Showing posts with label Linux. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Linux. Show all posts

Monday, January 20, 2014

DIY Tech:What to do with that old computer.

First the useful and easy way.
So you have this older extra computer maybe it was free from someone.  It is a free machine but it is probably running Windows XP and is of course missing the disks if it ever came with any. So what can you do with it?

Install Linux.
Linux can run on computers that are not powerful enough to run Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8. Linux is actually a good replacement for Windows if you just want to surf the net, email, and most other tasks people use computers for. The one place it falls down is gaming, but even that might change thanks to Valve and the SteamOS. If you have an old computer that was just going to be thrown out, a copy of Linux can make it a useful machine again.

Why Linux?
  • Linux can run on hardware that new versions of windows can not.
  • There is actually a lot of good free software for Linux.
  • No real virus threats. Linux is very secure by design and since so few people use Linux malware and virus writers just don't bother targeting it.
  • It is free.
  • It works well.

For a first time Linux user I suggest Linux Mint. Linux Mint is based off the extremely popular Ubuntu Linux but includes a lot of "nice to have" software like multimedia software. With Mint you will have a system that is ready to use without having to hunt down a lot of extra software. There are several versions of Mint for you to try based on your hardware. Remember these are free so you are not risking anything but time trying them out.

System Requirements
  • x86 processor (Linux Mint 64-bit requires a 64-bit processor. Linux Mint 32-bit works on both 32-bit and 64-bit processors).
  • 512 MB RAM (1GB recommended for a comfortable usage).  1GB of RAM for Linux Mint KDE
  • 5 GB of disk space
  • Graphics card capable of 800×600 resolution.  Graphics card capable of 1024×768 resolution for KDE
  • CD/DVD drive or USB port
As you can see the heavy weight system requirements are about half those of Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8. This means you can run it well on computers that would struggle with newer versions of Windows. There are 3 heavy weight versions of Linux Mint.

Linux Mint MATE is based on Gnome 2.0 and is very stable. It is a good low fuss solution.

Linux Mint Cinnamon 
Linux Mint Cinnamon is based on Gnome 3.0 so it is a bit more modern and slightly more attractive. Frankly they look a lot a like to me. 

Linux Mint KDE
Linux Mint KDE uses the KDE desktop. The KDE desktop is the most configurable desktop and probably the most powerful desktop that runs on Linux. Linux Mint KDE has higher system requirements than MATE and Cinnamon. To use Mint KDE you will want at least one gigabyte of ram and a higher resolution video card and monitor. 

The light weight version of Linux Mint
Linux Mint Xfce
Linux Mint Xfce is a version of Mint that will run well on older and slower computers than the other versions. Xfce is actually a nice environment, it is a full desktop and really will not limit you. While ideal for slower computers it performs very well on faster systems.

System Requirements
  • x86 processor (Linux Mint 64-bit requires a 64-bit processor. Linux Mint 32-bit works on both 32-bit and 64-bit processors).
  • 384 MB RAM (1GB recommended for a comfortable usage).
  • 5 GB of disk space
  • Graphics card capable of 800×600 resolution
  • DVD drive or USB port
What if the computer is too old to run Mint Xfce?
Yes there are even lighter versions of Linux than Mint Xfce. Some of them are so light that they will run on computers that ran Windows 98! There will be tradeoffs but you will still get to do a lot of the things you want to with a computer.

Puppy Linux is a super light and fast version of Linux. It will run on just about any computer you can get your hands on. Installing and configuring the OS is a bit more complex than with Mint but not really all that hard. 

These are just a few of the versions of Linux that are available to try. Besides Mint you could try Ubuntu, Fedora, CentOS, and Suse among many others. 

After you install Linux and get it running you can install a lot of free software right from the desktop. Everything from OpenOffice which is a Microsoft Office replacement to GIMP for doing graphics to games. 

Besides making a Linux workstation what else can I do?

Build a home network attached storage (NAS) server.
A home NAS can provide you with a central space to store your music, videos, pictures, and backups for all the computers in your home. Good news, there are some easy to use free software that you can use to setup your own NAS. 

