First time building a Linux desktop, hardware selection

Nightpoison

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So as the title says, this is my first time building a Linux desktop. I've built about a dozen windows build over the years, but this will be my first Linux specific build. Im repurposing my brothers gaming PC, that he just upgraded. My question is geared more towards what I should replace and what parts should I keep for this initial build. I'll be replacing and adding parts over the next year or two anyway, as I'll be looking use the build in the future for deep learning development. For now it will be used for general PC use, some personal software development, and lite media services; Plex, podcast editing, video editing.

I know Linux certification isn't really a thing. I would rather order parts now if I need to swap something out. Honestly, as far as I can tell the motherboard is the one piece I'm most worried about. Anything I should dump and replace?

AMD FX-8350
Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2 motherboard
16gb Corsair Vengeance DDR3
Asus Radeon HD 7850
750w Thermaltake Smart series fully modular
LG disc drive
Four 200mm NZXT fans
Two 140mm NZXT fans
 


G'day @Nightpoison and welcome to the community.
With the ASUS motherboard what NIC/ethernet adaptor does it have have?
Is it Realtek or Intel?
I ask this as I have found through personal experience that Realtek is a bit iffy when it comes to drivers but I have since learnt that Intel creates drivers specifically for Linux. But there again my motherboard is about 5 years old and that maybe my trouble.
Others such as @wizardfromoz @Condobloke @arochester and others will have a better idea about the question you posed.
 
@Nik-Ken-Bah Hello, thanks for the welcome and insight. Yea it seems the NIC/ethernet adapter is the common thing I keep hearing about.

As far as which adapter that it has. I think from my research is a realtek adapter. It seems to be referenced often, but no direct documentation that I can find.

If its a NIC compatibility issue, wouldn't the simplest solution be to just buy a PCIe card and call it a day? This way I don't have to replace the MOBO and I get a adapter that is known to work with Linux?
 
I think from my research is a realtek adapter. It seems to be referenced often, but no direct documentation that I can find.
Hmm I had no problem finding documentation.



Here's the Lan adapter it has
Realtek® 8111F, 1 x Gigabit LAN Controller(s)

If its a NIC compatibility issue, wouldn't the simplest solution be to just buy a PCIe card and call it a day? This way I don't have to replace the MOBO and I get a adapter that is known to work with Linux?
Yes that would be the easiest thing to do imo.

I would contact Asus and check about Linux compatitbility with this motherboard.
 
I would contact Asus and check about Linux compatitbility with this motherboard.
I would simply burn Linux Mint to a USB and boot up your computer with it. See what works and what doesn't. If something doesn't work, investigate how to fix it. A working computer is not your only goal... it is knowledge. Good luck! :cool::D

But don't be surprised if everything works. :eek:o_O:D
 
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@atanere I like that. thank you kind of puts a new light on it.

"A working computer is not your only goal...it is knowledge"

I appreciate the perspective!!!!

Linux Mint? I've always used Ubuntu, I know it appears to be the go to Linux dist for new uses. Can I ask why you suggest Linux Mint.

I always figured I would get around to creating some VM's with different distros to see what they were about.

I would simply burn Linux Mint to a USB and boot up your computer with it. See what works and what doesn't. If something doesn't work, investigate how to fix it. A working computer is not your only goal... it is knowledge. Good luck! :cool::D

But don't be surprised if everything works. :eek:o_O:D
 
Can I ask why you suggest Linux Mint.
I couldn't tell from your OP that you had prior Linux experience, and I would usually recommend Linux Mint to all Linux newbies... mostly because of the traditional desktops that it offers. Since you're familiar with Ubuntu already, you're probably also acquainted with the Gnome 3 Shell desktop that is their standard edition (and the Unity desktop before that). Many people love this more modern style (I don't)... but I generally think that a traditional desktop is easier for people migrating from Windows.

Ubuntu and Linux Mint are nearly two peas from the same pod (Debian). They are both a couple of the best (IMO) for ease of installation, and for making nearly all hardware work (sound, wireless, printers, etc). And when something doesn't work, they both have very large helpful communities where solutions to problems can often be found easily... just by searching and without the need to ask specifically.

