Building a new computer - Linux specific

[luke501]

New member here, thanks for the useful information I've already gleaned from these forums.

I've always saved money by buying behind the curve, but my turn-of-the-century Compaq P3-600 is not up to the demands of this new video hobby. Recently got a videocam, a Canon Optura 50; so I'd like to edit the home movies into something worth watching. I also want to recover some old VHS tapes, so a capture card will be needed; and I may want to rip content from the DVD-RAM disks that my Panasonic DMR-ES20 prefers.

I appreciate the advice given to nathanaa, but I want to build my own and I want everything to work reliably under Linux. So far, I've settled on a case that will look nice under my desk and has the front media ports in the right place. I was favoring the Pentium D 805 Smithfield which is a bargain for a dual core, but with a 533MHz FSB it looks like it would be hobbled. One alternative would be the Pentium 4 631 Cedar Mill, but the price point is starting to look painful... and I haven't even started looking at motherboard, memory, video card, drives, and the always vital power supply and additional cooling.

I'd like to put the bare bones (motherboard, CPU, 1GB memory, video / sound / capture cards) together for less than $500 and have it all work well under Linux. Is this a reasonable goal? Thanks in advance for your advice.

--Luke

[dwill123]

First your case doesn't have a power supply, so you have to factor one in. The saying goes you get what you pay for so if you go cheap - cheap is what you're going to get. that said I quickly put together a setup which might work (I don't use Linux). If anything it's a start:

MB - ASUS A8N-VM w\integrated graphics and audio $80
RAM - Corsair or Kingston Value Ram 1GB $80
CPU - AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (can be OC'd) $115
CD\DVD - Nec 3550A $35
HD - (1) WD 80GB & (1) WD 250GB $135
Case - Antec Solution SLK3800B w\400W PSU $80

Total (roughly) $525

I don't know it's a start. Good luck.

[CrayonEater]

I'm thinking it may be easier to copy our VHS to your Panasonic on DVD-RAM. Panasonics are especially good for VHS transfer. That might spare you the need for the capture card as getting good support under Linux can be problematic or at least inconvenient. Also figure on another $20 for a card reader for the camera.

[luke501]

A couple points I need to clarify - not looking to get a whole system for $500, just the motherboard, CPU, memory, and audio / video in / out systems. Choices of hard disk and optical storage, like cases and power supplies, are relatively less critical. My experience has been that getting well-supported graphics and sound systems under Linux can be troublesome, especially with the integrated all-on-the-motherboard systems.

I've tried dubbing from the VCR to the DVD recorder, with mixed results. I'm watching for a good deal on a Sima Color Corrector, which I hope will be the ticket for getting acceptable quality from the VHS tapes. It is a good point, capturing using the DVD recorder and ripping the DVDs to edit may turn out to be an easier solution in the long run.

Perhaps I should be posting to the Linux forum... I suspect the number of video newbies who use Linux is not great.

[edDV]

User Linux is all about mature drivers and support from other users. Usually this means running 2-5 year old hardware that can be very cheap to buy if you shop but you need to know what your requirements are with specifics. The fun of Linux is figuring out up front what to buy (the take) and then contributing to user forums (the give).