated the chipset step, but did not remove it from the guide. I was going to remove it but I felt it was better if I depreciate it but keep it around. | |
| * The Linux variants have all been replaced. I removed the original ones I had there back then in favor of some more targeted ones. '''NOTE: The board with the chipset picture is the board from the old system. Consider it an Easter egg from the original guide. I kept it from the partout as a CPU holder due to the weak VRM and lack of Pentium D support. I am not mentioning this very much because I want to see how many people recognize the Conolly marker as being from a Dimension 5150. I didn't removed the heatsink and exposed the i945, but because I may need to reuse the board and 10 year old PIII style thermal pads are a nightmare to remove after 10 years I chose not to.''' | |
| ==Why did it take 8 months?== | |
| It took 8 months for many reasons. Let's talk about the 2-3 month delay from the retrofit period first. | |
| '''2-3 month retrofit attempt''' | |
| I consider the first 2-3 months were wasted trying to make it work on the original content. After that kept causing me trouble for about 1-2 months, I decided to drop it and start with fresh content and treat it as a new guide rather then a legacy and modern hybrid. The problem was it made the guide hard to manage. In the hybrid situation I had 3 year old content that was written so badly it had to be replaced, combined with recent hardware and text that is written much better then the original text was. The accommodations I would have had to make to pull that off would have been time consuming and difficult. I would have to determine what is legacy content and modern content, and split it with more steps because I don't want to use all of my lines up and mix modern and legacy content together as this would be a waste of my 8 lines I have to work with. After all, I need it for the modern hardware too. Once I decided on what to consider legacy vs modern, I'd need to write the new text for the modern hardware and then revise the legacy content, if not just rewrite it altogether. This would have been a hassle and a huge tine consuming thing, which is what settled the decision to get rid of it. On top of all of that, some of it would have to be replaced because I blew it away earlier in the corrections. The only legacy hardware left was processors when I thought about it, so all of it would have needed to be replaced. I even blew away some of the CPU's in the process of doing that. | |
| While it would have been cool to have fresh content and legacy content, it's also more of a hassle then getting rid of it and replacing anything I deleted that can't be interchanged. It also doesn't make sense to do that in a environment where you are trying to make the guide modern. That's why I decided to drop the idea and start over without the legacy content. | |
| '''Part 2: Getting a system''' | |
| The second part of the waste time was spent looking for parts for the system. I got a HP IQ506 in April, but I needed 3 parts. I got it under the guise the parts would be easy to find, but it turns out it was quite the opposite foe one of the 3 parts, while the second one was only semi difficult. On top of that, I needed to find the screws. The screws weren't a big deal. I was able to get the thread numbers with a digital caliper that I need for 4. I could then take that information to a hardware store and get flat top screws. That was not a big deal. I also needed a bunch of other screws but I had a sample I could bring to get that sorted so I was in good shape for the screws I needed 11+ of. One of the good things about this system was HP only uses 3 screw types and they don't use different length screws. | |
| I needed the following parts to get it going initially: | |
| * Stand ($40-40 used; $70-80+ NOS; difficult to find) | |
| * RAM door ($10-20; semi difficult to find) | |
| * Power supply (varies widely; sometimes $20 but can be $50 or more; easy to find) | |
| Due to the cost of the stand, I decided I may be better off getting a parts system. If I got a stand alone, I at least had the security of knowing you can buy the RAM door with a bit more ease compared to the stand. In the end, I used a parts system. This was because I gave up finding the stand so I figured a parts system would be easier to find. The condition of the parts system made it a literal parts system. This is the failure list it had: | |
| * GPU (colored line issue; typical failure for these HP's.) | |
| * Hard drive (7200.12; SMART data could not be read.) | |
| * Motherboard (bad iGPU.) | |
| * Screen (colored lines; could be GPU, but screens are also prone to it too. I don't trust the screen to be reliable.) | |
| * Touchscreen controller (Bad motherboard or controller? Never tested it beyond no touch response.) | |
| It was a parts system in the literal sense. Nearly EVERYTHING was bad on it. I looked at it as a total loss with the failures it had, so it still sits in a broken state. I only took it for the stand and RAM door, so I don't exactly care to fix it. The only good parts left are chassis related. Everything else is broken. I also bought the power supply from the person who got me the donor. I ended up getting all 3 parts replaced, at nearly the same time. | |
| '''Part 3: The system acts up after being repaired''' | |
| While I did manage to find the parts, it started having backlight problems in May. At that point I decided to look at the lifespan left on the other parts before I decide to repair or consider it a total loss like the parts system. What I found was the condition of the drive was a lie. It was actually used and it had problems 2 years in (2014 manufacture) and the seller hid that by resetting the POH. It also had major SMART problems. Having to replace the drive was going to be another $50-ish on top of what the screen and inverter costs. | |
| What it would cost me to fix it: | |
| * Screen ($80-100+) | |
| * Inverter (Made of unobtainum; when found, usually $20-25) | |
| * Hard drive ($70; WD Black 1TB) | |
| * DVD drive(12.7mm slot load; usually $20-25 on average) | |
| I priced the repairs out and I have decided the machine is a total loss. It's going to be WAY TOO EXPENSIVE to repair this machine. I still use it but a failure will be the end of it's run. I'm more annoyed at the fact it still had problems after the time I put into it more then anything. I didn't expect the Seagate to be reliable in the long run because my experience with Seagate is their drives are crap these days but the fact I took the seller on their word on the drive annoys me the most out of any of the failures it has had. The tip off was that the performance wasn't good on the drive, which usually means the drive has a problem. | |
| I try and look on the bright side with issues like that. On one hand it sucks I got scammed and the repairs were a waste of time. On the other I basically have a supply of rare and hard to find parts being these are AIO systems. The lies suck, but I think this is a case were I sort of won. I lost on the system, but I have 1 complete system and 1 that needs a stand. Outside of one missing stand, I have 2 complete systems loaded with parts. On the other hand I need to look for another system now. | |
| Am I going with the IQ506 again? No. I've had 2 losers. I do not feel like doing this again so I am going to be picking something a lot newer then this machine. As much as I'm sure the repairs would be welcomed I feel like the IQ506 is at the stage where repairs are only viable for small problems. You can fix it, but economics no longer make it worth the money to fix it unless you have a spare part surplus that's substantial. | |
| Beyond parts procurement and hardware issues, I was able to push forward even without a system even though I intended to use the HP IQ506. I just need to pick a different system and I know what I want anyway. | |
| Once we get past the parts that involve parts procurement, serious hardware failures and lying sellers, then you get the remaining 4 months. This was spent refining it without a system because I know what I want so I wasn't in a position where I had to wait. I could write the guide while looking for my ideal machine so I could get both finding it and writing it done at the same time. | |
| With that out of the way, here's the [https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Linux+Machine+configuration+%282007-2008+2009+2010+2011+2012%29/13130|link]. I think I have everything dealt with, but maybe I missed something. |
Discussion Topic:
Yes
Status:
open
Edit by: Nick
Title:
Feedback on the Linux config guide.
Text:
| For reference: This guide was made in 2013 and then pulled in 16 months. I made this at a time this was a common problem with my guides due to severe quality issues. If you were expecting this to be a preserved rehab, let me disappoint you now. It isn't. I tried, but it wasn't worth the trouble. | |
| So, this is what the 8 month delay got me. While the first 2-3 months were wasted (more on this later in the post), I made a call on how to get rid of that delay. It turns out that call to get rid of it was worth it. If I had opted to go with the original plans, this would have taken years to make. It was a effort that proved to be futile, at best. In regards to the text part, the last 6 months were spent making it work as a new guide. This basically killed a lot of my problems of making it work with the original content. | |
| - | '''NOTE: While this is a public release, I am only keeping it public for |
| + | '''NOTE: While this is a public release, I am only keeping it public for 2 weeks so I can see how much I ended up missing. I knocked a lot of the issues out, but I probably missed something seeing as I tried to keep it intact with modernization with years of newer hardware, which screwed it all up. Right now, I have to find a system but I know what I want. Until I find one for the right price it will be 5% incomplete.I am WELL aware of that.''' |
| == What has changed? == | |
| * All of the steps were rewritten from scratch, but not replaced. I still have the 2013 edits left, as I used the original steps from the old guide. | |
| * I have decided hardware minimums had to be placed. You can read more about it in the specs, but the short version is I decided on the following: Intel minimums are Peryn/Wolfdale; Preferred is Westmere and ideal is Sandy Bridge. AMD is Tigrus as a budget acceptable minimim and Dunabe is ideal. Anything older needs a performance check compared to newer options. Desktops are AM3+ ideal, AM3 is acceptable and AM2 is the minimum. | |
| * I have chosen to leave Santa Rosa and Conroe behind. This has 2 rationales behind it. One is line space. I had to make a call, limited to 8 lines. Because of this, I chose to drop SR/Conroe and go to Peryn/Wolfdale for Intel. This was also part performance sustainability. SR/Conroe is getting long in the tooth. It's almost time to move on at this stage. Merom has been obsolete for ages, so I didn't even consider it. As I stated in previous posts I *encourage* people to think outside of the box and make these machines I did not list as good for the guide run Linux. I just am choosing not to support the idea beyond encouragement to try, but I do like the idea of making these older machines good again with something like Linux. I fit C2D hardware in, so I am happy and it all worked out. I can have my Peryn/Wolfdale baseline and say I encourage people to try and push the limits and go beyond what I put in the guide. | |
| * The age limit for hardware is now 2007 for desktops and 2008 for laptops. This extends until 2012. I tried to add new hardware to an old guide, but that also did not work out. All it did was delay this further. After 10 years a system is generally seen as obsolete so 8-9 years is VERY good for a age range. It's 1 year shy of 10 years. For laptops, the 2008 year was also motivated with the increasing trouble of CCFL panels and inverters. It seems like the cheaper ones are starting to have flickering issues. It's better to replace both the inverter and panel to knock the problem out, but the problems are two fold. New inverters are hard finds and screens are VERY hard to find. If you do, it's often more then a new laptop! It also played out well with the Peryn decision, since a lot of systems started moving to LED in 2008, which is the minimum year for laptops. NON AIO desktops are not a concern, but AIO's are. I would follow my rule with laptops on a AIO to be safe. | |
| == What is new? == | |
| * I have added steps for wireless. This was something I have never added then because of the complexity of it, but made work this time. It took 4 steps to make work, but that's because I had to make whitelist steps along with the brands I could fit in. I also waited until I got the core guide done before adding it to keep the progress I made at a normal pace. | |
| * I added a step for new hard drives. This is also a new addition because I have learned how bad some of them really are. I have seen a 7200.11 give the BSY wrror and crash the ATA Security set, a .12 have SMART issues and a .14 in it's natural condition of having serious problems. On top of these 3 drives I have seen others start to have problems after 3 years in some cases. However, I am not mandating a new drive be installed. I understand some people want to reuse it and see, so I just added testing suggestions to make sure it's healthy or an outright note to change it for your own good. These used drives and their quality are reflected in the POH and errors they often have. I personally do not like to reuse them but I know some people will. I think having testing suggestions and new sizes, along with a nudge is fair. | |
| * The SSD step is also new. At this point with cheap 256GB and 512GB SSD's they are not super expensive anymore. I do not have a new and used SSD step setup here, because of how new they are. Hard drives have been around forever, so I need two steps for that. 2 steps for SSD's is a waste. | |
| * I have depreciated the chipset step, but did not remove it from the guide. I was going to remove it but I felt it was better if I depreciate it but keep it around. | |
| * The Linux variants have all been replaced. I removed the original ones I had there back then in favor of some more targeted ones. '''NOTE: The board with the chipset picture is the board from the old system. Consider it an Easter egg from the original guide. I kept it from the partout as a CPU holder due to the weak VRM and lack of Pentium D support. I am not mentioning this very much because I want to see how many people recognize the Conolly marker as being from a Dimension 5150. I didn't removed the heatsink and exposed the i945, but because I may need to reuse the board and 10 year old PIII style thermal pads are a nightmare to remove after 10 years I chose not to.''' | |
| ==Why did it take 8 months?== | |
| It took 8 months for many reasons. Let's talk about the 2-3 month delay from the retrofit period first. | |
| '''2-3 month retrofit attempt''' | |
| I consider the first 2-3 months were wasted trying to make it work on the original content. After that kept causing me trouble for about 1-2 months, I decided to drop it and start with fresh content and treat it as a new guide rather then a legacy and modern hybrid. The problem was it made the guide hard to manage. In the hybrid situation I had 3 year old content that was written so badly it had to be replaced, combined with recent hardware and text that is written much better then the original text was. The accommodations I would have had to make to pull that off would have been time consuming and difficult. I would have to determine what is legacy content and modern content, and split it with more steps because I don't want to use all of my lines up and mix modern and legacy content together as this would be a waste of my 8 lines I have to work with. After all, I need it for the modern hardware too. Once I decided on what to consider legacy vs modern, I'd need to write the new text for the modern hardware and then revise the legacy content, if not just rewrite it altogether. This would have been a hassle and a huge tine consuming thing, which is what settled the decision to get rid of it. On top of all of that, some of it would have to be replaced because I blew it away earlier in the corrections. The only legacy hardware left was processors when I thought about it, so all of it would have needed to be replaced. I even blew away some of the CPU's in the process of doing that. | |
| While it would have been cool to have fresh content and legacy content, it's also more of a hassle then getting rid of it and replacing anything I deleted that can't be interchanged. It also doesn't make sense to do that in a environment where you are trying to make the guide modern. That's why I decided to drop the idea and start over without the legacy content. | |
| '''Part 2: Getting a system''' | |
| The second part of the waste time was spent looking for parts for the system. I got a HP IQ506 in April, but I needed 3 parts. I got it under the guise the parts would be easy to find, but it turns out it was quite the opposite foe one of the 3 parts, while the second one was only semi difficult. On top of that, I needed to find the screws. The screws weren't a big deal. I was able to get the thread numbers with a digital caliper that I need for 4. I could then take that information to a hardware store and get flat top screws. That was not a big deal. I also needed a bunch of other screws but I had a sample I could bring to get that sorted so I was in good shape for the screws I needed 11+ of. One of the good things about this system was HP only uses 3 screw types and they don't use different length screws. | |
| I needed the following parts to get it going initially: | |
| * Stand ($40-40 used; $70-80+ NOS; difficult to find) | |
| * RAM door ($10-20; semi difficult to find) | |
| * Power supply (varies widely; sometimes $20 but can be $50 or more; easy to find) | |
| Due to the cost of the stand, I decided I may be better off getting a parts system. If I got a stand alone, I at least had the security of knowing you can buy the RAM door with a bit more ease compared to the stand. In the end, I used a parts system. This was because I gave up finding the stand so I figured a parts system would be easier to find. The condition of the parts system made it a literal parts system. This is the failure list it had: | |
| * GPU (colored line issue; typical failure for these HP's.) | |
| * Hard drive (7200.12; SMART data could not be read.) | |
| * Motherboard (bad iGPU.) | |
| * Screen (colored lines; could be GPU, but screens are also prone to it too. I don't trust the screen to be reliable.) | |
| * Touchscreen controller (Bad motherboard or controller? Never tested it beyond no touch response.) | |
| It was a parts system in the literal sense. Nearly EVERYTHING was bad on it. I looked at it as a total loss with the failures it had, so it still sits in a broken state. I only took it for the stand and RAM door, so I don't exactly care to fix it. The only good parts left are chassis related. Everything else is broken. I also bought the power supply from the person who got me the donor. I ended up getting all 3 parts replaced, at nearly the same time. | |
| '''Part 3: The system acts up after being repaired''' | |
| While I did manage to find the parts, it started having backlight problems in May. At that point I decided to look at the lifespan left on the other parts before I decide to repair or consider it a total loss like the parts system. What I found was the condition of the drive was a lie. It was actually used and it had problems 2 years in (2014 manufacture) and the seller hid that by resetting the POH. It also had major SMART problems. Having to replace the drive was going to be another $50-ish on top of what the screen and inverter costs. | |
| What it would cost me to fix it: | |
| * Screen ($80-100+) | |
| * Inverter (Made of unobtainum; when found, usually $20-25) | |
| * Hard drive ($70; WD Black 1TB) | |
| * DVD drive(12.7mm slot load; usually $20-25 on average) | |
| I priced the repairs out and I have decided the machine is a total loss. It's going to be WAY TOO EXPENSIVE to repair this machine. I still use it but a failure will be the end of it's run. I'm more annoyed at the fact it still had problems after the time I put into it more then anything. I didn't expect the Seagate to be reliable in the long run because my experience with Seagate is their drives are crap these days but the fact I took the seller on their word on the drive annoys me the most out of any of the failures it has had. The tip off was that the performance wasn't good on the drive, which usually means the drive has a problem. | |
| I try and look on the bright side with issues like that. On one hand it sucks I got scammed and the repairs were a waste of time. On the other I basically have a supply of rare and hard to find parts being these are AIO systems. The lies suck, but I think this is a case were I sort of won. I lost on the system, but I have 1 complete system and 1 that needs a stand. Outside of one missing stand, I have 2 complete systems loaded with parts. On the other hand I need to look for another system now. | |
| Am I going with the IQ506 again? No. I've had 2 losers. I do not feel like doing this again so I am going to be picking something a lot newer then this machine. As much as I'm sure the repairs would be welcomed I feel like the IQ506 is at the stage where repairs are only viable for small problems. You can fix it, but economics no longer make it worth the money to fix it unless you have a spare part surplus that's substantial. | |
| Beyond parts procurement and hardware issues, I was able to push forward even without a system even though I intended to use the HP IQ506. I just need to pick a different system and I know what I want anyway. | |
| Once we get past the parts that involve parts procurement, serious hardware failures and lying sellers, then you get the remaining 4 months. This was spent refining it without a system because I know what I want so I wasn't in a position where I had to wait. I could write the guide while looking for my ideal machine so I could get both finding it and writing it done at the same time. | |
| With that out of the way, here's the [https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Linux+Machine+configuration+%282007-2008+2009+2010+2011+2012%29/13130|link]. I think I have everything dealt with, but maybe I missed something. |
Discussion Topic:
Yes
Status:
open
Edit by: Nick
Title:
Feedback on the Linux config guide.