FreeNAS
FreeNAS started off as simple, easy to use NAS based on FreeBSD. All you needed to do is create a USB flash drive and boot your computer. After a bit of setup you had a storage server. Today FreeNAS has evolved into an extremely powerful system that can work for a home or business. The good thing is that you can still just use it as a simple NAS to start of with and then add features you want by adding in plugins. Of course there is this YouTube tutorial on how to set up FreeNAS. 



NAS4Free

NAS4Free is a fork of an earlier version of the FreeNAS. NAS4Free will run on machines with less memory but has a much smaller community. 

OpenMediaVault

OpenMediaVault is based on Linux. It offers a lot of the same features as FreeNAS and NAS4Free, but being based on Linux it is easier to manage if you are already knowledgeable about Linux. OpenMediaVault leans more towards media sharing than the other NAS systems.

Openfiler
Openfiler is also Linux based but it is targeted more towards the enterprise than home use, so why did I include it. Simple it will still work just fine as a home server but can also be used for a business. Using this at home will give you the opportunity to learn about enterprise level storage. 

Caution
If you are going to build a NAS, buy new hard drives. Do not just throw a bunch of old drives in your NAS. Hard drives are one of the few parts of an old computer that do wear out. 

Learn about other Operating Systems
Maybe you want to see what is out there besides Windows, Mac OS/X, and Linux. Here you are going into the more technical area. 

The BSDs.

While Linux is a Unix like operating system FreeBSD is Unix. FreeBSD is the most popular and easy to use flavor of BSD. FreeBSD is also the operating system that FreeNAS and NAS4Free based on, showing that it makes an excellent server as well. 


NetBSD's big claim to fame is that it runs everywhere. It does not have as large of a community as Free BSD but it's portable nature means that it is a great operating system to study for educational reasons. If you want to get into the nuts and bolts of computer science or if you need to run Unix on your toaster this is the operating system for you.

OpenBSD is all about security. That makes it a great choice for servers, firewalls, and routers. It is not the most user friendly system. Okay it is not user-friendly at all it is designed to be used by professionals. On the good side it is well documented so you are willing to put forth the effort you can learn it. 

DragonFly BSD
DragonFly BSD is all about advanced features it is also the youngest of the BSDs and probably the least popular but it is really interesting. 

Let's get wild and crazy
So far we have been looking at the Unix like free operating systems but there are some really wild ideas floating around that you can try out. I would not use these for doing anything real. These are wild and crazy operating systems that are bold experiments. Expect them to crash, not work, and in general be a challenge. They may not even install! In other words this if a full on super geek tech kind of thing to do. 

ReactOS is an attempt to make a Windows compatible operating system. It is not in anyway Unix like and it is not a Windows clone but a whole new operating system that can run Windows Software.

Haiku
Haiku is a free open source operating system based on the very interesting BeOS from the 1990s. Again it is not Windows and it is not Linux but something totally different. 

MenuetOS
From the Menuet website. Menuet isn't based on other operating system nor has it roots within UNIX or the POSIX standards. The design goal, since the first release in year 2000, has been to remove the extra layers between different parts of an OS, which normally complicate programming and create bugs.

AROS is an attempt to make a an operating system that is compatible with AmigaOS. 

Plan 9 from Bell Labs
Plan 9 was created by the same people that created Unix at Bell Labs in the late 1960s. Unix has become the basis of most modern operating systems. Some are actual Unixes like Solaris, AIX, HPUX, Mac OS/X, and the BSD family of operating systems while Linux is a Unix like operating system but still inspired by Unix. Plan 9 was supposed to be the new Unix. It is a fully distributed operating system. 

ROS
Robot Operating System
This one isn't really an operating system as much as a flavor of Linux but it is just too interesting to leave out the wild and crazy section. ROS is just what is says it is, an operating system for people that want to build and program robots. 

This is just a taste of what is out there
It is a wonderful time to be into computers. You can download the same free operating systems that are used by Google, IBM, and Oracle. You can build servers or workstations out of old cheap computers with little to no cost.  You can try out any of this software without spending any money. You can go the practical and easy root with Linux. You can create your own NAS with FreeNAS, NAS4Free, or OpenFiler or you can go wild and crazy with Plane 9. Who knows, Maybe you will create a NAS that runs Haiku or a router that runs Plan9. You could create the next big thing.






