My Box

Instead of including the same information in each OS/distro review, I decided to create a separate page to detail the setup I used for testing. I’ll just update the information if/when hardware changes.

This is my kick around/test box, which I built in Feb. 2005. Had to have something to run WinXP on for a class I was taking at the time and my dear old Win98/Debian box was acting up, not to mention a bit underpowered for a memory hog. Spent about $534 on the parts and threw it together myself…

Setup: Feb. 2005—Current

OS/Distros Tested

Here’s a list of the ones I have tested/run on this configuration. Not all were reviewed as I did not start this blog until Dec. 2006.

  • Debian 3, Woody (32bit) — Took a little work, but stable, ran great! Debian was a pleasure to run back then.
  • Debian 3, Sarge (32bit) — Not bad, some software and hardware issues.
  • Debian 4, Etch (64bit) — Debian took a step backward it seems. Things just don’t work right. This release caused me to jump ship and find another main distro.
  • Mandriva Free Spring 2007 — Read the review.
  • Mandriva One — Live CD only test, ran well.
  • Kubuntu - 7.04 beta — Was testing… (now they have a newer release…)
  • OpenSuse 9.2 — Not bad, some hardware issues.
  • PCLInuxOS Business Edition — Stable platform, but horrible graphics, themes and poor choice of included apps. Is actually less useful for business needs than the standard PCLinuxOS distro. You’re better off getting the MiniMe distro and adding what apps you need.
  • PCLinuxOS MiniMe 2007 — Worked great, no issues. Could use a few tweaks here and there.
  • PCLinuxOS MiniMe 2008 — Works great, some improvements made. Very tiny distro!
  • RailsLive (PCLinuxOS with Ruby on Rails out of the box) — Worked decent, some issues with a few included apps.
  • SUSE SLED 10 — Company sucks due to Microsoft deal, however, it works great on every PC I’ve installed it on. Starting to get bloated though, beware of memory hogging.
  • Ubuntu - Warty Warthog — Looked spiffy but sucked bad.
  • Ubuntu - 6.06 LTS, Dapper Drake — Same as Warty. Basically, one less hardware issue…
  • Ubuntu - 6.10, Edgy Eft — Getting there. I still hate Gnome.
  • Xandros 2, Open Circulation Edition — Worked good, minor update/package management issues.
  • XandrOS 3, Open Edition — Worked great! Smooth and trouble free. Worth paying for.

System And Particulars

MSI BIOS
AMD64 Sempron 3000 (socket 754) on a K8T Neo mainboard
2 sticks of 512MB DDR memory

Magnetic Data Technology 100GB 8MB Buffer ATA100 7200RPM Hard Drive
Current setup: 4 partitions
30 gig - WinXP Pro
31 gig - FAT32 (data files stored here)
30 gig - PCLinuxOS MiniMe 2008
03 gig - swap

[The other 5 gigs or so is MBR, and the odds and ends. For example, the 52 gig partition is actually 52.3 I think, and so on...]

Nvidia GeForce FX5200 graphics card (128 Meg — I’m not a gamer…)
Realtek AC97 audio (ALC655)
Realtek RTL 9169/8110 NIC [onboard]
Hawking Technologies GA132T (Natl. Semiconductor Corp. DP83820 Gigabit) NIC
Sony DW-D22A DVD RW
Sony CD ROM CDU701
Floppy, generic

[Note: Yes, I like two NICs---let's me fiddle around with LAN topology if I get in mood. Added impetus? The Hawking was compatible with all versions of Windows including NT, Novell Netware (which we made use of in a networking class), and Linux. I wasn't sure at the time about the RTL 9169/8110 compatibility with various distros, so it made sense to get one I could count on.]