Text:
| For reference: This guide was made in 2013 and then pulled in 16 months. I made this at a time this was a common problem with my guides due to severe quality issues. If you were expecting this to be a preserved rehab, let me disappoint you now. It isn't. I tried, but it wasn't worth the trouble. | |
| So, this is what the 8 month delay got me. While the first 2-3 months were wasted (more on this later in the post), I made a call on how to get rid of that delay. It turns out that call to get rid of it was worth it. If I had opted to go with the original plans, this would have taken years to make. It was a effort that proved to be futile, at best. In regards to the text part, the last 6 months were spent making it work as a new guide. This basically killed a lot of my problems of making it work with the original content. | |
| - | '''NOTE: While this is a public release, I am only keeping it |
| + | '''NOTE: While this is a public release, I am only keeping it public for a week so I can source out some areas to improve it. I knocked a lot of the issues out, but I probably missed something in the time I spent making it work. Go in expecting it to be 5% incomplete because I still need a system. I am WELL aware of that part.''' |
| == What has changed? == | |
| * All of the steps were rewritten from scratch, but not replaced. I still have the 2013 edits left, as I used the original steps from the old guide. | |
| * I have decided hardware minimums had to be placed. You can read more about it in the specs, but the short version is I decided on the following: Intel minimums are Peryn/Wolfdale; Preferred is Westmere and ideal is Sandy Bridge. AMD is Tigrus as a budget acceptable minimim and Dunabe is ideal. Anything older needs a performance check compared to newer options. Desktops are AM3+ ideal, AM3 is acceptable and AM2 is the minimum. | |
| * I have chosen to leave Santa Rosa and Conroe behind. This has 2 rationales behind it. One is line space. I had to make a call, limited to 8 lines. Because of this, I chose to drop SR/Conroe and go to Peryn/Wolfdale for Intel. This was also part performance sustainability. SR/Conroe is getting long in the tooth. It's almost time to move on at this stage. Merom has been obsolete for ages, so I didn't even consider it. As I stated in previous posts I *encourage* people to think outside of the box and make these machines I did not list as good for the guide run Linux. I just am choosing not to support the idea beyond encouragement to try, but I do like the idea of making these older machines good again with something like Linux. I fit C2D hardware in, so I am happy and it all worked out. I can have my Peryn/Wolfdale baseline and say I encourage people to try and push the limits and go beyond what I put in the guide. | |
| * The age limit for hardware is now 2007 for desktops and 2008 for laptops. This extends until 2012. I tried to add new hardware to an old guide, but that also did not work out. All it did was delay this further. After 10 years a system is generally seen as obsolete so 8-9 years is VERY good for a age range. It's 1 year shy of 10 years. For laptops, the 2008 year was also motivated with the increasing trouble of CCFL panels and inverters. It seems like the cheaper ones are starting to have flickering issues. It's better to replace both the inverter and panel to knock the problem out, but the problems are two fold. New inverters are hard finds and screens are VERY hard to find. If you do, it's often more then a new laptop! It also played out well with the Peryn decision, since a lot of systems started moving to LED in 2008, which is the minimum year for laptops. NON AIO desktops are not a concern, but AIO's are. I would follow my rule with laptops on a AIO to be safe. | |
| == What is new? == | |
| * I have added steps for wireless. This was something I have never added then because of the complexity of it, but made work this time. It took 4 steps to make work, but that's because I had to make whitelist steps along with the brands I could fit in. I also waited until I got the core guide done before adding it to keep the progress I made at a normal pace. | |
| * I added a step for new hard drives. This is also a new addition because I have learned how bad some of them really are. I have seen a 7200.11 give the BSY wrror and crash the ATA Security set, a .12 have SMART issues and a .14 in it's natural condition of having serious problems. On top of these 3 drives I have seen others start to have problems after 3 years in some cases. However, I am not mandating a new drive be installed. I understand some people want to reuse it and see, so I just added testing suggestions to make sure it's healthy or an outright note to change it for your own good. These used drives and their quality are reflected in the POH and errors they often have. I personally do not like to reuse them but I know some people will. I think having testing suggestions and new sizes, along with a nudge is fair. | |
| * The SSD step is also new. At this point with cheap 256GB and 512GB SSD's they are not super expensive anymore. I do not have a new and used SSD step setup here, because of how new they are. Hard drives have been around forever, so I need two steps for that. 2 steps for SSD's is a waste. | |
| * I have depreciated the chipset step, but did not remove it from the guide. I was going to remove it but I felt it was better if I depreciate it but keep it around. | |
| * The Linux variants have all been replaced. I removed the original ones I had there back then in favor of some more targeted ones. '''NOTE: The board with the chipset picture is the board from the old system. Consider it an Easter egg from the original guide. I kept it from the partout as a CPU holder due to the weak VRM and lack of Pentium D support. I am not mentioning this very much because I want to see how many people recognize the Conolly marker as being from a Dimension 5150. I didn't removed the heatsink and exposed the i945, but because I may need to reuse the board and 10 year old PIII style thermal pads are a nightmare to remove after 10 years I chose not to.''' | |
| ==Why did it take 8 months?== | |
| It took 8 months for many reasons. Let's talk about the 2-3 month delay from the retrofit period first. | |
| '''2-3 month retrofit attempt''' | |
| I consider the first 2-3 months were wasted trying to make it work on the original content. After that kept causing me trouble for about 1-2 months, I decided to drop it and start with fresh content and treat it as a new guide rather then a legacy and modern hybrid. The problem was it made the guide hard to manage. In the hybrid situation I had 3 year old content that was written so badly it had to be replaced, combined with recent hardware and text that is written much better then the original text was. The accommodations I would have had to make to pull that off would have been time consuming and difficult. I would have to determine what is legacy content and modern content, and split it with more steps because I don't want to use all of my lines up and mix modern and legacy content together as this would be a waste of my 8 lines I have to work with. After all, I need it for the modern hardware too. Once I decided on what to consider legacy vs modern, I'd need to write the new text for the modern hardware and then revise the legacy content, if not just rewrite it altogether. This would have been a hassle and a huge tine consuming thing, which is what settled the decision to get rid of it. On top of all of that, some of it would have to be replaced because I blew it away earlier in the corrections. The only legacy hardware left was processors when I thought about it, so all of it would have needed to be replaced. I even blew away some of the CPU's in the process of doing that. | |
| While it would have been cool to have fresh content and legacy content, it's also more of a hassle then getting rid of it and replacing anything I deleted that can't be interchanged. It also doesn't make sense to do that in a environment where you are trying to make the guide modern. That's why I decided to drop the idea and start over without the legacy content. | |
| '''Part 2: Getting a system''' | |
| The second part of the waste time was spent looking for parts for the system. I got a HP IQ506 in April, but I needed 3 parts. I got it under the guise the parts would be easy to find, but it turns out it was quite the opposite foe one of the 3 parts, while the second one was only semi difficult. On top of that, I needed to find the screws. The screws weren't a big deal. I was able to get the thread numbers with a digital caliper that I need for 4. I could then take that information to a hardware store and get flat top screws. That was not a big deal. I also needed a bunch of other screws but I had a sample I could bring to get that sorted so I was in good shape for the screws I needed 11+ of. One of the good things about this system was HP only uses 3 screw types and they don't use different length screws. | |
| I needed the following parts to get it going initially: | |
| * Stand ($40-40 used; $70-80+ NOS; difficult to find) | |
| * RAM door ($10-20; semi difficult to find) | |
| * Power supply (varies widely; sometimes $20 but can be $50 or more; easy to find) | |
| Due to the cost of the stand, I decided I may be better off getting a parts system. If I got a stand alone, I at least had the security of knowing you can buy the RAM door with a bit more ease compared to the stand. In the end, I used a parts system. This was because I gave up finding the stand so I figured a parts system would be easier to find. The condition of the parts system made it a literal parts system. This is the failure list it had: | |
| * GPU (colored line issue; typical failure for these HP's.) | |
| * Hard drive (7200.12; SMART data could not be read.) | |
| * Motherboard (bad iGPU.) | |
| * Screen (colored lines; could be GPU, but screens are also prone to it too. I don't trust the screen to be reliable.) | |
| * Touchscreen controller (Bad motherboard or controller? Never tested it beyond no touch response.) | |
| It was a parts system in the literal sense. Nearly EVERYTHING was bad on it. I looked at it as a total loss with the failures it had, so it still sits in a broken state. I only took it for the stand and RAM door, so I don't exactly care to fix it. The only good parts left are chassis related. Everything else is broken. I also bought the power supply from the person who got me the donor. I ended up getting all 3 parts replaced, at nearly the same time. | |
| '''Part 3: The system acts up after being repaired''' | |
| While I did manage to find the parts, it started having backlight problems in May. At that point I decided to look at the lifespan left on the other parts before I decide to repair or consider it a total loss like the parts system. What I found was the condition of the drive was a lie. It was actually used and it had problems 2 years in (2014 manufacture) and the seller hid that by resetting the POH. It also had major SMART problems. Having to replace the drive was going to be another $50-ish on top of what the screen and inverter costs. | |
| What it would cost me to fix it: | |
| * Screen ($80-100+) | |
| * Inverter (Made of unobtainum; when found, usually $20-25) | |
| * Hard drive ($70; WD Black 1TB) | |
| * DVD drive(12.7mm slot load; usually $20-25 on average) | |
| I priced the repairs out and I have decided the machine is a total loss. It's going to be WAY TOO EXPENSIVE to repair this machine. I still use it but a failure will be the end of it's run. I'm more annoyed at the fact it still had problems after the time I put into it more then anything. I didn't expect the Seagate to be reliable in the long run because my experience with Seagate is their drives are crap these days but the fact I took the seller on their word on the drive annoys me the most out of any of the failures it has had. The tip off was that the performance wasn't good on the drive, which usually means the drive has a problem. | |
| I try and look on the bright side with issues like that. On one hand it sucks I got scammed and the repairs were a waste of time. On the other I basically have a supply of rare and hard to find parts being these are AIO systems. The lies suck, but I think this is a case were I sort of won. I lost on the system, but I have 1 complete system and 1 that needs a stand. Outside of one missing stand, I have 2 complete systems loaded with parts. On the other hand I need to look for another system now. | |
| Am I going with the IQ506 again? No. I've had 2 losers. I do not feel like doing this again so I am going to be picking something a lot newer then this machine. As much as I'm sure the repairs would be welcomed I feel like the IQ506 is at the stage where repairs are only viable for small problems. You can fix it, but economics no longer make it worth the money to fix it unless you have a spare part surplus that's substantial. | |
| Beyond parts procurement and hardware issues, I was able to push forward even without a system even though I intended to use the HP IQ506. I just need to pick a different system and I know what I want anyway. | |
| Once we get past the parts that involve parts procurement, serious hardware failures and lying sellers, then you get the remaining 4 months. This was spent refining it without a system because I know what I want so I wasn't in a position where I had to wait. I could write the guide while looking for my ideal machine so I could get both finding it and writing it done at the same time. | |
| With that out of the way, here's the [https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Linux+Machine+configuration+%282007-2008+2009+2010+2011+2012%29/13130|link]. I think I have everything dealt with, but maybe I missed something. |
Discussion Topic:
Yes
Status:
open
Edit by: Nick
Title:
Feedback on the Linux config guide.