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Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Building your own Custom PC: HD gaming for $850

Building Your Own HD Gaming Computer

Last week we built a PC that was targeted at providing a good HD gaming experience for the least amount of money as possible. Today, I am going to build a gaming computer that will provide a great gaming experience for around 850 dollars.

Full HD (1080p resolution) Gaming Computer for less than $850

Price: $848.62 (Price does not include mouse, keyboard, speakers or monitor.  It does take into account shipping and all available rebates.  It also include the cost of the Windows operating system) and can change at anytime.

Today, 1080p monitors are the least-expensive and most common monitors on the market.  My goal with this build was to create a system that will play games well on these standard 1080p monitors as well being a good base for future expansion.

Recommended Case

We have more money to spend on this build and we are going to put more of that money into a better case. Silverstone has been building high quality cases for a very long time. The Silverstone SST-RL01B-USB 3.0 is a good step up from the Cougar Spike I used in the low cost build. So what do you get for the extra ten dollars? Actually, you get a whole lot. You get dust filters for the fans, a CPU cutout on the mother board tray, and space to route your cables behind the motherboard. You will also get two USB 3.0 ports on the front of the case. This case is a full ATX mini tower, so it will be larger than the Cougar Spike and it lacks USB 2.0 ports on the front. With the price hike on the Cougar Spike this case is only $10 more than the Spike, which I feel is $10 well spent.


Pros: Price, USB 3.0 front ports, room for large video cards, large CPU coolers, CPU cutout on the motherboard tray, bottom mounted power supply. dust filters and room for cable routing.
Cons: None at this price point.
Comments: Silverstone is known for making some of the best cases in the industry. This case offers most of the features you would expect from Silverstone but at a very low price point.


Recommended CPU

Today, Intel is the way to go once you are past the low end of gaming. The new Haswell line of CPUs are very power efficient and offer a great expansion path. 


Pros: Haswell duel core. Runs cool. LGA 1150 compatible. Hyperthreading. 
Cons: Not unlocked so over clocking is limited, only dual core, and more expensive than the Athlon X4. 
Comments: You will not see a huge performance increase over the Athlon X4 used in the budget build so why move to the i3? While you will not see a huge jump in speed by going with the i3 over the Athlon X4 you will have a system that runs cooler and quieter. The big advantage is that you can upgrade the CPU to the latest i5 or even i7 without getting a new motherboard.  

Recommended CPU Cooler

Your CPU may or may not come with a heat sink and fan.  If it comes with it, the one thing you can be sure of is that it will not be great.  The Hyper 212 Evo offers great performance for a low price.


Pros: Probably the best cooler for the price.
Cons: Too large for some cases.
Comments:  So we are using a larger cooler with a CPU that puts out less heat. This will keep the noise level down. 

Recommended Motherboard

Not only are we going with an Intel motherboard, but also an ATX motherboard instead of the an mATX like the last build so that there are more expansion slots available. There are less expensive motherboards that we could have used. The i3 CPU used in this build is not over-clocking friendly, so a motherboard using an H87 or B87 chipset would have worked just fine and saved a little money. However, for this build I wanted an upgrade path available. You could change this from a step up gaming system to real powerhouse gaming system by just changing the i3-4130 for an i5-4670k which is over-clocking friendly. Or if you need even more power for video editing you could install an i7 cpu and up to 32 gigabytes of RAM. You can get the the same motherboard as an mATX if you want to build a smaller version of this computer. For an extra $20 or so you can get the ASRockZ87 Pro4 which supports Crossfire and SLI, if you want that option in the future.

 



Motherboard: ASRock Z87 PRO3 ($94.95 @ Newegg) 
Pros: LGA 1150, lots of SATA ports, four ram slots, 7.1 audio, and Z87 overlocking friendly chipset.
Cons: Does not support Crossfire or SLI so limited to a single graphics card.
Comment: A good over-clock friendly LGA 1150 motherboard. 

