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Looking for a mini desktop [solved]


neddie
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One is 32bit only (and with a 586 kernel which you will have to replace yourself with a 686 kernel manually afterwards)
Really? Does that make a difference? I always used a 586 kernel with my old Centrino, and in fact all I can see in the repositories are 586 and x86-64 kernels.

 

But if the Pentium dual-core is different enough to have different instructions and a different kernel from a 586, doesn't it matter that all the apps are compiled for 586? At least, in the three repositories I looked at (in 3 different countries) there are only i586 and x86_64 sections for 2009.1.

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Really? Does that make a difference? I always used a 586 kernel with my old Centrino, and in fact all I can see in the repositories are 586 and x86-64 kernels.

If you look at any repo you will find kernel-desktop586 and kernel-desktop packages, the kernel-desktop are 686, while the other ones are 586 (as the name implies :) ).

I have never measured the difference but the fact that most distros have a kernel compiled specifically for 686 means to me, that there is a speed advantage which makes it worth it.

 

But if the Pentium dual-core is different enough to have different instructions and a different kernel from a 586, doesn't it matter that all the apps are compiled for 586? At least, in the three repositories I looked at (in 3 different countries) there are only i586 and x86_64 sections for 2009.1.

 

I guess it would be too much hassle to compile all apps for 586 and 686, so they are compiled for 586 for compatibility reasons. You could always try Gentoo for optimized packages... ;)

Edited by tux99
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the kernel-desktop are 686, while the other ones are 586 (as the name implies :) )
Weird. So if you go in the i586 directory and get kernel-desktop-2.6.29.1-4mnb-1-1mnb2.i586.rpm, then it's i686? Good to know!

 

I guess it's possible that the different compilation makes a difference for the kernel but not for the apps, but it's still a bit odd. I'll have to give it a go as soon as I've put the bits together!

 

Thanks again for the tips!

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Just update your media sources and install the kernel-desktop-latest instead of the kernel-desktop586-latest. Then you will get kernel-desktop-latest-2.6.29.6-1mnb2 for use with i686 & 4GB RAM installed on your system... unless Mandriva updates the kernel again before you install it. :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Quick update - got back from my hols and everything has arrived! :D Well, almost everything... the instructions say you have to apply thermal paste to the CPU to make sure the heat gets conducted effectively up to the cooling system - but surprisingly the boxed CPU didn't contain any such paste (despite containing the fan and the CPU) so I need to find some paste from elsewhere. Should only be a couple of euros extra I think...

 

[Edit] - or, wait a minute, is the paste already on the heat sink? There are three dark grey areas on the bottom of the fan unit, is that the thermal compound already applied? So do I just need to put it all together and the paste will get spread out? I'm surprised it's not mentioned at all in the "installation instructions" for the CPU.

Edited by neddie
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[Edit] - or, wait a minute, is the paste already on the heat sink? There are three dark grey areas on the bottom of the fan unit, is that the thermal compound already applied? So do I just need to put it all together and the paste will get spread out? I'm surprised it's not mentioned at all in the "installation instructions" for the CPU.

 

Yes the dark grey stuff under the heat sink is thermal paste, it will melt and spread out by itself (through heat) when you start using the PC.

While you can replace it with better one (Arctic Silver 5 is the most recommended one), it's by no means necessary as the cpu you got is very heat efficient. Replacement thermal paste is mostly necessary when you intend to strongly overclock the cpu, or on cpus that are known to get very hot.

Also if you would want to use a replacement thermal paste, you would need to remove the factory fitted one first, which can be rather messy.

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:woot: I've got a new computer!

:bananacha::dance::bananacha:

I haven't installed the OS yet but it's running a live CD fine and looking great!

 

Thanks a million, tux99, you were an amazing help! :thanks: I owe you a beer or several!

 

I'll write it all up as soon as I can so that others can do it too!

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:woot: I've got a new computer!

:bananacha::dance::bananacha:

I haven't installed the OS yet but it's running a live CD fine and looking great!

 

Thanks a million, tux99, you were an amazing help! :thanks: I owe you a beer or several!

 

I'll write it all up as soon as I can so that others can do it too!

 

You're welcome, I'm glad it all went smooth!

One more thing, do a complete memory test with memtest86 before starting to make proper use of the PC and also a surface scan of the hard disk with badblocks -svw /dev/sda (this is a read-write test so do it from a live CD BEFORE installing the OS, as it wipes the disk).

If these two tests succeed without errors than you can be confident that the hardware is sound and error free (it indirectly tests the cpu and the motherboard too).

 

I always do that when building a PC or doing a hardware upgrade, this has helped me spotting defective components early on before risking my data on a flawed disk or memory module.

 

Also once you have installed the OS (Mandriva 2009.1 works fine on the K48, even the current Intel graphics drivers are stable on it) make sure you install and configure lm-sensors to monitor the cpu temperature, it should be below 40C when the PC is idle and around 55C after running at full load for a while. If the temperatures are much higher than this, then you might not have installed the cpu heat-sink correctly (I'm sure you have, but better be safe than sorry!).

 

PS: If you like, I could publish your planned write up about your build experience on my LinuxTECH.NET website, I'm always glad for new content! :) (PM me if you like the idea)

Edited by tux99
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I'm not sure what kind of format you would need to publish it on linuxtech, but here is what I've written so far:

Guide for assembling a barebone

Let me know if you have any relevant pages on linuxtech I should be linking to! :)

 

Thanks for the checking advice, I'd already run a memory check off the live CD for a little while, but I didn't think to check the harddrive too. But I'd rather not wipe the drive now...

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