Text:
| For reference: This guide was made in 2013 and then pulled in 16 months. I made this at a time this was a common problem with my guides due to severe quality issues. If you were expecting this to be a preserved rehab, let me disappoint you now. It isn't. I tried, but it wasn't worth the trouble. | |
| So, this is what the 8 month delay got me. While the first 2-3 months were wasted (more on this later in the post), I made a call on how to get rid of that delay. It turns out that call to get rid of it was worth it. If I had opted to go with the original plans, this would have taken years to make. It was a effort that proved to be futile, at best. In regards to the text part, the last 6 months were spent making it work as a new guide. This basically killed a lot of my problems of making it work with the original content. | |
| '''NOTE: While this is a public release, I am only keeping it like this for a week so I can source out some areas to improve it. I knocked a lot of the issues out, but I probably missed something in the time I spent making it work. Go in expecting it to be 5% incomplete because I still need a system. I am WELL aware of that part.''' | |
| == What has changed? == | |
| * All of the steps were rewritten from scratch, but not replaced. I still have the 2013 edits left, as I used the original steps from the old guide. | |
| * I have decided hardware minimums had to be placed. You can read more about it in the specs, but the short version is I decided on the following: Intel minimums are Peryn/Wolfdale; Preferred is Westmere and ideal is Sandy Bridge. AMD is Tigrus as a budget acceptable minimim and Dunabe is ideal. Anything older needs a performance check compared to newer options. Desktops are AM3+ ideal, AM3 is acceptable and AM2 is the minimum. | |
| * I have chosen to leave Santa Rosa and Conroe behind. This has 2 rationales behind it. One is line space. I had to make a call, limited to 8 lines. Because of this, I chose to drop SR/Conroe and go to Peryn/Wolfdale for Intel. This was also part performance sustainability. SR/Conroe is getting long in the tooth. It's almost time to move on at this stage. Merom has been obsolete for ages, so I didn't even consider it. As I stated in previous posts I *encourage* people to think outside of the box and make these machines I did not list as good for the guide run Linux. I just am choosing not to support the idea beyond encouragement to try, but I do like the idea of making these older machines good again with something like Linux. I fit C2D hardware in, so I am happy and it all worked out. I can have my Peryn/Wolfdale baseline and say I encourage people to try and push the limits and go beyond what I put in the guide. | |
| * The age limit for hardware is now 2007 for desktops and 2008 for laptops. This extends until 2012. I tried to add new hardware to an old guide, but that also did not work out. All it did was delay this further. After 10 years a system is generally seen as obsolete so 8-9 years is VERY good for a age range. It's 1 year shy of 10 years. For laptops, the 2008 year was also motivated with the increasing trouble of CCFL panels and inverters. It seems like the cheaper ones are starting to have flickering issues. It's better to replace both the inverter and panel to knock the problem out, but the problems are two fold. New inverters are hard finds and screens are VERY hard to find. If you do, it's often more then a new laptop! It also played out well with the Peryn decision, since a lot of systems started moving to LED in 2008, which is the minimum year for laptops. NON AIO desktops are not a concern, but AIO's are. I would follow my rule with laptops on a AIO to be safe. | |
| == What is new? == | |
| * I have added steps for wireless. This was something I have never added then because of the complexity of it, but made work this time. It took 4 steps to make work, but that's because I had to make whitelist steps along with the brands I could fit in. I also waited until I got the core guide done before adding it to keep the progress I made at a normal pace. | |
| * I added a step for new hard drives. This is also a new addition because I have learned how bad some of them really are. I have seen a 7200.11 give the BSY wrror and crash the ATA Security set, a .12 have SMART issues and a .14 in it's natural condition of having serious problems. On top of these 3 drives I have seen others start to have problems after 3 years in some cases. However, I am not mandating a new drive be installed. I understand some people want to reuse it and see, so I just added testing suggestions to make sure it's healthy or an outright note to change it for your own good. These used drives and their quality are reflected in the POH and errors they often have. I personally do not like to reuse them but I know some people will. I think having testing suggestions and new sizes, along with a nudge is fair. | |
| * The SSD step is also new. At this point with cheap 256GB and 512GB SSD's they are not super expensive anymore. I do not have a new and used SSD step setup here, because of how new they are. Hard drives have been around forever, so I need two steps for that. 2 steps for SSD's is a waste. | |
| * I have depreciated the chipset step, but did not remove it from the guide. I was going to remove it but I felt it was better if I depreciate it but keep it around. | |
| * The Linux variants have all been replaced. I removed the original ones I had there back then in favor of some more targeted ones. '''NOTE: The board with the chipset picture is the board from the old system. Consider it an Easter egg from the original guide. I kept it from the partout as a CPU holder due to the weak VRM and lack of Pentium D support. I am not mentioning this very much because I want to see how many people recognize the Conolly marker as being from a Dimension 5150. I didn't removed the heatsink and exposed the i945, but because I may need to reuse the board and 10 year old PIII style thermal pads are a nightmare to remove after 10 years I chose not to.''' | |
| ==Why did it take 8 months?== | |
| It took 8 months for many reasons. Let's talk about the 2-3 month delay from the retrofit period first. | |
| '''2-3 month retrofit attempt''' | |
| I consider the first 2-3 months were wasted trying to make it work on the original content. After that kept causing me trouble for about 1-2 months, I decided to drop it and start with fresh content and treat it as a new guide rather then a legacy and modern hybrid. The problem was it made the guide hard to manage. In the hybrid situation I had 3 year old content that was written so badly it had to be replaced, combined with recent hardware and text that is written much better then the original text was. The accommodations I would have had to make to pull that off would have been time consuming and difficult. I would have to determine what is legacy content and modern content, and split it with more steps because I don't want to use all of my lines up and mix modern and legacy content together as this would be a waste of my 8 lines I have to work with. After all, I need it for the modern hardware too. Once I decided on what to consider legacy vs modern, I'd need to write the new text for the modern hardware and then revise the legacy content, if not just rewrite it altogether. This would have been a hassle and a huge tine consuming thing, which is what settled the decision to get rid of it. On top of all of that, some of it would have to be replaced because I blew it away earlier in the corrections. The only legacy hardware left was processors when I thought about it, so all of it would have needed to be replaced. I even blew away some of the CPU's in the process of doing that. | |
| While it would have been cool to have fresh content and legacy content, it's also more of a hassle then getting rid of it and replacing anything I deleted that can't be interchanged. It also doesn't make sense to do that in a environment where you are trying to make the guide modern. That's why I decided to drop the idea and start over without the legacy content. | |
| '''Part 2: Getting a system''' | |
| The second part of the waste time was spent looking for parts for the system. I got a HP IQ506 in April, but I needed 3 parts. I got it under the guise the parts would be easy to find, but it turns out it was quite the opposite foe one of the 3 parts, while the second one was only semi difficult. On top of that, I needed to find the screws. The screws weren't a big deal. I was able to get the thread numbers with a digital caliper that I need for 4. I could then take that information to a hardware store and get flat top screws. That was not a big deal. I also needed a bunch of other screws but I had a sample I could bring to get that sorted so I was in good shape for the screws I needed 11+ of. One of the good things about this system was HP only uses 3 screw types and they don't use different length screws. | |
| I needed the following parts to get it going initially: | |
| * Stand ($40-40 used; $70-80+ NOS; difficult to find) | |
| * RAM door ($10-20; semi difficult to find) | |
| * Power supply (varies widely; sometimes $20 but can be $50 or more; easy to find) | |
| Due to the cost of the stand, I decided I may be better off getting a parts system. If I got a stand alone, I at least had the security of knowing you can buy the RAM door with a bit more ease compared to the stand. In the end, I used a parts system. This was because I gave up finding the stand so I figured a parts system would be easier to find. The condition of the parts system made it a literal parts system. This is the failure list it had: | |
| * GPU (colored line issue; typical failure for these HP's.) | |
| * Hard drive (7200.12; SMART data could not be read.) | |
| * Motherboard (bad iGPU.) | |
| * Screen (colored lines; could be GPU, but screens are also prone to it too. I don't trust the screen to be reliable.) | |
| + | * Touchscreen controller (Bad motherboard or controller? Never tested it beyond no touch response.) |
| It was a parts system in the literal sense. Nearly EVERYTHING was bad on it. I looked at it as a total loss with the failures it had, so it still sits in a broken state. I only took it for the stand and RAM door, so I don't exactly care to fix it. The only good parts left are chassis related. Everything else is broken. I also bought the power supply from the person who got me the donor. I ended up getting all 3 parts replaced, at nearly the same time. | |
| '''Part 3: The system acts up after being repaired''' | |
| While I did manage to find the parts, it started having backlight problems in May. At that point I decided to look at the lifespan left on the other parts before I decide to repair or consider it a total loss like the parts system. What I found was the condition of the drive was a lie. It was actually used and it had problems 2 years in (2014 manufacture) and the seller hid that by resetting the POH. It also had major SMART problems. Having to replace the drive was going to be another $50-ish on top of what the screen and inverter costs. | |
| What it would cost me to fix it: | |
| * Screen ($80-100+) | |
| * Inverter (Made of unobtainum; when found, usually $20-25) | |
| * Hard drive ($70; WD Black 1TB) | |
| + | * DVD drive(12.7mm slot load; usually $20-25 on average) |
| I priced the repairs out and I have decided the machine is a total loss. It's going to be WAY TOO EXPENSIVE to repair this machine. I still use it but a failure will be the end of it's run. I'm more annoyed at the fact it still had problems after the time I put into it more then anything. I didn't expect the Seagate to be reliable in the long run because my experience with Seagate is their drives are crap these days but the fact I took the seller on their word on the drive annoys me the most out of any of the failures it has had. The tip off was that the performance wasn't good on the drive, which usually means the drive has a problem. | |
| I try and look on the bright side with issues like that. On one hand it sucks I got scammed and the repairs were a waste of time. On the other I basically have a supply of rare and hard to find parts being these are AIO systems. The lies suck, but I think this is a case were I sort of won. I lost on the system, but I have 1 complete system and 1 that needs a stand. Outside of one missing stand, I have 2 complete systems loaded with parts. On the other hand I need to look for another system now. | |
| Am I going with the IQ506 again? No. I've had 2 losers. I do not feel like doing this again so I am going to be picking something a lot newer then this machine. As much as I'm sure the repairs would be welcomed I feel like the IQ506 is at the stage where repairs are only viable for small problems. You can fix it, but economics no longer make it worth the money to fix it unless you have a spare part surplus that's substantial. | |
| Beyond parts procurement and hardware issues, I was able to push forward even without a system even though I intended to use the HP IQ506. I just need to pick a different system and I know what I want anyway. | |
| Once we get past the parts that involve parts procurement, serious hardware failures and lying sellers, then you get the remaining 4 months. This was spent refining it without a system because I know what I want so I wasn't in a position where I had to wait. I could write the guide while looking for my ideal machine so I could get both finding it and writing it done at the same time. | |
| With that out of the way, here's the [https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Linux+Machine+configuration+%282007-2008+2009+2010+2011+2012%29/13130|link]. I think I have everything dealt with, but maybe I missed something. |
Discussion Topic:
Yes
Status:
open
Edit by: Nick
Title:
Feedback on the Linux config guide.
Text:
| For reference: This guide was made in 2013 and then pulled in 16 months. I made this at a time this was a common problem with my guides due to severe quality issues. If you were expecting this to be a preserved rehab, let me disappoint you now. It isn't. I tried, but it wasn't worth the trouble. | |
| So, this is what the 8 month delay got me. While the first 2-3 months were wasted (more on this later in the post), I made a call on how to get rid of that delay. It turns out that call to get rid of it was worth it. If I had opted to go with the original plans, this would have taken years to make. It was a effort that proved to be futile, at best. In regards to the text part, the last 6 months were spent making it work as a new guide. This basically killed a lot of my problems of making it work with the original content. | |
| '''NOTE: While this is a public release, I am only keeping it like this for a week so I can source out some areas to improve it. I knocked a lot of the issues out, but I probably missed something in the time I spent making it work. Go in expecting it to be 5% incomplete because I still need a system. I am WELL aware of that part.''' | |
| == What has changed? == | |
| * All of the steps were rewritten from scratch, but not replaced. I still have the 2013 edits left, as I used the original steps from the old guide. | |
| * I have decided hardware minimums had to be placed. You can read more about it in the specs, but the short version is I decided on the following: Intel minimums are Peryn/Wolfdale; Preferred is Westmere and ideal is Sandy Bridge. AMD is Tigrus as a budget acceptable minimim and Dunabe is ideal. Anything older needs a performance check compared to newer options. Desktops are AM3+ ideal, AM3 is acceptable and AM2 is the minimum. | |
| * I have chosen to leave Santa Rosa and Conroe behind. This has 2 rationales behind it. One is line space. I had to make a call, limited to 8 lines. Because of this, I chose to drop SR/Conroe and go to Peryn/Wolfdale for Intel. This was also part performance sustainability. SR/Conroe is getting long in the tooth. It's almost time to move on at this stage. Merom has been obsolete for ages, so I didn't even consider it. As I stated in previous posts I *encourage* people to think outside of the box and make these machines I did not list as good for the guide run Linux. I just am choosing not to support the idea beyond encouragement to try, but I do like the idea of making these older machines good again with something like Linux. I fit C2D hardware in, so I am happy and it all worked out. I can have my Peryn/Wolfdale baseline and say I encourage people to try and push the limits and go beyond what I put in the guide. | |
| * The age limit for hardware is now 2007 for desktops and 2008 for laptops. This extends until 2012. I tried to add new hardware to an old guide, but that also did not work out. All it did was delay this further. After 10 years a system is generally seen as obsolete so 8-9 years is VERY good for a age range. It's 1 year shy of 10 years. For laptops, the 2008 year was also motivated with the increasing trouble of CCFL panels and inverters. It seems like the cheaper ones are starting to have flickering issues. It's better to replace both the inverter and panel to knock the problem out, but the problems are two fold. New inverters are hard finds and screens are VERY hard to find. If you do, it's often more then a new laptop! It also played out well with the Peryn decision, since a lot of systems started moving to LED in 2008, which is the minimum year for laptops. NON AIO desktops are not a concern, but AIO's are. I would follow my rule with laptops on a AIO to be safe. | |
| == What is new? == | |
| * I have added steps for wireless. This was something I have never added then because of the complexity of it, but made work this time. It took 4 steps to make work, but that's because I had to make whitelist steps along with the brands I could fit in. I also waited until I got the core guide done before adding it to keep the progress I made at a normal pace. | |
| * I added a step for new hard drives. This is also a new addition because I have learned how bad some of them really are. I have seen a 7200.11 give the BSY wrror and crash the ATA Security set, a .12 have SMART issues and a .14 in it's natural condition of having serious problems. On top of these 3 drives I have seen others start to have problems after 3 years in some cases. However, I am not mandating a new drive be installed. I understand some people want to reuse it and see, so I just added testing suggestions to make sure it's healthy or an outright note to change it for your own good. These used drives and their quality are reflected in the POH and errors they often have. I personally do not like to reuse them but I know some people will. I think having testing suggestions and new sizes, along with a nudge is fair. | |
| * The SSD step is also new. At this point with cheap 256GB and 512GB SSD's they are not super expensive anymore. I do not have a new and used SSD step setup here, because of how new they are. Hard drives have been around forever, so I need two steps for that. 2 steps for SSD's is a waste. | |
| * I have depreciated the chipset step, but did not remove it from the guide. I was going to remove it but I felt it was better if I depreciate it but keep it around. | |
