Cluttermagnet Posted November 29, 2014 Share Posted November 29, 2014 (edited) I've been using an old Dell Dimension 8300 that I literally picked out of the dump (recycle area) one day ~5 years ago. It had a P4-478 at 3.2 GHz/512M/800 that I yanked for use elsewhere and I downgraded the box to a 2.8GHz CPU. It has a damaged hinged USB cover, the U-shaped piece with the round silver badge. A friend gave me a piece of lightning struck gear, another 8300 tower, a while back. I had played with it a while and concluded it had mother board problems and set it aside. Seemed to have IDE issues, but it had a much better clamshell tower than my older 8300. It also came with a 3.2 GHz CPU. My notes indicated 'mostly working'... I'd been thinking I would use the better clamshell case with my old 2.8GHz setup. Lo and behold, I fired up the newer box today and it seems to be running fine. I selected an IDE HDD on IDE0 and a SATA DVD drive on SATA0. Hmmm, maybe it was IDE1, but it seems to me there was some issue with the IDE on this mobo. I guess I'm just getting used to this sort of flaky thing. Some of my mobos have wounded IDE port(s), some have wounded SATA port(s). There are work arounds. A PCI SATA/IDE card will provide whatever is missing. I probably have several towers with some degree of woundedness such as this, and they still work fine. One can also switch from using IDE to SATA optical drives or hard drives, if the spare peripherals are on hand (or vice versa). And I'm quite the collector... So anyway I've dropped my plan to swap the innards around. Both towers work well and have continued utility for me, at least. This thread was posted from that newer Dell 8300 box with a 3.2 GHz CPU, running Knoppix 7.2 at the moment. I'm going to end up with a duo of matched Dells, however unexpected that was. This is the part of the hobby I so thoroughly enjoy- repurposing the free older gear. This entire thread was created in a live-DVD session of Knoppix, including a little photo editing using gimp. Seems like pretty good hardware, overall, for my light duty surfing and emailing activities. I'll put in the right hard drive and set it up with some Linux Distro. Maybe Knoppix 7.4, which I'm downloading right now on another tower... (Stock photo of another 8300) Edited November 29, 2014 by Cluttermagnet 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted November 29, 2014 Share Posted November 29, 2014 Good deal I know you love tinkering with these older rigs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted November 29, 2014 Share Posted November 29, 2014 I have a fondness for Knoppix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cluttermagnet Posted November 29, 2014 Author Share Posted November 29, 2014 (edited) Well, it was the idea of Knoppix that first seriously interested me in Linux. I was a daily user of Win98SE at the time, although XP was on the scene generally. I liked the idea that Knoppix could be used to look at and work on an installation of Windows on a different partition or drive. The first time I got my hands on a Knoppix CD, booting it up made a very strong impression on me. It was an acoustical sort of thing. I was by now very used to how my hard drive sounded running 98SE. This was a completely different sound- it reminded me of a sewing machine, perhaps. It was smooth, fast, and the head seek activity just sounded totally different from what I was used to. Very smooth is how I could best describe it. I'd never heard a hard drive make that sound before. My actual first experience with Knoppix could best be described as intimidating. The desktop was unfamiliar. Everything had different names and different locations on the desktop. There was a long learning curve ahead of me, and I needed some hand holding because my questions were so very, very basic. The guys at Scot's helped me so much! I needed that help. Actually, my true introduction to Linux happened about a year later when Urmas and others coached me through my first actual install- of Ubuntu Dapper Drake 6.06. That was in 2007. I've come a good ways since then. Sometimes I even feel like I know what I'm doing... I now know enough about Linux that I'm comfortable working with Knoppix or PCLOS and several other excellent distros. Sometimes the different tools slow me down, being less familiar, but I can usually figure things out now. Ubuntu and later Mint made me most comfortable with Debian distros; they are my frame of reference now- but Knoppix continues to be particularly interesting to me for some reason. I dabble in it... I'm playing with the newer Dell 8300 again tonight. Put a bigger SATA drive in it today. I'll probably throw the standard Mint 17 Mate install on it. It's familiar... So now I have two of the 8300 towers. Things seem to end up in pairs over at Casa Clutter. I think a pair of 8300's would look nice on that desk, too... Edited November 30, 2014 by Cluttermagnet 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 I remember your Ubuntu fiasco, good memories Those were some good times You may like tinkering with older machines but man, we have to get you some flat screen monitors!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cluttermagnet Posted November 30, 2014 Author Share Posted November 30, 2014 (edited) I'm actually working on that, just in slow motion. There's a good chance you will see updated photos like the two above and the two monitors will match thusly: HP L1710 LCD: Silver, 17", 5ms, LCD, 300cd/m2, 800:1, 1280 x 1024, D-sub Yeah, small aspect ratio, but they will fit those openings, and they were cheap (refurbs). Presently in use as utility monitors in the basement hideaway at my 'home away from home'... Maybe in a year or so, whenever I get back on Comcast, I suppose... Uh- "fiasco"? I remember the good times, anyway. My formative years. 'Cut my teeth' on Ubuntu 6.06. Didn't know anything when I started, needed a good bit of hand holding... Linux Mint 17 Mate 32bit now installed and fully updated on the newer Dell 8300 box... Edited November 30, 2014 by Cluttermagnet 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 Great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 Uh- "fiasco"? I remember the good times, anyway. My formative years. 'Cut my teeth' on Ubuntu 6.06. Didn't know anything when I started, needed a good bit of hand holding... I didn't mean it as a bad thing. I was just saying that I remembered those times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cluttermagnet Posted November 30, 2014 Author Share Posted November 30, 2014 Heady days indeed. Many happy memories from that time in my life... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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