Recommended Memory

When you are looking at memory you are looking at how much and how fast.  I went for 8 GB of ram for this build which may be a luxury. I have not found any game that requires more than 4 GB of memory.  A few games are now recommending 4 GB of RAM, so 8 GB should be a good amount for now.  Modern CPUs use multiple memory channels.  What that means is that they will run faster if you use two sticks of memory.  For that reason I went with two 4GB of ram for the best compromise between speed, size, and cost.  Finally go with memory from a good, well known company.



Memory: GeIL EVO Veloce Series 8GB ($66.99 @ Newegg)
Pros: Good value for the money.
Cons: The large heatsinks could cause problems with large CPU coolers.
Comments: Good fast memory for the money.

Recommended Mass Storage

Now that we are not going for the cheapest, we can have an SSD for the OS and games to boost your speed and a second hard drive for storing music and video. 


Pros: It is an SSD.
Cons: It is not the best SSD, but it will be fast and offers good value. 
Comments:  Adding an SSD is one the best bang for the buck improvements you can do for you PC. 
Pros: The Caviar Green line offers a low power hard drive for a good price.
Cons: Not much is wrong with this drive. You may want to buy a two or three TB drive.
Comments: Probably one of the most popular drives market.

Recommended Graphics Card

This is a gaming computer and the graphics card will in large part drive performance in games.  Today there are two companies that dominate the graphics card industry, AMD and nVidia.  Both companies make great GPUs.  They both have a number of GPUs at a number of price points.  You can spend a thousand dollars on a graphics card and even use two, three, or four graphics cards.  If you are only going to use one 1080p monitor for gaming, there is no need to go to such extremes and costs.


Pros: Great performance at 1080p, good support for Linux, good OpenCL performance.
Cons:  Not supported under the beta build of SteamOS.
Comments: AMDs new family of graphics cards offers a great price to performance ratio and offer much better OpenCL GPU compute performance than cards from nVidia. The lack of SteamOS support should only be temporary. 

Recommended Power Supply

Do not cheap out on your power supply. A bad power supply can destroy other parts of your computer.  The keys to choosing a good power supply are will it supply enough power and is it from a good company. The 80 plus bronze efficiency means that this power supply has been tested and does not waste power. So this power supply is powerful enough for this build, is from Corsair which is a good company with a good reputation, and is 80 plus efficient. In other words we are picking a slightly bigger and better power supply from the same manufacture.


Pros: Great price, Bronze 80+ efficient,  and modular.
Cons: It is only 500 Watts
Comments: The extra power that this power supply gives you a bigger margin and the modular cables will help you keep your PC tidy.


Recommended Optical Drive

A lot of people do not use optical drives in their systems.  The problem is that unless you have some way to make a USB Windows install disk and/or you like to buy games on DVD instead of downloading them from Steam, having a DVD drive makes your life easier.  If you have an old optical drive from an older system you can put it in and save a few bucks.  Or you could buy a Blu-ray drive and have the option to watch your Blu-rays.

Optical Drive: LITE-ON DVD Burner ($17.99 @ Newegg)

Recommended Operating System

I am not a fan of Windows 8, but Windows 8.1 is a big improvement over Windows 8 and if you want to be able to play the widest variety of games, you will need to use Windows.  The only bad thing is the cost.  Windows is now more expensive than the motherboard.  Ubuntu, and LinuxMint are options for those that are brave. Your selection of games will also be much smaller but the price is free. 


Conclusion

This computer is a bit more expensive than the budget computer from last week. What you get is a much better case that will make your computer look better, run better, and will be much easier to build. You also get an SSD which will make the system run much faster, a slightly faster CPU, and a better graphics card. Of course nothing is written in stone so if you want to you could use the motherboard and CPU from the budget build with the case, video card, SSD, and power supply from this build to save a little money.