| * The Linux variants have all been replaced. I removed the original ones I had there back then in favor of some more targeted ones. '''NOTE: The board with the chipset picture is the board from the old system. Consider it an Easter egg from the original guide. I kept it from the partout as a CPU holder due to the weak VRM and lack of Pentium D support. I am not mentioning this very much because I want to see how many people recognize the Conolly marker as being from a Dimension 5150. I didn't removed the heatsink and exposed the i945, but because I may need to reuse the board and 10 year old PIII style thermal pads are a nightmare to remove after 10 years I chose not to.''' | |
| ==Why did it take 8 months?== | |
| - | It took 8 months for many reasons. Let's talk about the 2-3 month delay from the retrofit period first. |
| + | It took 8 months for many reasons. Let's talk about the 2-3 month delay from the retrofit period first. |
| + | |
| '''2-3 month retrofit attempt''' | |
| - | I consider the first 2-3 months were wasted trying to make it work on the original content. After that kept causing me trouble for about 1-2 months, I decided to drop it and start with fresh content and treat it as a new guide rather then a legacy and modern hybrid. The problem was it made the guide hard to manage. In the hybrid situation I had 3 year old content that was written so badly it had to be replaced, combined with recent hardware and text that is written much better then the original text was. The accommodations I would have had to make to pull that off would have been time consuming and difficult. I would have to determine what is legacy content and modern content, and split it with more steps because I don't want to use all of my lines up and mix modern and legacy content together as this would be a waste of my 8 lines I have to work with. After all, I need it for the modern hardware too. Once I decided on what to consider legacy vs modern, I'd need to write the new text for the modern hardware and then revise the legacy content, if not just rewrite it altogether. This would have been a hassle and a huge tine consuming thing, which is what settled the decision to get rid of it. On top of all of that, some of it would have to be replaced because I blew it away earlier in the corrections. The only legacy hardware left was processors when I thought about it, so all of it would have needed to be replaced. I even blew away some of the CPU's in the process of doing that. |
| - | While it would have been cool to have fresh content and legacy content, it's also more of a hassle then getting rid of it and replacing anything I deleted that can't be interchanged. It also doesn't make sense to do that in a environment where you are trying to make the guide modern. That's why I decided to drop the idea and start over without the legacy content. |
| + | |
| + | I consider the first 2-3 months were wasted trying to make it work on the original content. After that kept causing me trouble for about 1-2 months, I decided to drop it and start with fresh content and treat it as a new guide rather then a legacy and modern hybrid. The problem was it made the guide hard to manage. In the hybrid situation I had 3 year old content that was written so badly it had to be replaced, combined with recent hardware and text that is written much better then the original text was. The accommodations I would have had to make to pull that off would have been time consuming and difficult. I would have to determine what is legacy content and modern content, and split it with more steps because I don't want to use all of my lines up and mix modern and legacy content together as this would be a waste of my 8 lines I have to work with. After all, I need it for the modern hardware too. Once I decided on what to consider legacy vs modern, I'd need to write the new text for the modern hardware and then revise the legacy content, if not just rewrite it altogether. This would have been a hassle and a huge tine consuming thing, which is what settled the decision to get rid of it. On top of all of that, some of it would have to be replaced because I blew it away earlier in the corrections. The only legacy hardware left was processors when I thought about it, so all of it would have needed to be replaced. I even blew away some of the CPU's in the process of doing that. |
| + | |
| + | While it would have been cool to have fresh content and legacy content, it's also more of a hassle then getting rid of it and replacing anything I deleted that can't be interchanged. It also doesn't make sense to do that in a environment where you are trying to make the guide modern. That's why I decided to drop the idea and start over without the legacy content. |
| '''Part 2: Getting a system''' | |
| - | The second part of the waste time was spent looking for parts for the system. I got a HP IQ506 in April, but I needed 3 parts. I got it under the guise the parts would be easy to find, but it turns out it was quite the opposite foe one of the 3 parts, while the second one was only semi difficult. On top of that, I needed to find the screws. The screws weren't a big deal. I was able to get the thread numbers with a digital caliper that I need for 4. I could then take that information to a hardware store and get flat top screws. That was not a big deal. I also needed a bunch of other screws but I had a sample I could bring to get that sorted so I was in good shape for the screws I needed 11+ of. One of the good things about this system was HP only uses 3 screw types and they don't use different length screws. |
| + | |
| + | The second part of the waste time was spent looking for parts for the system. I got a HP IQ506 in April, but I needed 3 parts. I got it under the guise the parts would be easy to find, but it turns out it was quite the opposite foe one of the 3 parts, while the second one was only semi difficult. On top of that, I needed to find the screws. The screws weren't a big deal. I was able to get the thread numbers with a digital caliper that I need for 4. I could then take that information to a hardware store and get flat top screws. That was not a big deal. I also needed a bunch of other screws but I had a sample I could bring to get that sorted so I was in good shape for the screws I needed 11+ of. One of the good things about this system was HP only uses 3 screw types and they don't use different length screws. |
| + | |
| I needed the following parts to get it going initially: | |
| + | |
| * Stand ($40-40 used; $70-80+ NOS; difficult to find) | |
| * RAM door ($10-20; semi difficult to find) | |
| * Power supply (varies widely; sometimes $20 but can be $50 or more; easy to find) | |
| + | |
| Due to the cost of the stand, I decided I may be better off getting a parts system. If I got a stand alone, I at least had the security of knowing you can buy the RAM door with a bit more ease compared to the stand. In the end, I used a parts system. This was because I gave up finding the stand so I figured a parts system would be easier to find. The condition of the parts system made it a literal parts system. This is the failure list it had: | |
| + | |
| * GPU (colored line issue; typical failure for these HP's.) | |
| * Hard drive (7200.12; SMART data could not be read.) | |
| * Motherboard (bad iGPU.) | |
| * Screen (colored lines; could be GPU, but screens are also prone to it too. I don't trust the screen to be reliable.) | |
| + | |
| It was a parts system in the literal sense. Nearly EVERYTHING was bad on it. I looked at it as a total loss with the failures it had, so it still sits in a broken state. I only took it for the stand and RAM door, so I don't exactly care to fix it. The only good parts left are chassis related. Everything else is broken. I also bought the power supply from the person who got me the donor. I ended up getting all 3 parts replaced, at nearly the same time. | |
| + | |
| '''Part 3: The system acts up after being repaired''' | |
| + | |
| While I did manage to find the parts, it started having backlight problems in May. At that point I decided to look at the lifespan left on the other parts before I decide to repair or consider it a total loss like the parts system. What I found was the condition of the drive was a lie. It was actually used and it had problems 2 years in (2014 manufacture) and the seller hid that by resetting the POH. It also had major SMART problems. Having to replace the drive was going to be another $50-ish on top of what the screen and inverter costs. | |
| + | |
| What it would cost me to fix it: | |
| + | |
| * Screen ($80-100+) | |
| * Inverter (Made of unobtainum; when found, usually $20-25) | |
| * Hard drive ($70; WD Black 1TB) | |
| - | I priced the repairs out and I have decided the machine is a total loss. It's going to be WAY TOO EXPENSIVE to repair this machine. I still use it but a failure will be the end of it's run. I'm more annoyed at the fact it still had problems after the time I put into it more then anything. I didn't expect the Seagate to be reliable in the long run because my experience with Seagate is their drives are crap these days but the fact I took the seller on their word pisses me off. The tip off was that the performance wasn't good on the drive, which usually means the drive has a problem. |
| - | I try and look on the bright side with issues like that. On one hand it sucks I got scammed and the repairs were a waste of time. On the other I basically have a supply of rare and hard to find parts being these are AIO systems. The lies suck, but I think this is a case were I sort of won. I lost on the system, but I have 1 complete system and 1 that needs a stand. Outside of one missing stand, I have 2 complete systems loaded with parts. On the other hand I need to look for another system now. |
| + | |
| + | I priced the repairs out and I have decided the machine is a total loss. It's going to be WAY TOO EXPENSIVE to repair this machine. I still use it but a failure will be the end of it's run. I'm more annoyed at the fact it still had problems after the time I put into it more then anything. I didn't expect the Seagate to be reliable in the long run because my experience with Seagate is their drives are crap these days but the fact I took the seller on their word on the drive annoys me the most out of any of the failures it has had. The tip off was that the performance wasn't good on the drive, which usually means the drive has a problem. |
| + | |
| + | I try and look on the bright side with issues like that. On one hand it sucks I got scammed and the repairs were a waste of time. On the other I basically have a supply of rare and hard to find parts being these are AIO systems. The lies suck, but I think this is a case were I sort of won. I lost on the system, but I have 1 complete system and 1 that needs a stand. Outside of one missing stand, I have 2 complete systems loaded with parts. On the other hand I need to look for another system now. |
| + | |
| Am I going with the IQ506 again? No. I've had 2 losers. I do not feel like doing this again so I am going to be picking something a lot newer then this machine. As much as I'm sure the repairs would be welcomed I feel like the IQ506 is at the stage where repairs are only viable for small problems. You can fix it, but economics no longer make it worth the money to fix it unless you have a spare part surplus that's substantial. | |
| + | |
| Beyond parts procurement and hardware issues, I was able to push forward even without a system even though I intended to use the HP IQ506. I just need to pick a different system and I know what I want anyway. | |
| - | Once we get past the parts that involve parts procurement, serious hardware failures and lying sellers, then you get the remaining 4 months. This was spent refining it without a system because I know what I want so I wasn't in a position where I had to wait. I could write the guide while looking for my ideal machine so I could get both finding it and writing it done at the same time. |
| + | |
| + | Once we get past the parts that involve parts procurement, serious hardware failures and lying sellers, then you get the remaining 4 months. This was spent refining it without a system because I know what I want so I wasn't in a position where I had to wait. I could write the guide while looking for my ideal machine so I could get both finding it and writing it done at the same time. |
| With that out of the way, here's the [https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Linux+Machine+configuration+%282007-2008+2009+2010+2011+2012%29/13130|link]. I think I have everything dealt with, but maybe I missed something. |
Discussion Topic:
Yes
Status:
open
Edit by: Nick
Title:
Feedback on the Linux config guide.
Text:
| For reference: This guide was made in 2013 and then pulled in 16 months. I made this at a time this was a common problem with my guides due to severe quality issues. If you were expecting this to be a preserved rehab, let me disappoint you now. It isn't. I tried, but it wasn't worth the trouble. | |
| So, this is what the 8 month delay got me. While the first 2-3 months were wasted (more on this later in the post), I made a call on how to get rid of that delay. It turns out that call to get rid of it was worth it. If I had opted to go with the original plans, this would have taken years to make. It was a effort that proved to be futile, at best. In regards to the text part, the last 6 months were spent making it work as a new guide. This basically killed a lot of my problems of making it work with the original content. | |
| '''NOTE: While this is a public release, I am only keeping it like this for a week so I can source out some areas to improve it. I knocked a lot of the issues out, but I probably missed something in the time I spent making it work. Go in expecting it to be 5% incomplete because I still need a system. I am WELL aware of that part.''' | |
| == What has changed? == | |
| * All of the steps were rewritten from scratch, but not replaced. I still have the 2013 edits left, as I used the original steps from the old guide. | |
| * I have decided hardware minimums had to be placed. You can read more about it in the specs, but the short version is I decided on the following: Intel minimums are Peryn/Wolfdale; Preferred is Westmere and ideal is Sandy Bridge. AMD is Tigrus as a budget acceptable minimim and Dunabe is ideal. Anything older needs a performance check compared to newer options. Desktops are AM3+ ideal, AM3 is acceptable and AM2 is the minimum. | |
| * I have chosen to leave Santa Rosa and Conroe behind. This has 2 rationales behind it. One is line space. I had to make a call, limited to 8 lines. Because of this, I chose to drop SR/Conroe and go to Peryn/Wolfdale for Intel. This was also part performance sustainability. SR/Conroe is getting long in the tooth. It's almost time to move on at this stage. Merom has been obsolete for ages, so I didn't even consider it. As I stated in previous posts I *encourage* people to think outside of the box and make these machines I did not list as good for the guide run Linux. I just am choosing not to support the idea beyond encouragement to try, but I do like the idea of making these older machines good again with something like Linux. I fit C2D hardware in, so I am happy and it all worked out. I can have my Peryn/Wolfdale baseline and say I encourage people to try and push the limits and go beyond what I put in the guide. | |
| * The age limit for hardware is now 2007 for desktops and 2008 for laptops. This extends until 2012. I tried to add new hardware to an old guide, but that also did not work out. All it did was delay this further. After 10 years a system is generally seen as obsolete so 8-9 years is VERY good for a age range. It's 1 year shy of 10 years. For laptops, the 2008 year was also motivated with the increasing trouble of CCFL panels and inverters. It seems like the cheaper ones are starting to have flickering issues. It's better to replace both the inverter and panel to knock the problem out, but the problems are two fold. New inverters are hard finds and screens are VERY hard to find. If you do, it's often more then a new laptop! It also played out well with the Peryn decision, since a lot of systems started moving to LED in 2008, which is the minimum year for laptops. NON AIO desktops are not a concern, but AIO's are. I would follow my rule with laptops on a AIO to be safe. | |
| == What is new? == | |
| * I have added steps for wireless. This was something I have never added then because of the complexity of it, but made work this time. It took 4 steps to make work, but that's because I had to make whitelist steps along with the brands I could fit in. I also waited until I got the core guide done before adding it to keep the progress I made at a normal pace. | |
| * I added a step for new hard drives. This is also a new addition because I have learned how bad some of them really are. I have seen a 7200.11 give the BSY wrror and crash the ATA Security set, a .12 have SMART issues and a .14 in it's natural condition of having serious problems. On top of these 3 drives I have seen others start to have problems after 3 years in some cases. However, I am not mandating a new drive be installed. I understand some people want to reuse it and see, so I just added testing suggestions to make sure it's healthy or an outright note to change it for your own good. These used drives and their quality are reflected in the POH and errors they often have. I personally do not like to reuse them but I know some people will. I think having testing suggestions and new sizes, along with a nudge is fair. | |
| * The SSD step is also new. At this point with cheap 256GB and 512GB SSD's they are not super expensive anymore. I do not have a new and used SSD step setup here, because of how new they are. Hard drives have been around forever, so I need two steps for that. 2 steps for SSD's is a waste. | |
| * I have depreciated the chipset step, but did not remove it from the guide. I was going to remove it but I felt it was better if I depreciate it but keep it around. | |
| * The Linux variants have all been replaced. I removed the original ones I had there back then in favor of some more targeted ones. '''NOTE: The board with the chipset picture is the board from the old system. Consider it an Easter egg from the original guide. I kept it from the partout as a CPU holder due to the weak VRM and lack of Pentium D support. I am not mentioning this very much because I want to see how many people recognize the Conolly marker as being from a Dimension 5150. I didn't removed the heatsink and exposed the i945, but because I may need to reuse the board and 10 year old PIII style thermal pads are a nightmare to remove after 10 years I chose not to.''' | |
| ==Why did it take 8 months?== | |
| - | It took 8 months for many reasons. I consider the first 2-3 months were wasted trying to make it work on the original content. By the 4th month, I decided to start with a semi clean slate and do it right the first time. While I decided to do that 3 months in, I also tried to retain the original content to a degree. Again, something I decided to drop months later. |
| + | It took 8 months for many reasons. Let's talk about the 2-3 month delay from the retrofit period first. |
| + | '''2-3 month retrofit attempt''' |