It's just a personal opinion, but I think the Linux Mint Cinnamon Edition is one of the most beautiful and functional traditional desktops around. It should run nicely on your hardware as is, or at least it would be a good starting point. Both Ubuntu and Mint also should work well with UEFI and Secure Boot left enabled on your motherboard, but there are some cases when this doesn't hold true. If you find you need to disable Secure Boot, you may have to jump through some Asus hoops... I've heard of a few strange cases about this, but no need to worry until you actually try to install and see what happens. Leave them enabled if you can.

With UEFI and Secure Boot left enabled, and if you allow Mint or Ubuntu to do a full install to the entire hard drive, they should prepare the hard drive as a GPT disk (instead of older MBR type). This is good. But the differences between UEFI/GPT and BIOS/MBR (plus Secure Boot) are still causing problems for Linux at times. Letting Linux install to the entire hard drive often helps to avoid these problems.

Cheers
 
Hey guys, so I ended up finally getting the hardware. The case was massive, so I ended up buying a midtower to throw everything in. Well, to keep it short I ended up having no issues. Everything booted up and connected right away. The GPU worked with no issues for both my monitors. Its not working with the display port daisy chain, but it seems from what I've read to be an issue with the radeon drivers. The LAN is working great.

I ended up deciding I need to dual boot the system with windows as I use a number of applications only available on windows, fusion360, VS19, makemkv, etc. A couple issues have come out of setting up the dual boot system. I ended up buying a second hard drive, unplugged the drive with ubuntu on it and installed windows 7, then upgraded to 10. Once the windows side was done, I plugged both drives back in, it boot to Linux and I updated Grub to find Windows.

Just as a side note, I had more issues related to drivers when installing windows than I did with Ubuntu. Ubuntu was installed and everything worked perfect. Windows the LAN didnt work so I couldn't update any of the drivers directly from Windows. had to boot back into Linux download the network drivers, then go back to windows to update. Didnt take long, but it was still more work than on Linux.

The first issue is I have to use the old ps/2 port on the motherboard to navigate through the bios or the grub screen. The USB keyboards won't work till an OS has loaded. I had to actually go hunt around some local PC repair shops to find a keyboard that would work in order to even start trouble shooting. I have a ps/2 adapter on the way, so I can just use my regular keyboard if I need to. I checked the board bios, and the system has full recognition for USB devices during boot. I know that can be disable to speed up the boot time. However, the settings are right. I also made sure the keyboards are plugged into the 2.0 ports and not the 3.0. As I know that can also be an issue until the OS drivers have loaded for 3.0 support.

The other issue is that Ubunutu and windows manager are options to boot to on the grub screen. When I select Ubuntu everything works fine, but when i select Windows manager it reads

Error no such device 6cc2-6D16
Error Disk HD1, GPT1 not found

So for me to boot into windows I have to restart enter bios and select the HD that has Windows to boot to.

So that's where Im currently at. Also need to upgrade these damn case fans, damn are they loud.
 
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Try updating Grub and see if that helps.

Boot into Ubuntu open the terminal and run:
sudo update-grub

Wait for it to finished and......

Reboot

Upon rebooting where you able to boot into Windows?
 
Alexzee, Hi. So one of the first things I ended up doing was update grub. Didn't seem to have any affect. However, with that being said. I needed to figure out the whole keyboard during boot issue. So I figured my first stop was updating the bios for the motherboard. So I went through that process which seemed to correct that issue. I can now use the regular keyboard during boot to enter the bios or select the OS to boot from the Grub menu.

I figured that was a change so I booted into Linux and proceeded to perform update-grub again. Well this time it seemed to also fix the boot issue. Now if I select windows manager, it boots right into windows with no issues.

So both issues have been corrected.
 
Alexzee, Hi. So one of the first things I ended up doing was update grub. Didn't seem to have any affect. However, with that being said. I needed to figure out the whole keyboard during boot issue. So I figured my first stop was updating the bios for the motherboard. So I went through that process which seemed to correct that issue. I can now use the regular keyboard during boot to enter the bios or select the OS to boot from the Grub menu.

I figured that was a change so I booted into Linux and proceeded to perform update-grub again. Well this time it seemed to also fix the boot issue. Now if I select windows manager, it boots right into windows with no issues.

So both issues have been corrected.
That's good news.

Thanks for the update.
 

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