Some sites that can help you pick the right parts for your own custom PC are 
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Thursday, January 2, 2014

New Series: Building your own Custom PC. The $600 Gaming PC

Building Your Own Low-Cost Computer

So how do you know which parts to pick? There are large numbers of websites that offer reviews of parts, so getting information about the various parts is not hard.  But with so many different parts available, there are two keys two picking the right parts for your new computer.  First, you need to know how you plan to use the computer.  Are you a gamer?  Will you mostly be surfing the web and sending email?  Are you using the computer for your business endeavors?  Writing papers for school?  Someone building the computer for gaming will want to look at different parts than someone using their computer for writing papers or surfing the web.  Second, you need to decide how much you want to spend.  There are parts for every price point, so you need to decide how much you want to spend before you go shopping.  Even with these two issues decided, picking parts is still not an easy decision.  That is why I am starting a new series on building your own PC.  Each week, I will take a look at the parts I recommend for building a specific type of PC.  Today, I am going to focus on building a full HD, 1080p gaming machine.  With each post, remember one very important thing.  These are only suggestions.  Because let's be honest, one of the really fun things about building your own PC is picking out the parts.

Low-Cost Full HD (1080p resolution) Gaming Computer for less than $599

Price: $586.36 (Price does not include mouse, keyboard, speakers or monitor.  It does take into account shipping and all available rebates.  It also include the cost of the Windows operating system) and can change at anytime.

Today, 1080p monitors are the least-expensive and most common monitors on the market.  My goal with this build was to create a system that will play games well on these standard 1080p monitors.  This build is about the cheapest gaming computer I would recommend building for playing games on a single HD monitor.

Recommended Case


When picking any part for your PC, you have to weigh the trade-offs. Since this is going to be a budget gaming computer, price is going to be a big driver. While you do not want to spend a lot on the case, you will want to avoid getting the cheapest case possible. Trust me, I have gone that route and it will drive you crazy.  Cheap cases are flimsy, nothing fits right and are full of sharp edges that will actually draw blood if you are not careful.  After trying to build a system in a super cheap case, you will never want to build a computer again. Stick to a good brand when looking at a case and remember you will have to live with it for a while.  One feature I really want in a case is support for both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 on the front of the case.  That led me to this case from Cougar. 

Cougar Spike MicroATX Mini Tower Case
Pros: Price, USB 3.0 front ports and room for large video cards.
Cons: Lack of cable management, only one USB 3.0 front port, one USB 2.0 front port, limited CPU cooler clearance, no CPU cutout on the motherboard tray, and looks.
Comments: Cougar makes good, low-cost cases and this one is a great value for the price. The thing is that I just do not like the looks of the case it is a bit too flashy for my tastes.  Also, the case lacks space behind the motherboard tray for cable management aka hiding your cables.  So why did I pick this case?  For the simple reason that none of the cons in anyway prevents you from building a good low cost gaming machine.


Recommended CPU


Thanks to the CPU war between Intel and AMD, even low-cost CPUs have gotten very powerful.  Plus most games are going to be GPU bound, so a less expensive CPU can provide good performance.  AMD really is the way to go for the low-end and frankly it is still a very fast CPU. The very idea that a 4 core 3.4 GHz cpu for around $80.00 is just amazing.  
AMD Athlon II X4 750K


Pros: 3.4 Ghz, 4 cores, unlocked, uses socket FM2 and only $81 with shipping.
Cons: It is not an APU. Not the fastest CPU you can get. Runs a little hot.
Comments: I have been an AMD CPU fan for a long time. This CPU offers a lot of value. The fact that it is unlocked means that you can easily over-clock the CPU and run it faster than the speeds AMD lists on the box.  The other plus is that this CPU uses socket FM2, which means that when the next generation of APUs launches this year you will have the option of upgrading your system by updating the CPU.  Not being an APU means that you must have a video card.  The extra heat means that you will use more power and your computer will run hotter and probably louder.

Recommended CPU Cooler


Your CPU may or may not come with a heat sink and fan.  If it comes with it, the one thing you can be sure of is that it will not be great.  If you are not going to over-clock, the stock cooler will work but it will also be loud. I went with Hyper TX3 from Cooler Master. The TX3 make less noise and does a much better job cooling the CPU than a stock cooler for a low price.  The Hyper 212 Evo is an even better cooler, but it is too big to fit this case comfortably. 

Pros: Price, size, and it is better than the stock cooler.
Cons: Not the highest performance cooler available.
Comments:  This cooler is a good, small cooler from a good company.