| + | I consider the first 2-3 months were wasted trying to make it work on the original content. After that kept causing me trouble for about 1-2 months, I decided to drop it and start with fresh content and treat it as a new guide rather then a legacy and modern hybrid. The problem was it made the guide hard to manage. In the hybrid situation I had 3 year old content that was written so badly it had to be replaced, combined with recent hardware and text that is written much better then the original text was. The accommodations I would have had to make to pull that off would have been time consuming and difficult. I would have to determine what is legacy content and modern content, and split it with more steps because I don't want to use all of my lines up and mix modern and legacy content together as this would be a waste of my 8 lines I have to work with. After all, I need it for the modern hardware too. Once I decided on what to consider legacy vs modern, I'd need to write the new text for the modern hardware and then revise the legacy content, if not just rewrite it altogether. This would have been a hassle and a huge tine consuming thing, which is what settled the decision to get rid of it. On top of all of that, some of it would have to be replaced because I blew it away earlier in the corrections. The only legacy hardware left was processors when I thought about it, so all of it would have needed to be replaced. I even blew away some of the CPU's in the process of doing that. |
| + | While it would have been cool to have fresh content and legacy content, it's also more of a hassle then getting rid of it and replacing anything I deleted that can't be interchanged. It also doesn't make sense to do that in a environment where you are trying to make the guide modern. That's why I decided to drop the idea and start over without the legacy content. |
| - | The second part of the waste time was spent looking for parts for the system. I got a HP IQ506 AIO at the time and it was missing the stand. Okay, I need a stand. What's the worst it was going to cost. $30-50 used and something like $70-80 new. NO THANKS! At that point, I went out to look for a parts system like I usually do when the part I need is not RAM or a hard drive and is not screen related and I'm not as concerned about hours and remaining lifespan. Again, another hurdle. Everyone wanted hundreds; even for dead systems! Thankfully my neighbor had one with a burned out board and GPU so I got the stand for free. This happened in May. The downside is now I am stuck with a dead machine, but I avoided the rare part gouging nonsense. In a way, it worked out. |
| - | |
| - | In June the machine had panel issues.... After I spent a month finding parts. On top of that, I found out the drive was not new shortly after that because it was acting slow so I decided to see about the health of the drive. I didn't expect a lot because it came with a Seagate but it was not new as promised by the seller. I have a screen and inverter job in line AND a hard drive? NO THANK YOU! The machine was going to be too expensive to save. While I decided I was done with the IQ506, I decided to move forward with the editing rather then wait again. I can write it while I decide what system I want the second time. |
| - | |
| - | Beyond those issues and bad judgement, it was simply because I was trying to work out as much as I could. 8 months was probably a little long, but for a guide of this depth I could have pushed it and made it go away the second time or just get it right the first time; even if it means ridiculous time spent making it happen. It didn't get enough views to climb yet, so I was okay with taking my time on this one. |
| - | |
| - | '''Regarding the 2-3 month delay''' |
| - | |
| - | That delay was the result of trying to save as much of the old guide as I could mainly. When I tried that I wanted to mix old and new. My new content would be the Core 2 and newer side, but I'd still keep some of the old stuff. Seems like a win, right? Nope. It didn't work and only made the guide harder to work on. I tried to make it happen, but it wasn't justifiable. Seeing as I wanted a fresh start I decided to blow the old content away that I already didn't blow away. All I really had left was the old CPU's. The rest was already blown away anyway, so saving it wasn't exactly in line anymore. Not only did I blow too much away but the little I had left was hard to fit. |
| - | |
| - | So, yeah. That's why the retrofit failed. I blew too much away and it was a hassle as it is. |
| + | '''Part 2: Getting a system''' |
| + | The second part of the waste time was spent looking for parts for the system. I got a HP IQ506 in April, but I needed 3 parts. I got it under the guise the parts would be easy to find, but it turns out it was quite the opposite foe one of the 3 parts, while the second one was only semi difficult. On top of that, I needed to find the screws. The screws weren't a big deal. I was able to get the thread numbers with a digital caliper that I need for 4. I could then take that information to a hardware store and get flat top screws. That was not a big deal. I also needed a bunch of other screws but I had a sample I could bring to get that sorted so I was in good shape for the screws I needed 11+ of. One of the good things about this system was HP only uses 3 screw types and they don't use different length screws. |
| + | I needed the following parts to get it going initially: |
| + | * Stand ($40-40 used; $70-80+ NOS; difficult to find) |
| + | * RAM door ($10-20; semi difficult to find) |
| + | * Power supply (varies widely; sometimes $20 but can be $50 or more; easy to find) |
| + | Due to the cost of the stand, I decided I may be better off getting a parts system. If I got a stand alone, I at least had the security of knowing you can buy the RAM door with a bit more ease compared to the stand. In the end, I used a parts system. This was because I gave up finding the stand so I figured a parts system would be easier to find. The condition of the parts system made it a literal parts system. This is the failure list it had: |
| + | * GPU (colored line issue; typical failure for these HP's.) |
| + | * Hard drive (7200.12; SMART data could not be read.) |
| + | * Motherboard (bad iGPU.) |
| + | * Screen (colored lines; could be GPU, but screens are also prone to it too. I don't trust the screen to be reliable.) |
| + | It was a parts system in the literal sense. Nearly EVERYTHING was bad on it. I looked at it as a total loss with the failures it had, so it still sits in a broken state. I only took it for the stand and RAM door, so I don't exactly care to fix it. The only good parts left are chassis related. Everything else is broken. I also bought the power supply from the person who got me the donor. I ended up getting all 3 parts replaced, at nearly the same time. |
| + | '''Part 3: The system acts up after being repaired''' |
| + | While I did manage to find the parts, it started having backlight problems in May. At that point I decided to look at the lifespan left on the other parts before I decide to repair or consider it a total loss like the parts system. What I found was the condition of the drive was a lie. It was actually used and it had problems 2 years in (2014 manufacture) and the seller hid that by resetting the POH. It also had major SMART problems. Having to replace the drive was going to be another $50-ish on top of what the screen and inverter costs. |
| + | What it would cost me to fix it: |
| + | * Screen ($80-100+) |
| + | * Inverter (Made of unobtainum; when found, usually $20-25) |
| + | * Hard drive ($70; WD Black 1TB) |
| + | I priced the repairs out and I have decided the machine is a total loss. It's going to be WAY TOO EXPENSIVE to repair this machine. I still use it but a failure will be the end of it's run. I'm more annoyed at the fact it still had problems after the time I put into it more then anything. I didn't expect the Seagate to be reliable in the long run because my experience with Seagate is their drives are crap these days but the fact I took the seller on their word pisses me off. The tip off was that the performance wasn't good on the drive, which usually means the drive has a problem. |
| + | I try and look on the bright side with issues like that. On one hand it sucks I got scammed and the repairs were a waste of time. On the other I basically have a supply of rare and hard to find parts being these are AIO systems. The lies suck, but I think this is a case were I sort of won. I lost on the system, but I have 1 complete system and 1 that needs a stand. Outside of one missing stand, I have 2 complete systems loaded with parts. On the other hand I need to look for another system now. |
| + | Am I going with the IQ506 again? No. I've had 2 losers. I do not feel like doing this again so I am going to be picking something a lot newer then this machine. As much as I'm sure the repairs would be welcomed I feel like the IQ506 is at the stage where repairs are only viable for small problems. You can fix it, but economics no longer make it worth the money to fix it unless you have a spare part surplus that's substantial. |
| + | Beyond parts procurement and hardware issues, I was able to push forward even without a system even though I intended to use the HP IQ506. I just need to pick a different system and I know what I want anyway. |
| + | Once we get past the parts that involve parts procurement, serious hardware failures and lying sellers, then you get the remaining 4 months. This was spent refining it without a system because I know what I want so I wasn't in a position where I had to wait. I could write the guide while looking for my ideal machine so I could get both finding it and writing it done at the same time. |
| With that out of the way, here's the [https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Linux+Machine+configuration+%282007-2008+2009+2010+2011+2012%29/13130|link]. I think I have everything dealt with, but maybe I missed something. |
Discussion Topic:
Yes
Status:
open
Edit by: Nick
Title:
Feedback on the Linux config guide.
Text:
| For reference: This guide was made in 2013 and then pulled in 16 months. I made this at a time this was a common problem with my guides due to severe quality issues. If you were expecting this to be a preserved rehab, let me disappoint you now. It isn't. I tried, but it wasn't worth the trouble. | |
| So, this is what the 8 month delay got me. While the first 2-3 months were wasted (more on this later in the post), I made a call on how to get rid of that delay. It turns out that call to get rid of it was worth it. If I had opted to go with the original plans, this would have taken years to make. It was a effort that proved to be futile, at best. In regards to the text part, the last 6 months were spent making it work as a new guide. This basically killed a lot of my problems of making it work with the original content. | |
| '''NOTE: While this is a public release, I am only keeping it like this for a week so I can source out some areas to improve it. I knocked a lot of the issues out, but I probably missed something in the time I spent making it work. Go in expecting it to be 5% incomplete because I still need a system. I am WELL aware of that part.''' | |
| == What has changed? == | |
| * All of the steps were rewritten from scratch, but not replaced. I still have the 2013 edits left, as I used the original steps from the old guide. | |
| * I have decided hardware minimums had to be placed. You can read more about it in the specs, but the short version is I decided on the following: Intel minimums are Peryn/Wolfdale; Preferred is Westmere and ideal is Sandy Bridge. AMD is Tigrus as a budget acceptable minimim and Dunabe is ideal. Anything older needs a performance check compared to newer options. Desktops are AM3+ ideal, AM3 is acceptable and AM2 is the minimum. | |
| * I have chosen to leave Santa Rosa and Conroe behind. This has 2 rationales behind it. One is line space. I had to make a call, limited to 8 lines. Because of this, I chose to drop SR/Conroe and go to Peryn/Wolfdale for Intel. This was also part performance sustainability. SR/Conroe is getting long in the tooth. It's almost time to move on at this stage. Merom has been obsolete for ages, so I didn't even consider it. As I stated in previous posts I *encourage* people to think outside of the box and make these machines I did not list as good for the guide run Linux. I just am choosing not to support the idea beyond encouragement to try, but I do like the idea of making these older machines good again with something like Linux. I fit C2D hardware in, so I am happy and it all worked out. I can have my Peryn/Wolfdale baseline and say I encourage people to try and push the limits and go beyond what I put in the guide. | |
| * The age limit for hardware is now 2007 for desktops and 2008 for laptops. This extends until 2012. I tried to add new hardware to an old guide, but that also did not work out. All it did was delay this further. After 10 years a system is generally seen as obsolete so 8-9 years is VERY good for a age range. It's 1 year shy of 10 years. For laptops, the 2008 year was also motivated with the increasing trouble of CCFL panels and inverters. It seems like the cheaper ones are starting to have flickering issues. It's better to replace both the inverter and panel to knock the problem out, but the problems are two fold. New inverters are hard finds and screens are VERY hard to find. If you do, it's often more then a new laptop! It also played out well with the Peryn decision, since a lot of systems started moving to LED in 2008, which is the minimum year for laptops. NON AIO desktops are not a concern, but AIO's are. I would follow my rule with laptops on a AIO to be safe. | |
| == What is new? == | |
| * I have added steps for wireless. This was something I have never added then because of the complexity of it, but made work this time. It took 4 steps to make work, but that's because I had to make whitelist steps along with the brands I could fit in. I also waited until I got the core guide done before adding it to keep the progress I made at a normal pace. | |
| * I added a step for new hard drives. This is also a new addition because I have learned how bad some of them really are. I have seen a 7200.11 give the BSY wrror and crash the ATA Security set, a .12 have SMART issues and a .14 in it's natural condition of having serious problems. On top of these 3 drives I have seen others start to have problems after 3 years in some cases. However, I am not mandating a new drive be installed. I understand some people want to reuse it and see, so I just added testing suggestions to make sure it's healthy or an outright note to change it for your own good. These used drives and their quality are reflected in the POH and errors they often have. I personally do not like to reuse them but I know some people will. I think having testing suggestions and new sizes, along with a nudge is fair. | |
| * The SSD step is also new. At this point with cheap 256GB and 512GB SSD's they are not super expensive anymore. I do not have a new and used SSD step setup here, because of how new they are. Hard drives have been around forever, so I need two steps for that. 2 steps for SSD's is a waste. | |
| * I have depreciated the chipset step, but did not remove it from the guide. I was going to remove it but I felt it was better if I depreciate it but keep it around. | |
| - | * The Linux variants have all been replaced. I removed the original ones I had there back then in favor of some more targeted ones. '''NOTE: The board with the chipset picture is the board from the old system. Consider it an Easter egg from the original guide. I kept it from the partout as a CPU holder due to the weak VRM and lack of Pentium D support. I am not mentioning this very much because I want to see how many people recognize the Conolly marker as being from a Dimension 5150.''' |
| + | * The Linux variants have all been replaced. I removed the original ones I had there back then in favor of some more targeted ones. '''NOTE: The board with the chipset picture is the board from the old system. Consider it an Easter egg from the original guide. I kept it from the partout as a CPU holder due to the weak VRM and lack of Pentium D support. I am not mentioning this very much because I want to see how many people recognize the Conolly marker as being from a Dimension 5150. I didn't removed the heatsink and exposed the i945, but because I may need to reuse the board and 10 year old PIII style thermal pads are a nightmare to remove after 10 years I chose not to.''' |
| ==Why did it take 8 months?== | |
| It took 8 months for many reasons. I consider the first 2-3 months were wasted trying to make it work on the original content. By the 4th month, I decided to start with a semi clean slate and do it right the first time. While I decided to do that 3 months in, I also tried to retain the original content to a degree. Again, something I decided to drop months later. | |
| The second part of the waste time was spent looking for parts for the system. I got a HP IQ506 AIO at the time and it was missing the stand. Okay, I need a stand. What's the worst it was going to cost. $30-50 used and something like $70-80 new. NO THANKS! At that point, I went out to look for a parts system like I usually do when the part I need is not RAM or a hard drive and is not screen related and I'm not as concerned about hours and remaining lifespan. Again, another hurdle. Everyone wanted hundreds; even for dead systems! Thankfully my neighbor had one with a burned out board and GPU so I got the stand for free. This happened in May. The downside is now I am stuck with a dead machine, but I avoided the rare part gouging nonsense. In a way, it worked out. | |
| In June the machine had panel issues.... After I spent a month finding parts. On top of that, I found out the drive was not new shortly after that because it was acting slow so I decided to see about the health of the drive. I didn't expect a lot because it came with a Seagate but it was not new as promised by the seller. I have a screen and inverter job in line AND a hard drive? NO THANK YOU! The machine was going to be too expensive to save. While I decided I was done with the IQ506, I decided to move forward with the editing rather then wait again. I can write it while I decide what system I want the second time. | |
| Beyond those issues and bad judgement, it was simply because I was trying to work out as much as I could. 8 months was probably a little long, but for a guide of this depth I could have pushed it and made it go away the second time or just get it right the first time; even if it means ridiculous time spent making it happen. It didn't get enough views to climb yet, so I was okay with taking my time on this one. | |
| '''Regarding the 2-3 month delay''' | |
| That delay was the result of trying to save as much of the old guide as I could mainly. When I tried that I wanted to mix old and new. My new content would be the Core 2 and newer side, but I'd still keep some of the old stuff. Seems like a win, right? Nope. It didn't work and only made the guide harder to work on. I tried to make it happen, but it wasn't justifiable. Seeing as I wanted a fresh start I decided to blow the old content away that I already didn't blow away. All I really had left was the old CPU's. The rest was already blown away anyway, so saving it wasn't exactly in line anymore. Not only did I blow too much away but the little I had left was hard to fit. | |
| So, yeah. That's why the retrofit failed. I blew too much away and it was a hassle as it is. | |
| With that out of the way, here's the [https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Linux+Machine+configuration+%282007-2008+2009+2010+2011+2012%29/13130|link]. I think I have everything dealt with, but maybe I missed something. |
Discussion Topic:
Yes
Status:
open
Edit by: Nick
Title:
Feedback on the Linux config guide.
Text:
| For reference: This guide was made in 2013 and then pulled in 16 months. I made this at a time this was a common problem with my guides due to severe quality issues. If you were expecting this to be a preserved rehab, let me disappoint you now. It isn't. I tried, but it wasn't worth the trouble. | |
| So, this is what the 8 month delay got me. While the first 2-3 months were wasted (more on this later in the post), I made a call on how to get rid of that delay. It turns out that call to get rid of it was worth it. If I had opted to go with the original plans, this would have taken years to make. It was a effort that proved to be futile, at best. In regards to the text part, the last 6 months were spent making it work as a new guide. This basically killed a lot of my problems of making it work with the original content. | |
| '''NOTE: While this is a public release, I am only keeping it like this for a week so I can source out some areas to improve it. I knocked a lot of the issues out, but I probably missed something in the time I spent making it work. Go in expecting it to be 5% incomplete because I still need a system. I am WELL aware of that part.''' | |
| == What has changed? == | |
| * All of the steps were rewritten from scratch, but not replaced. I still have the 2013 edits left, as I used the original steps from the old guide. | |
| * I have decided hardware minimums had to be placed. You can read more about it in the specs, but the short version is I decided on the following: Intel minimums are Peryn/Wolfdale; Preferred is Westmere and ideal is Sandy Bridge. AMD is Tigrus as a budget acceptable minimim and Dunabe is ideal. Anything older needs a performance check compared to newer options. Desktops are AM3+ ideal, AM3 is acceptable and AM2 is the minimum. | |
| * I have chosen to leave Santa Rosa and Conroe behind. This has 2 rationales behind it. One is line space. I had to make a call, limited to 8 lines. Because of this, I chose to drop SR/Conroe and go to Peryn/Wolfdale for Intel. This was also part performance sustainability. SR/Conroe is getting long in the tooth. It's almost time to move on at this stage. Merom has been obsolete for ages, so I didn't even consider it. As I stated in previous posts I *encourage* people to think outside of the box and make these machines I did not list as good for the guide run Linux. I just am choosing not to support the idea beyond encouragement to try, but I do like the idea of making these older machines good again with something like Linux. I fit C2D hardware in, so I am happy and it all worked out. I can have my Peryn/Wolfdale baseline and say I encourage people to try and push the limits and go beyond what I put in the guide. | |
| * The age limit for hardware is now 2007 for desktops and 2008 for laptops. This extends until 2012. I tried to add new hardware to an old guide, but that also did not work out. All it did was delay this further. After 10 years a system is generally seen as obsolete so 8-9 years is VERY good for a age range. It's 1 year shy of 10 years. For laptops, the 2008 year was also motivated with the increasing trouble of CCFL panels and inverters. It seems like the cheaper ones are starting to have flickering issues. It's better to replace both the inverter and panel to knock the problem out, but the problems are two fold. New inverters are hard finds and screens are VERY hard to find. If you do, it's often more then a new laptop! It also played out well with the Peryn decision, since a lot of systems started moving to LED in 2008, which is the minimum year for laptops. NON AIO desktops are not a concern, but AIO's are. I would follow my rule with laptops on a AIO to be safe. | |
| == What is new? == | |
| * I have added steps for wireless. This was something I have never added then because of the complexity of it, but made work this time. It took 4 steps to make work, but that's because I had to make whitelist steps along with the brands I could fit in. I also waited until I got the core guide done before adding it to keep the progress I made at a normal pace. | |
| * I added a step for new hard drives. This is also a new addition because I have learned how bad some of them really are. I have seen a 7200.11 give the BSY wrror and crash the ATA Security set, a .12 have SMART issues and a .14 in it's natural condition of having serious problems. On top of these 3 drives I have seen others start to have problems after 3 years in some cases. However, I am not mandating a new drive be installed. I understand some people want to reuse it and see, so I just added testing suggestions to make sure it's healthy or an outright note to change it for your own good. These used drives and their quality are reflected in the POH and errors they often have. I personally do not like to reuse them but I know some people will. I think having testing suggestions and new sizes, along with a nudge is fair. | |
| * The SSD step is also new. At this point with cheap 256GB and 512GB SSD's they are not super expensive anymore. I do not have a new and used SSD step setup here, because of how new they are. Hard drives have been around forever, so I need two steps for that. 2 steps for SSD's is a waste. | |
| * I have depreciated the chipset step, but did not remove it from the guide. I was going to remove it but I felt it was better if I depreciate it but keep it around. | |
| - | * The Linux variants have all been replaced. I removed the original ones I had there back then in favor of some more targeted ones. '''NOTE: |
| + | * The Linux variants have all been replaced. I removed the original ones I had there back then in favor of some more targeted ones. '''NOTE: The board with the chipset picture is the board from the old system. Consider it an Easter egg from the original guide. I kept it from the partout as a CPU holder due to the weak VRM and lack of Pentium D support. I am not mentioning this very much because I want to see how many people recognize the Conolly marker as being from a Dimension 5150.''' |
| ==Why did it take 8 months?== | |
| It took 8 months for many reasons. I consider the first 2-3 months were wasted trying to make it work on the original content. By the 4th month, I decided to start with a semi clean slate and do it right the first time. While I decided to do that 3 months in, I also tried to retain the original content to a degree. Again, something I decided to drop months later. | |
| The second part of the waste time was spent looking for parts for the system. I got a HP IQ506 AIO at the time and it was missing the stand. Okay, I need a stand. What's the worst it was going to cost. $30-50 used and something like $70-80 new. NO THANKS! At that point, I went out to look for a parts system like I usually do when the part I need is not RAM or a hard drive and is not screen related and I'm not as concerned about hours and remaining lifespan. Again, another hurdle. Everyone wanted hundreds; even for dead systems! Thankfully my neighbor had one with a burned out board and GPU so I got the stand for free. This happened in May. The downside is now I am stuck with a dead machine, but I avoided the rare part gouging nonsense. In a way, it worked out. | |
| In June the machine had panel issues.... After I spent a month finding parts. On top of that, I found out the drive was not new shortly after that because it was acting slow so I decided to see about the health of the drive. I didn't expect a lot because it came with a Seagate but it was not new as promised by the seller. I have a screen and inverter job in line AND a hard drive? NO THANK YOU! The machine was going to be too expensive to save. While I decided I was done with the IQ506, I decided to move forward with the editing rather then wait again. I can write it while I decide what system I want the second time. | |
| Beyond those issues and bad judgement, it was simply because I was trying to work out as much as I could. 8 months was probably a little long, but for a guide of this depth I could have pushed it and made it go away the second time or just get it right the first time; even if it means ridiculous time spent making it happen. It didn't get enough views to climb yet, so I was okay with taking my time on this one. | |
| + | |
| '''Regarding the 2-3 month delay''' | |
| - | That delay was the result of trying to save as much of the old guide as I could mainly. When I tried that I wanted to mix old and new. My new content would be the Core 2 and newer side, but I'd still keep some of the old stuff. Seems like a win, right? Nope. It didn't work and only made the guide harder to work on. I tried to make it happen, but it wasn't justifiable. Seeing as I wanted a fresh start I decided to blow the old content away that I already didn't blow away. All I really had left was the old CPU's. The rest was already blown away anyway, so saving it wasn't exactly in line anymore. Not only did I blow too much away but the little I had left was hard to fit. |
| + | |
| + | That delay was the result of trying to save as much of the old guide as I could mainly. When I tried that I wanted to mix old and new. My new content would be the Core 2 and newer side, but I'd still keep some of the old stuff. Seems like a win, right? Nope. It didn't work and only made the guide harder to work on. I tried to make it happen, but it wasn't justifiable. Seeing as I wanted a fresh start I decided to blow the old content away that I already didn't blow away. All I really had left was the old CPU's. The rest was already blown away anyway, so saving it wasn't exactly in line anymore. Not only did I blow too much away but the little I had left was hard to fit. |
| + | |
| So, yeah. That's why the retrofit failed. I blew too much away and it was a hassle as it is. | |
| With that out of the way, here's the [https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Linux+Machine+configuration+%282007-2008+2009+2010+2011+2012%29/13130|link]. I think I have everything dealt with, but maybe I missed something. |
Discussion Topic:
Yes
Status:
open
Edit by: Nick
Title:
Feedback on the Linux config guide.
Text:
| For reference: This guide was made in 2013 and then pulled in 16 months. I made this at a time this was a common problem with my guides due to severe quality issues. If you were expecting this to be a preserved rehab, let me disappoint you now. It isn't. I tried, but it wasn't worth the trouble. | |
| So, this is what the 8 month delay got me. While the first 2-3 months were wasted (more on this later in the post), I made a call on how to get rid of that delay. It turns out that call to get rid of it was worth it. If I had opted to go with the original plans, this would have taken years to make. It was a effort that proved to be futile, at best. In regards to the text part, the last 6 months were spent making it work as a new guide. This basically killed a lot of my problems of making it work with the original content. | |
| '''NOTE: While this is a public release, I am only keeping it like this for a week so I can source out some areas to improve it. I knocked a lot of the issues out, but I probably missed something in the time I spent making it work. Go in expecting it to be 5% incomplete because I still need a system. I am WELL aware of that part.''' | |
| == What has changed? == | |
| + | |
| * All of the steps were rewritten from scratch, but not replaced. I still have the 2013 edits left, as I used the original steps from the old guide. | |
| * I have decided hardware minimums had to be placed. You can read more about it in the specs, but the short version is I decided on the following: Intel minimums are Peryn/Wolfdale; Preferred is Westmere and ideal is Sandy Bridge. AMD is Tigrus as a budget acceptable minimim and Dunabe is ideal. Anything older needs a performance check compared to newer options. Desktops are AM3+ ideal, AM3 is acceptable and AM2 is the minimum. | |
| * I have chosen to leave Santa Rosa and Conroe behind. This has 2 rationales behind it. One is line space. I had to make a call, limited to 8 lines. Because of this, I chose to drop SR/Conroe and go to Peryn/Wolfdale for Intel. This was also part performance sustainability. SR/Conroe is getting long in the tooth. It's almost time to move on at this stage. Merom has been obsolete for ages, so I didn't even consider it. As I stated in previous posts I *encourage* people to think outside of the box and make these machines I did not list as good for the guide run Linux. I just am choosing not to support the idea beyond encouragement to try, but I do like the idea of making these older machines good again with something like Linux. I fit C2D hardware in, so I am happy and it all worked out. I can have my Peryn/Wolfdale baseline and say I encourage people to try and push the limits and go beyond what I put in the guide. | |
| * The age limit for hardware is now 2007 for desktops and 2008 for laptops. This extends until 2012. I tried to add new hardware to an old guide, but that also did not work out. All it did was delay this further. After 10 years a system is generally seen as obsolete so 8-9 years is VERY good for a age range. It's 1 year shy of 10 years. For laptops, the 2008 year was also motivated with the increasing trouble of CCFL panels and inverters. It seems like the cheaper ones are starting to have flickering issues. It's better to replace both the inverter and panel to knock the problem out, but the problems are two fold. New inverters are hard finds and screens are VERY hard to find. If you do, it's often more then a new laptop! It also played out well with the Peryn decision, since a lot of systems started moving to LED in 2008, which is the minimum year for laptops. NON AIO desktops are not a concern, but AIO's are. I would follow my rule with laptops on a AIO to be safe. | |
| == What is new? == | |
| * I have added steps for wireless. This was something I have never added then because of the complexity of it, but made work this time. It took 4 steps to make work, but that's because I had to make whitelist steps along with the brands I could fit in. I also waited until I got the core guide done before adding it to keep the progress I made at a normal pace. | |
| * I added a step for new hard drives. This is also a new addition because I have learned how bad some of them really are. I have seen a 7200.11 give the BSY wrror and crash the ATA Security set, a .12 have SMART issues and a .14 in it's natural condition of having serious problems. On top of these 3 drives I have seen others start to have problems after 3 years in some cases. However, I am not mandating a new drive be installed. I understand some people want to reuse it and see, so I just added testing suggestions to make sure it's healthy or an outright note to change it for your own good. These used drives and their quality are reflected in the POH and errors they often have. I personally do not like to reuse them but I know some people will. I think having testing suggestions and new sizes, along with a nudge is fair. | |
| * The SSD step is also new. At this point with cheap 256GB and 512GB SSD's they are not super expensive anymore. I do not have a new and used SSD step setup here, because of how new they are. Hard drives have been around forever, so I need two steps for that. 2 steps for SSD's is a waste. | |
| * I have depreciated the chipset step, but did not remove it from the guide. I was going to remove it but I felt it was better if I depreciate it but keep it around. | |
| * The Linux variants have all been replaced. I removed the original ones I had there back then in favor of some more targeted ones. '''NOTE:''' The board with the chipset picture is the board from the old system. Consider it an Easter egg from the original guide. I kept it from the partout as a CPU holder due to the weak VRM and lack of Pentium D support. I am not mentioning this very much because I want to see how many people recognize the Conolly marker as being from a Dimension 5150.''' | |
| ==Why did it take 8 months?== | |
| It took 8 months for many reasons. I consider the first 2-3 months were wasted trying to make it work on the original content. By the 4th month, I decided to start with a semi clean slate and do it right the first time. While I decided to do that 3 months in, I also tried to retain the original content to a degree. Again, something I decided to drop months later. | |
| The second part of the waste time was spent looking for parts for the system. I got a HP IQ506 AIO at the time and it was missing the stand. Okay, I need a stand. What's the worst it was going to cost. $30-50 used and something like $70-80 new. NO THANKS! At that point, I went out to look for a parts system like I usually do when the part I need is not RAM or a hard drive and is not screen related and I'm not as concerned about hours and remaining lifespan. Again, another hurdle. Everyone wanted hundreds; even for dead systems! Thankfully my neighbor had one with a burned out board and GPU so I got the stand for free. This happened in May. The downside is now I am stuck with a dead machine, but I avoided the rare part gouging nonsense. In a way, it worked out. | |
| In June the machine had panel issues.... After I spent a month finding parts. On top of that, I found out the drive was not new shortly after that because it was acting slow so I decided to see about the health of the drive. I didn't expect a lot because it came with a Seagate but it was not new as promised by the seller. I have a screen and inverter job in line AND a hard drive? NO THANK YOU! The machine was going to be too expensive to save. While I decided I was done with the IQ506, I decided to move forward with the editing rather then wait again. I can write it while I decide what system I want the second time. | |
| Beyond those issues and bad judgement, it was simply because I was trying to work out as much as I could. 8 months was probably a little long, but for a guide of this depth I could have pushed it and made it go away the second time or just get it right the first time; even if it means ridiculous time spent making it happen. It didn't get enough views to climb yet, so I was okay with taking my time on this one. | |
| + | '''Regarding the 2-3 month delay''' |
| + | That delay was the result of trying to save as much of the old guide as I could mainly. When I tried that I wanted to mix old and new. My new content would be the Core 2 and newer side, but I'd still keep some of the old stuff. Seems like a win, right? Nope. It didn't work and only made the guide harder to work on. I tried to make it happen, but it wasn't justifiable. Seeing as I wanted a fresh start I decided to blow the old content away that I already didn't blow away. All I really had left was the old CPU's. The rest was already blown away anyway, so saving it wasn't exactly in line anymore. Not only did I blow too much away but the little I had left was hard to fit. |
| + | So, yeah. That's why the retrofit failed. I blew too much away and it was a hassle as it is. |
| With that out of the way, here's the [https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Linux+Machine+configuration+%282007-2008+2009+2010+2011+2012%29/13130|link]. I think I have everything dealt with, but maybe I missed something. |
Discussion Topic:
Yes
Status:
open
Edit by: Nick
Title:
Feedback on the Linux config guide.