Recommended Motherboard


What mother board you use will depend on these requirements.
  1. The type of CPU you are going to use.
    This motherboard supports FM2 and FM2+ CPUs and APUs 
  2. The number of expansion slots needed.
    You will not need more than one video card when gaming at 1080p and beyond so one slot is good enough. 
  3. Availability of USB 3.0 ports.
    USB 3.0 offers a huge increase in speed over USB 2.0.  That really does not matter for things like keyboards and mice, but you will really like the speed increase for external hard drives, flash drives, and memory card readers.
  4. The number of Memory slots available.
    Two slots means you can add up to 16 GB of memory which should be enough for most gaming use. 
  5. Price.
    This is a budget build so price is important.
One other factor is quality.  Asus is a well known company with a long history of making quality motherboards.
 


Pros: Socket FM2+, lots of SATA, and ASUS's build quality.
Cons: Only 2 memory slots. Does not support 7.1 sound.
Comment: The next generation of APUs from AMD will use socket FM2+, so you have an upgrade path.  You only have two slots for memory but this a low-end gaming machine.  Asus has a long history of making good motherboards, which makes this motherboard a good choice.  You can find cheaper motherboards but you will have to settle for socket FM2 and not FM2+ and may not get USB 3.0 support.

Recommended Memory


When you are looking at memory you are looking at how much and how fast.  I went for 8 GB of ram for this build which may be a luxury. I have not found any game that requires more than 4 GB of memory.  A few games are now recommending 4 GB of RAM, so 8 GB should be a good amount for now.  Modern CPUs use multiple memory channels.  What that means is that they will run faster if you use two sticks of memory.  For that reason I went with two 4GB of ram for the best compromise between speed, size, and cost.  Finally go with memory from a good, well known company.

Pros: Good, inexpensive, memory.
Cons: Not the fastest memory you can buy.
Comments: It is good reliable RAM. It just works and is a good value.  You can buy faster ram but the increase in speed is usually not worth the cost at this price point.  You could save a little money by only installing 4 GB of RAM.

Update

The price for this ram has almost doubled since I wrote this.
right now I would suggest this ram from Crucial 8GB kit

Recommended Mass Storage


At this price point, a solid state drive is just not an option.  You could go with a smaller hard drive, but 1TB drives are cheap and give you a lot of space to store your games.  If you want to improve this computer, adding a solid state drive for your games and operating system would give you the best bang for your buck.

Pros: 1 TB for $60.
Cons: It is not an SSD and it will not be the most power efficient drive you can get. 
Comments:  This is a hard drive so there really is not much to say.  Find a drive that is the size and price you want.  You may want to spend a few dollars more and get a green drive or spend less and get a smaller drive.

Recommended Graphics Card   


This is a gaming computer and the graphics card will in large part drive performance in games.  Today there are two companies that dominate the graphics card industry, AMD and nVidia.  Both companies make great GPUs.  They both have a number of GPUs at a number of price points.  You can spend a thousand dollars on a graphics card and even use two, three, or four graphics cards.  If you are only going to use one 1080p monitor for gaming, there is no need to go to such extremes and costs. The GTX 650ti Boost will give you a really good experience at 1080p for a good price. AMD also makes good graphics cards but I went for nVidia for this build because the new Steam OS only runs on nVidia cards right now.  Graphics cards from nVidia tend to run a little cooler and a little quieter which is always a plus. 

Pros: Very good performance at 1080p.  Not loud.  Good support for Linux and SteamOS
Cons:  None in this application.
Comments: nVidia makes great GPUs and this card is a great value.  It is the most expensive part in this build, but that should be expected in a computer that is optimized for gaming.

Recommended Power Supply


Do not cheap out on your power supply. A bad power supply can destroy other parts of your computer.  The keys to choosing a good power supply are will it supply enough power and is it from a good company. The 80 plus bronze efficiency means that this power supply has been tested and does not waste power. So this power supply is powerful enough for this build, is from Corsair which is a good company with a good reputation, and is 80 plus efficient. 