Text:
| - | For reference: This guide was made in 2013 and then pulled in 16 months. I made this at a time this was a common problem with my guides due to severe quality issues. If you were expecting |
|---|---|
| + | For reference: This guide was made in 2013 and then pulled in 16 months. I made this at a time this was a common problem with my guides due to severe quality issues. If you were expecting this to be a preserved rehab, let me disappoint you now. It isn't. I tried, but it wasn't worth the trouble. |
| - | So, |
| + | So, this is what the 8 month delay got me. While the first 2-3 months were wasted (more on this later in the post), I made a call on how to get rid of that delay. It turns out that call to get rid of it was worth it. If I had opted to go with the original plans, this would have taken years to make. It was a effort that proved to be futile, at best. In regards to the text part, the last 6 months were spent making it work as a new guide. This basically killed a lot of my problems of making it work with the original content. |
| - | '''NOTE: While this is a public release, I am only keeping it like this for a week so I can source out some areas |
| + | '''NOTE: While this is a public release, I am only keeping it like this for a week so I can source out some areas to improve it. I knocked a lot of the issues out, but I probably missed something in the time I spent making it work. Go in expecting it to be 5% incomplete because I still need a system. I am WELL aware of that part.''' |
| - | ==What has changed?== |
| + | == What has changed? == |
| + | * All of the steps were rewritten from scratch, but not replaced. I still have the 2013 edits left, as I used the original steps from the old guide. |
| + | * I have decided hardware minimums had to be placed. You can read more about it in the specs, but the short version is I decided on the following: Intel minimums are Peryn/Wolfdale; Preferred is Westmere and ideal is Sandy Bridge. AMD is Tigrus as a budget acceptable minimim and Dunabe is ideal. Anything older needs a performance check compared to newer options. Desktops are AM3+ ideal, AM3 is acceptable and AM2 is the minimum. |
| + | * I have chosen to leave Santa Rosa and Conroe behind. This has 2 rationales behind it. One is line space. I had to make a call, limited to 8 lines. Because of this, I chose to drop SR/Conroe and go to Peryn/Wolfdale for Intel. This was also part performance sustainability. SR/Conroe is getting long in the tooth. It's almost time to move on at this stage. Merom has been obsolete for ages, so I didn't even consider it. As I stated in previous posts I *encourage* people to think outside of the box and make these machines I did not list as good for the guide run Linux. I just am choosing not to support the idea beyond encouragement to try, but I do like the idea of making these older machines good again with something like Linux. I fit C2D hardware in, so I am happy and it all worked out. I can have my Peryn/Wolfdale baseline and say I encourage people to try and push the limits and go beyond what I put in the guide. |
| + | * The age limit for hardware is now 2007 for desktops and 2008 for laptops. This extends until 2012. I tried to add new hardware to an old guide, but that also did not work out. All it did was delay this further. After 10 years a system is generally seen as obsolete so 8-9 years is VERY good for a age range. It's 1 year shy of 10 years. For laptops, the 2008 year was also motivated with the increasing trouble of CCFL panels and inverters. It seems like the cheaper ones are starting to have flickering issues. It's better to replace both the inverter and panel to knock the problem out, but the problems are two fold. New inverters are hard finds and screens are VERY hard to find. If you do, it's often more then a new laptop! It also played out well with the Peryn decision, since a lot of systems started moving to LED in 2008, which is the minimum year for laptops. NON AIO desktops are not a concern, but AIO's are. I would follow my rule with laptops on a AIO to be safe. |
| - | |
| + | == What is new? == |
| - | * The steps were all rewritten, but not replaced |
| - | * I have added hardware minimums, based on what I feel is still usable vs what people will have. I did have to leave some chips out I thought could be given a place. I was line constrained too, so I had to work with what I could make happen with 8 lines. This does mean I did have to leave Santa Rosa behind. While I feel Santa Rosa is a dog it's not as much of a dog as Merom. I might unofficially let SR go, but I probably won't. I think I will place that under try at your own risk. |
| - | * I have limited the hardware age from 2007 for desktops and 2008 for laptops, up until 2012 for both. This was added when I was 2 months in getting nowhere because I kept adding newer and newer hardware and had to draw a line somewhere on the growing length issue. I figured a 8-9 year cap would be a good limit to set for the guide. Laptops are at 2008 because of the transition to LED panels around that time. I am finding CCFL screen degredation is becoming more of a problem then it used to be, so I am orienting my laptop year with the time LED panels became more common. It's also around the time Peryn became more common, so the 2008 thing has worked out just fine. I am not concerned about desktops as much because Wolfdale came out in 2007. |
| - | |
| - | ==What is new?== |
| - | |
| - | * I have added steps for wireless. This was something I have never added because of the complexity of it. This took 4 steps to implement. I chose to wait until I got to the end of the original guide to add it as to not screw up the existing review I did. |
| - | * I added a step for new hard drives. This is because I tend to not like reusing the old drive in most machines due to the majority having 3 years of 24/7 wear and tear, and the POH to reflect it. These drives almost always end up being ticking time bombs. It's better to replace them. However, this does not mean I left the possibility for reuse out. Sometimes the drives are actually very healthy and can be reused. I just find they're removed anyway or they are high hour and need to be replaced. |
| - | * The SSD step is also new. At this point with cheap 256GB and 512GB SSD's they are not super expensive anymore. I do not have a new and used SSD step setup here, because of how new they are. Hard drives have been around forever, so I need two steps for that. |
| + | * I have added steps for wireless. This was something I have never added then because of the complexity of it, but made work this time. It took 4 steps to make work, but that's because I had to make whitelist steps along with the brands I could fit in. I also waited until I got the core guide done before adding it to keep the progress I made at a normal pace. |
| + | * I added a step for new hard drives. This is also a new addition because I have learned how bad some of them really are. I have seen a 7200.11 give the BSY wrror and crash the ATA Security set, a .12 have SMART issues and a .14 in it's natural condition of having serious problems. On top of these 3 drives I have seen others start to have problems after 3 years in some cases. However, I am not mandating a new drive be installed. I understand some people want to reuse it and see, so I just added testing suggestions to make sure it's healthy or an outright note to change it for your own good. These used drives and their quality are reflected in the POH and errors they often have. I personally do not like to reuse them but I know some people will. I think having testing suggestions and new sizes, along with a nudge is fair. |
| + | * The SSD step is also new. At this point with cheap 256GB and 512GB SSD's they are not super expensive anymore. I do not have a new and used SSD step setup here, because of how new they are. Hard drives have been around forever, so I need two steps for that. 2 steps for SSD's is a waste. |
| * I have depreciated the chipset step, but did not remove it from the guide. I was going to remove it but I felt it was better if I depreciate it but keep it around. | |
| - | * The Linux variants have all been replaced. I removed the original ones I had there back then in favor of some more targeted ones. |
| + | * The Linux variants have all been replaced. I removed the original ones I had there back then in favor of some more targeted ones. '''NOTE:''' The board with the chipset picture is the board from the old system. Consider it an Easter egg from the original guide. I kept it from the partout as a CPU holder due to the weak VRM and lack of Pentium D support. I am not mentioning this very much because I want to see how many people recognize the Conolly marker as being from a Dimension 5150.''' |
| ==Why did it take 8 months?== | |
| - | It took 8 months for many reasons. I consider the first 3 months were wasted trying to make it work on the original content. By the 4th month, I decided to |
| + | It took 8 months for many reasons. I consider the first 2-3 months were wasted trying to make it work on the original content. By the 4th month, I decided to start with a semi clean slate and do it right the first time. While I decided to do that 3 months in, I also tried to retain the original content to a degree. Again, something I decided to drop months later. |
| - | The second part of the waste time was spent looking for parts for the system. I got a HP IQ506 AIO at the time and it was missing the stand. Okay, I need a stand. What's the worst it was going to cost. $30-50 used and something like $70-80 new. NO THANKS! At that point, I went out to look for a parts system like I usually do when the part I need is not RAM or a hard drive and is not screen related and I'm not as concerned about hours and remaining lifespan. Again, another hurdle. Everyone wanted hundreds; even for dead systems! |
| + | The second part of the waste time was spent looking for parts for the system. I got a HP IQ506 AIO at the time and it was missing the stand. Okay, I need a stand. What's the worst it was going to cost. $30-50 used and something like $70-80 new. NO THANKS! At that point, I went out to look for a parts system like I usually do when the part I need is not RAM or a hard drive and is not screen related and I'm not as concerned about hours and remaining lifespan. Again, another hurdle. Everyone wanted hundreds; even for dead systems! Thankfully my neighbor had one with a burned out board and GPU so I got the stand for free. This happened in May. The downside is now I am stuck with a dead machine, but I avoided the rare part gouging nonsense. In a way, it worked out. |
| - | So there's part 2 of it. I bought a machine which was in need of a overpriced part the gougers love because they can force people to pay way too much. That's another rant for another day. I did eventually push through on getting a donor. Thankfully, the donor was free. Excellent. This happened in May. |
| - | |
| - | In June the machine had panel issues.... After I spent a month finding parts. On top of that, I found out the drive was not new shortly after that because it was acting slow so I decided to see about the health of the drive. I didn't expect a lot because it came with a Seagate but it was not new as promised. I have a screen and inverter job in line AND a hard drive? NO THANK YOU! The machine was going to be too expensive. While I decided I was done with the IQ506, I decided to move forward with the editing rather then wait again. I can write it while I decide what system I want the second time. |
| + | In June the machine had panel issues.... After I spent a month finding parts. On top of that, I found out the drive was not new shortly after that because it was acting slow so I decided to see about the health of the drive. I didn't expect a lot because it came with a Seagate but it was not new as promised by the seller. I have a screen and inverter job in line AND a hard drive? NO THANK YOU! The machine was going to be too expensive to save. While I decided I was done with the IQ506, I decided to move forward with the editing rather then wait again. I can write it while I decide what system I want the second time. |
| Beyond those issues and bad judgement, it was simply because I was trying to work out as much as I could. 8 months was probably a little long, but for a guide of this depth I could have pushed it and made it go away the second time or just get it right the first time; even if it means ridiculous time spent making it happen. It didn't get enough views to climb yet, so I was okay with taking my time on this one. | |
| With that out of the way, here's the [https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Linux+Machine+configuration+%282007-2008+2009+2010+2011+2012%29/13130|link]. I think I have everything dealt with, but maybe I missed something. |
Discussion Topic:
Yes
Status:
open
Edit by: Nick
Title:
Feedback on the Linux config guide.
Text:
| - | For reference: This guide was made in 2013 and then pulled in |
|---|---|
| + | For reference: This guide was made in 2013 and then pulled in 16 months. I made this at a time this was a common problem with my guides due to severe quality issues. If you were expecting it to be the same guide as I had back then without major modifications and removal done, you should go in being prepared for a whole different guide. |
| So, I have been working on this for 8 months. The first 2-3 months were spent trying to make it as close to the 2013 guide as possible. This proved to be futile, and I ditched the idea in 2 months. The last 6 months were spent making it work as a new guide. This went a lot smoother then the 2 months spent trying to keep it original. | |
| '''NOTE: While this is a public release, I am only keeping it like this for a week so I can source out some areas of improvements. I knocked a lot of the issues out, but I probably missed something in the time I spent making it work. Go in expecting it to be 5% incomplete because I still need a system. I'm aware of that part.''' | |
| ==What has changed?== | |
| Outside of the answer of everything, there's a lot. | |
| * The steps were all rewritten, but not replaced | |
| * I have added hardware minimums, based on what I feel is still usable vs what people will have. I did have to leave some chips out I thought could be given a place. I was line constrained too, so I had to work with what I could make happen with 8 lines. This does mean I did have to leave Santa Rosa behind. While I feel Santa Rosa is a dog it's not as much of a dog as Merom. I might unofficially let SR go, but I probably won't. I think I will place that under try at your own risk. | |
| * I have limited the hardware age from 2007 for desktops and 2008 for laptops, up until 2012 for both. This was added when I was 2 months in getting nowhere because I kept adding newer and newer hardware and had to draw a line somewhere on the growing length issue. I figured a 8-9 year cap would be a good limit to set for the guide. Laptops are at 2008 because of the transition to LED panels around that time. I am finding CCFL screen degredation is becoming more of a problem then it used to be, so I am orienting my laptop year with the time LED panels became more common. It's also around the time Peryn became more common, so the 2008 thing has worked out just fine. I am not concerned about desktops as much because Wolfdale came out in 2007. | |
| ==What is new?== | |
| * I have added steps for wireless. This was something I have never added because of the complexity of it. This took 4 steps to implement. I chose to wait until I got to the end of the original guide to add it as to not screw up the existing review I did. | |
| * I added a step for new hard drives. This is because I tend to not like reusing the old drive in most machines due to the majority having 3 years of 24/7 wear and tear, and the POH to reflect it. These drives almost always end up being ticking time bombs. It's better to replace them. However, this does not mean I left the possibility for reuse out. Sometimes the drives are actually very healthy and can be reused. I just find they're removed anyway or they are high hour and need to be replaced. | |
| * The SSD step is also new. At this point with cheap 256GB and 512GB SSD's they are not super expensive anymore. I do not have a new and used SSD step setup here, because of how new they are. Hard drives have been around forever, so I need two steps for that. | |
| * I have depreciated the chipset step, but did not remove it from the guide. I was going to remove it but I felt it was better if I depreciate it but keep it around. | |
| * The Linux variants have all been replaced. I removed the original ones I had there back then in favor of some more targeted ones. | |
| ==Why did it take 8 months?== | |
| It took 8 months for many reasons. I consider the first 3 months were wasted trying to make it work on the original content. By the 4th month, I decided to clear the original content out and start over. While I decided to do that 3 months in, I also tried to retain the original content to a degree. Again, something I decided to drop months later. | |
| The second part of the waste time was spent looking for parts for the system. I got a HP IQ506 AIO at the time and it was missing the stand. Okay, I need a stand. What's the worst it was going to cost. $30-50 used and something like $70-80 new. NO THANKS! At that point, I went out to look for a parts system like I usually do when the part I need is not RAM or a hard drive and is not screen related and I'm not as concerned about hours and remaining lifespan. Again, another hurdle. Everyone wanted hundreds; even for dead systems!!! | |
| So there's part 2 of it. I bought a machine which was in need of a overpriced part the gougers love because they can force people to pay way too much. That's another rant for another day. I did eventually push through on getting a donor. Thankfully, the donor was free. Excellent. This happened in May. | |
| In June the machine had panel issues.... After I spent a month finding parts. On top of that, I found out the drive was not new shortly after that because it was acting slow so I decided to see about the health of the drive. I didn't expect a lot because it came with a Seagate but it was not new as promised. I have a screen and inverter job in line AND a hard drive? NO THANK YOU! The machine was going to be too expensive. While I decided I was done with the IQ506, I decided to move forward with the editing rather then wait again. I can write it while I decide what system I want the second time. | |
| Beyond those issues and bad judgement, it was simply because I was trying to work out as much as I could. 8 months was probably a little long, but for a guide of this depth I could have pushed it and made it go away the second time or just get it right the first time; even if it means ridiculous time spent making it happen. It didn't get enough views to climb yet, so I was okay with taking my time on this one. | |
| With that out of the way, here's the [https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Linux+Machine+configuration+%282007-2008+2009+2010+2011+2012%29/13130|link]. I think I have everything dealt with, but maybe I missed something. |
Discussion Topic:
Yes
Status:
open
Edit by: Nick
Title:
Feedback on the Linux config guide.
Text:
| For reference: This guide was made in 2013 and then pulled in 13 months. I made this at a time this was a common problem with my guides due to severe quality issues. If you were expecting it to be the same guide as I had back then without major modifications and removal done, you should go in being prepared for a whole different guide. | |
| So, I have been working on this for 8 months. The first 2-3 months were spent trying to make it as close to the 2013 guide as possible. This proved to be futile, and I ditched the idea in 2 months. The last 6 months were spent making it work as a new guide. This went a lot smoother then the 2 months spent trying to keep it original. | |
| - | '''NOTE: While this is a public release, I am only keeping it like this for a week so I can source out some areas of improvements. I knocked a lot of the issues out, but I probably missed something in the time I spent making it work. Go in expecting it to be 5% incomplete because I still need a system.''' |
| + | '''NOTE: While this is a public release, I am only keeping it like this for a week so I can source out some areas of improvements. I knocked a lot of the issues out, but I probably missed something in the time I spent making it work. Go in expecting it to be 5% incomplete because I still need a system. I'm aware of that part.''' |
| ==What has changed?== | |
| Outside of the answer of everything, there's a lot. | |
| * The steps were all rewritten, but not replaced | |
| * I have added hardware minimums, based on what I feel is still usable vs what people will have. I did have to leave some chips out I thought could be given a place. I was line constrained too, so I had to work with what I could make happen with 8 lines. This does mean I did have to leave Santa Rosa behind. While I feel Santa Rosa is a dog it's not as much of a dog as Merom. I might unofficially let SR go, but I probably won't. I think I will place that under try at your own risk. | |
| * I have limited the hardware age from 2007 for desktops and 2008 for laptops, up until 2012 for both. This was added when I was 2 months in getting nowhere because I kept adding newer and newer hardware and had to draw a line somewhere on the growing length issue. I figured a 8-9 year cap would be a good limit to set for the guide. Laptops are at 2008 because of the transition to LED panels around that time. I am finding CCFL screen degredation is becoming more of a problem then it used to be, so I am orienting my laptop year with the time LED panels became more common. It's also around the time Peryn became more common, so the 2008 thing has worked out just fine. I am not concerned about desktops as much because Wolfdale came out in 2007. | |
| ==What is new?== | |
| * I have added steps for wireless. This was something I have never added because of the complexity of it. This took 4 steps to implement. I chose to wait until I got to the end of the original guide to add it as to not screw up the existing review I did. | |
| * I added a step for new hard drives. This is because I tend to not like reusing the old drive in most machines due to the majority having 3 years of 24/7 wear and tear, and the POH to reflect it. These drives almost always end up being ticking time bombs. It's better to replace them. However, this does not mean I left the possibility for reuse out. Sometimes the drives are actually very healthy and can be reused. I just find they're removed anyway or they are high hour and need to be replaced. | |
| * The SSD step is also new. At this point with cheap 256GB and 512GB SSD's they are not super expensive anymore. I do not have a new and used SSD step setup here, because of how new they are. Hard drives have been around forever, so I need two steps for that. | |
| * I have depreciated the chipset step, but did not remove it from the guide. I was going to remove it but I felt it was better if I depreciate it but keep it around. | |
| * The Linux variants have all been replaced. I removed the original ones I had there back then in favor of some more targeted ones. | |
| ==Why did it take 8 months?== | |
| It took 8 months for many reasons. I consider the first 3 months were wasted trying to make it work on the original content. By the 4th month, I decided to clear the original content out and start over. While I decided to do that 3 months in, I also tried to retain the original content to a degree. Again, something I decided to drop months later. | |
| The second part of the waste time was spent looking for parts for the system. I got a HP IQ506 AIO at the time and it was missing the stand. Okay, I need a stand. What's the worst it was going to cost. $30-50 used and something like $70-80 new. NO THANKS! At that point, I went out to look for a parts system like I usually do when the part I need is not RAM or a hard drive and is not screen related and I'm not as concerned about hours and remaining lifespan. Again, another hurdle. Everyone wanted hundreds; even for dead systems!!! | |
| So there's part 2 of it. I bought a machine which was in need of a overpriced part the gougers love because they can force people to pay way too much. That's another rant for another day. I did eventually push through on getting a donor. Thankfully, the donor was free. Excellent. This happened in May. | |
| In June the machine had panel issues.... After I spent a month finding parts. On top of that, I found out the drive was not new shortly after that because it was acting slow so I decided to see about the health of the drive. I didn't expect a lot because it came with a Seagate but it was not new as promised. I have a screen and inverter job in line AND a hard drive? NO THANK YOU! The machine was going to be too expensive. While I decided I was done with the IQ506, I decided to move forward with the editing rather then wait again. I can write it while I decide what system I want the second time. | |
| Beyond those issues and bad judgement, it was simply because I was trying to work out as much as I could. 8 months was probably a little long, but for a guide of this depth I could have pushed it and made it go away the second time or just get it right the first time; even if it means ridiculous time spent making it happen. It didn't get enough views to climb yet, so I was okay with taking my time on this one. | |
| With that out of the way, here's the [https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Linux+Machine+configuration+%282007-2008+2009+2010+2011+2012%29/13130|link]. I think I have everything dealt with, but maybe I missed something. |
Discussion Topic:
Yes
Status:
open
Edit by: Nick
Title:
Feedback on the Linux config guide.
Text:
| For reference: This guide was made in 2013 and then pulled in 13 months. I made this at a time this was a common problem with my guides due to severe quality issues. If you were expecting it to be the same guide as I had back then without major modifications and removal done, you should go in being prepared for a whole different guide. | |
| - | So, I have been working on this for 8 months. The first 2 months were spent trying to make it as close to the 2013 guide as possible. This proved to be futile, and I ditched the idea in 2 months. The last 6 months were spent making it work as a new guide. This went a lot smoother then the 2 months spent trying to keep it original. |
| + | So, I have been working on this for 8 months. The first 2-3 months were spent trying to make it as close to the 2013 guide as possible. This proved to be futile, and I ditched the idea in 2 months. The last 6 months were spent making it work as a new guide. This went a lot smoother then the 2 months spent trying to keep it original. |
| '''NOTE: While this is a public release, I am only keeping it like this for a week so I can source out some areas of improvements. I knocked a lot of the issues out, but I probably missed something in the time I spent making it work. Go in expecting it to be 5% incomplete because I still need a system.''' | |
| ==What has changed?== | |
| Outside of the answer of everything, there's a lot. | |
| * The steps were all rewritten, but not replaced | |
| * I have added hardware minimums, based on what I feel is still usable vs what people will have. I did have to leave some chips out I thought could be given a place. I was line constrained too, so I had to work with what I could make happen with 8 lines. This does mean I did have to leave Santa Rosa behind. While I feel Santa Rosa is a dog it's not as much of a dog as Merom. I might unofficially let SR go, but I probably won't. I think I will place that under try at your own risk. | |
| * I have limited the hardware age from 2007 for desktops and 2008 for laptops, up until 2012 for both. This was added when I was 2 months in getting nowhere because I kept adding newer and newer hardware and had to draw a line somewhere on the growing length issue. I figured a 8-9 year cap would be a good limit to set for the guide. Laptops are at 2008 because of the transition to LED panels around that time. I am finding CCFL screen degredation is becoming more of a problem then it used to be, so I am orienting my laptop year with the time LED panels became more common. It's also around the time Peryn became more common, so the 2008 thing has worked out just fine. I am not concerned about desktops as much because Wolfdale came out in 2007. | |
| ==What is new?== | |
| * I have added steps for wireless. This was something I have never added because of the complexity of it. This took 4 steps to implement. I chose to wait until I got to the end of the original guide to add it as to not screw up the existing review I did. | |
| * I added a step for new hard drives. This is because I tend to not like reusing the old drive in most machines due to the majority having 3 years of 24/7 wear and tear, and the POH to reflect it. These drives almost always end up being ticking time bombs. It's better to replace them. However, this does not mean I left the possibility for reuse out. Sometimes the drives are actually very healthy and can be reused. I just find they're removed anyway or they are high hour and need to be replaced. | |
| * The SSD step is also new. At this point with cheap 256GB and 512GB SSD's they are not super expensive anymore. I do not have a new and used SSD step setup here, because of how new they are. Hard drives have been around forever, so I need two steps for that. | |
| * I have depreciated the chipset step, but did not remove it from the guide. I was going to remove it but I felt it was better if I depreciate it but keep it around. | |
| * The Linux variants have all been replaced. I removed the original ones I had there back then in favor of some more targeted ones. | |
| ==Why did it take 8 months?== | |
| It took 8 months for many reasons. I consider the first 3 months were wasted trying to make it work on the original content. By the 4th month, I decided to clear the original content out and start over. While I decided to do that 3 months in, I also tried to retain the original content to a degree. Again, something I decided to drop months later. | |
| The second part of the waste time was spent looking for parts for the system. I got a HP IQ506 AIO at the time and it was missing the stand. Okay, I need a stand. What's the worst it was going to cost. $30-50 used and something like $70-80 new. NO THANKS! At that point, I went out to look for a parts system like I usually do when the part I need is not RAM or a hard drive and is not screen related and I'm not as concerned about hours and remaining lifespan. Again, another hurdle. Everyone wanted hundreds; even for dead systems!!! | |
| So there's part 2 of it. I bought a machine which was in need of a overpriced part the gougers love because they can force people to pay way too much. That's another rant for another day. I did eventually push through on getting a donor. Thankfully, the donor was free. Excellent. This happened in May. | |
| In June the machine had panel issues.... After I spent a month finding parts. On top of that, I found out the drive was not new shortly after that because it was acting slow so I decided to see about the health of the drive. I didn't expect a lot because it came with a Seagate but it was not new as promised. I have a screen and inverter job in line AND a hard drive? NO THANK YOU! The machine was going to be too expensive. While I decided I was done with the IQ506, I decided to move forward with the editing rather then wait again. I can write it while I decide what system I want the second time. | |
| Beyond those issues and bad judgement, it was simply because I was trying to work out as much as I could. 8 months was probably a little long, but for a guide of this depth I could have pushed it and made it go away the second time or just get it right the first time; even if it means ridiculous time spent making it happen. It didn't get enough views to climb yet, so I was okay with taking my time on this one. | |
| With that out of the way, here's the [https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Linux+Machine+configuration+%282007-2008+2009+2010+2011+2012%29/13130|link]. I think I have everything dealt with, but maybe I missed something. |
Discussion Topic:
Yes
Status:
open
Original post by: Nick
Title:
Feedback on the Linux config guide.
Text:
For reference: This guide was made in 2013 and then pulled in 13 months. I made this at a time this was a common problem with my guides due to severe quality issues. If you were expecting it to be the same guide as I had back then without major modifications and removal done, you should go in being prepared for a whole different guide. So, I have been working on this for 8 months. The first 2 months were spent trying to make it as close to the 2013 guide as possible. This proved to be futile, and I ditched the idea in 2 months. The last 6 months were spent making it work as a new guide. This went a lot smoother then the 2 months spent trying to keep it original. '''NOTE: While this is a public release, I am only keeping it like this for a week so I can source out some areas of improvements. I knocked a lot of the issues out, but I probably missed something in the time I spent making it work. Go in expecting it to be 5% incomplete because I still need a system.''' ==What has changed?== Outside of the answer of everything, there's a lot. * The steps were all rewritten, but not replaced * I have added hardware minimums, based on what I feel is still usable vs what people will have. I did have to leave some chips out I thought could be given a place. I was line constrained too, so I had to work with what I could make happen with 8 lines. This does mean I did have to leave Santa Rosa behind. While I feel Santa Rosa is a dog it's not as much of a dog as Merom. I might unofficially let SR go, but I probably won't. I think I will place that under try at your own risk. * I have limited the hardware age from 2007 for desktops and 2008 for laptops, up until 2012 for both. This was added when I was 2 months in getting nowhere because I kept adding newer and newer hardware and had to draw a line somewhere on the growing length issue. I figured a 8-9 year cap would be a good limit to set for the guide. Laptops are at 2008 because of the transition to LED panels around that time. I am finding CCFL screen degredation is becoming more of a problem then it used to be, so I am orienting my laptop year with the time LED panels became more common. It's also around the time Peryn became more common, so the 2008 thing has worked out just fine. I am not concerned about desktops as much because Wolfdale came out in 2007. ==What is new?== * I have added steps for wireless. This was something I have never added because of the complexity of it. This took 4 steps to implement. I chose to wait until I got to the end of the original guide to add it as to not screw up the existing review I did. * I added a step for new hard drives. This is because I tend to not like reusing the old drive in most machines due to the majority having 3 years of 24/7 wear and tear, and the POH to reflect it. These drives almost always end up being ticking time bombs. It's better to replace them. However, this does not mean I left the possibility for reuse out. Sometimes the drives are actually very healthy and can be reused. I just find they're removed anyway or they are high hour and need to be replaced. * The SSD step is also new. At this point with cheap 256GB and 512GB SSD's they are not super expensive anymore. I do not have a new and used SSD step setup here, because of how new they are. Hard drives have been around forever, so I need two steps for that. * I have depreciated the chipset step, but did not remove it from the guide. I was going to remove it but I felt it was better if I depreciate it but keep it around. * The Linux variants have all been replaced. I removed the original ones I had there back then in favor of some more targeted ones. ==Why did it take 8 months?== It took 8 months for many reasons. I consider the first 3 months were wasted trying to make it work on the original content. By the 4th month, I decided to clear the original content out and start over. While I decided to do that 3 months in, I also tried to retain the original content to a degree. Again, something I decided to drop months later. The second part of the waste time was spent looking for parts for the system. I got a HP IQ506 AIO at the time and it was missing the stand. Okay, I need a stand. What's the worst it was going to cost. $30-50 used and something like $70-80 new. NO THANKS! At that point, I went out to look for a parts system like I usually do when the part I need is not RAM or a hard drive and is not screen related and I'm not as concerned about hours and remaining lifespan. Again, another hurdle. Everyone wanted hundreds; even for dead systems!!! So there's part 2 of it. I bought a machine which was in need of a overpriced part the gougers love because they can force people to pay way too much. That's another rant for another day. I did eventually push through on getting a donor. Thankfully, the donor was free. Excellent. This happened in May. In June the machine had panel issues.... After I spent a month finding parts. On top of that, I found out the drive was not new shortly after that because it was acting slow so I decided to see about the health of the drive. I didn't expect a lot because it came with a Seagate but it was not new as promised. I have a screen and inverter job in line AND a hard drive? NO THANK YOU! The machine was going to be too expensive. While I decided I was done with the IQ506, I decided to move forward with the editing rather then wait again. I can write it while I decide what system I want the second time. Beyond those issues and bad judgement, it was simply because I was trying to work out as much as I could. 8 months was probably a little long, but for a guide of this depth I could have pushed it and made it go away the second time or just get it right the first time; even if it means ridiculous time spent making it happen. It didn't get enough views to climb yet, so I was okay with taking my time on this one. With that out of the way, here's the [https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Linux+Machine+configuration+%282007-2008+2009+2010+2011+2012%29/13130|link]. I think I have everything dealt with, but maybe I missed something.
Discussion Topic:
Yes
Status:
open