Pros: Great price, Bronze 80+ efficient. 
Cons: It is a basic power supply, lacks modular cables and is only 430 watts.
Comments: People often cheap out on the power supply and that is usually not a good choice. Corsair is a well respected brand and this power supply should be a good choice for this build. The video card recommends a 450 watt power supply, however this build only draws 339 watts. You have a 100 watt margin with this power supply. As long as you do not go crazy over clocking this computer, it should provide years of service.

Recommended Optical Drive


A lot of people do not use optical drives in their systems.  The problem is that unless you have some way to make a USB Windows install disk and/or you like to buy games on DVD instead of downloading them from Steam, having a DVD drive makes your life easier.  If you have an old optical drive from an older system you can put it in and save a few bucks.  Or you could buy a Blu-ray drive and have the option to watch your Blu-rays.

Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer  ($16.98 @ OutletPC) 


Recommended Operating System


 I am not a fan of Windows 8, but Windows 8.1 is a big improvement over Windows 8 and if you want to be able to play the widest variety of games, you will need to use Windows.  The only bad thing is the cost.  Windows is now more expensive than the motherboard.  SteamOS, Ubuntu, and LinuxMint are options for those that are brave. Your selection of games will also be much smaller but the price is free. 


Conclusion


For about the price of an Xbox One you can have a real PC that will play the latest and greatest video games at HD resolution. If the idea of building your own PC seems scary, don't worry.  It is not hard and YouTube has lots of tutorials like this from CNet.

Some sites that can help you pick the right parts for your own custom PC are 
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

How to recover files when Windows will not boot.

Yesterday, some friends called me with a problem. They had an old laptop that would not boot. It would power up but they couldn't get into Windows. Now the big problem was that they had a lot of pictures of their grandchildren on the laptop and no backups. I asked them to drop it off at my office and I would see what I could do.

Once I had the laptop, I tried to get it to boot. It started to go into Windows but would then throw up a blue screen. I tried rebooting in safe mode but still no luck. The laptop was one that their daughter bought used. They were going to replace the computer and all that mattered was getting the pictures off.

What I did was download a copy of Mint Linux. Most Linux distributions boot into what is called a live CD so just about any of them will work. I selected Mint because it has gotten a lot of good reviews and I wanted to try it out. It worked really well and automatically mounted the Windows hard drive and USB drives. I have to say that it may have been over kill for this task, but I was impressed by how easy it was to use.

Once I downloaded the ISO file, I burned it to a CD and then put that CD into the laptop and booted it.  Once booted, I had a really easy to use desktop.


 I then clicked the icon called Computer.


 Then I clicked on the hard drive.

Once I found the files they wanted, I just copied them to a flash drive. If you have network access you could email them, upload them to Dropbox, or copied them to a shared folder on the network.

When I was done, I burned an extra copy of the files to a CD and returned the laptop, the CD, and the flash drive to my friends. I did take the time to show them how to boot into the Linux live disk to get any other files off that they might need.

Over all I was really impressed by Mint. In the short time I worked with it Mint was super easy to use and did the job as needed. I am going to have to download a full ISO and play with it some more, but it looks like a really good replacement for Windows for some people.

For the less technical folks, here is some additional information you may find helpful.

What is an ISO file?
An ISO file is an image of a CD or DVD. You can recreate an exact copy of a DVD or CD from an IS0 file. You can tell and ISO file because it will end in ".iso".

How do I make a CD or DVD from an ISO file?
Well on the Mac or Linux it is tends to be pretty simple as both systems have the ability built in. Lifehacker has a step by step guide for the Mac here. On Linux it will depend on the distro you are using, but if you Google it, you will find the instructions. For Windows XP or Vista, you will need to get a program. My favorite is called ISO Recorder and you can find it at the link provided. It is free and I find it very easy to use. You just put a CD or DVD into your burner and right click on the the ISO file and select the write to disk option. ISO recorder does not seem to handle DVDs under Windows XP but most live Linux disks are available as a CD. Not to mention that it takes a lot less time to download a CD than a DVD. Windows 7 can write an ISO to a disk with no added software by following these instructions.
You must have a drive that can make CDs or DVDs but those are pretty much standard on most computers.

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