On Sat, 14 Dec 2013 02:39:04 -0500 (EST), David Christensen wrote: > > I did something similar ~1.5 years ago. I wanted virtualization, > whole-drive encryption, on-board video, on-board sound, on-board > Gigabit, and reduced energy consumption/ noise.
You have requirements that I don't have. I don't care about virtualization, per se, other than the emulation of a mainframe in software by Hercules. I don't need drive encryption, and I don't care about energy consumption or noise. I mean, it's not that I want it to be a noisy power hog, but those are not critical features. I'd rather have a noisy $500 system than a quiet $1500 system. (On the other hand, I don't want the fan in the power supply to fail in 6 months either.) Also, 10/100 Ethernet is plenty fast enough for me. > > Only the higher price stuff had all the features I needed. So, my > choice boiled down to building around a high-end desktop board > (~US$1,000) or building around a uniprocessor workstation/ server board > (~US$1,500). Wow. I hope my requirements can be met for less. >> >> I'd like it to have a usable CSM, so I can continue to run my favorite boot >> loader, LILO. > > CSM = IBM Cluster Systems Management? No, CSM = Compatibility Support Module, a feature of UEFI-compliant motherboards that provides a PC-compatible BIOS for booting legacy BIOS operating systems, such as the LILO boot loader. This is incompatible with Connected Standby Mode, whose initials are also, unfortunately, CSM. Connected Standby Mode is apparently a requirement for Windows 8 certification. Connected Standby Mode must be disabled in order for a Compatibility Support Module to be enabled. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFI for more information. > > I use the default boot loader (GRUB) provided by the Debian installer. > I don't know if LILO is available OOTB; you might have to work for it. The last I knew the Debian installer, running in expert mode, still offers LILO as a boot loader choice. But if it doesn't, installing it manually after the fact is no problem for me. I have authored a web page on how to do just that. See http://users.wowway.com/~zlinuxman/lilo.htm for more information. >> >> And I plan to partition the disk using the traditional MS-DOS disk >> partitioning system,so I don't want the hard disk to be larger than 2T. > > I assume you mean an MS-DOS partition table, as opposed to a GUID > partition table (GPT). (I believe the Debian installer supports GPT on > the system disk, but I haven't tried it.) Yes. > > You want an SSD system drive for performance and disaster recovery > (imaging) reasons, and other drive(s) for data. (My SSD has an MS-DOS > partition table and my HDD has a GUID partition table.) The disaster recovery plan, in case of a hard disk failure, is to go buy a new hard disk. The data is gone. There are no backups. Too bad. Reinstall from scratch. I want good performance, but disaster recovery features are not something that I am willing to pay extra for. In some cases I may FTP critical files to another machine on my home network, but that's the extent of backups. > > I have an EE/CS background, and prefer to build my computers from > scratch. That way, I get exactly what I want and nothing I don't need. > If you don't have the skills, there are vendors who will assemble and > test hardware and/or software that you purchase from them for a nominal fee. I have a four-year college degree in Electrical Engineering. I graduated a long time ago, and my degree is probably not marketable for anything other than engineering management at this point, but at least I have the background. My "day job" is as a systems programmer for IBM mainframes. Among other duties I install and maintain (apply PTFs to) the operating system and other system software. And I have upgraded PC systems myself before, including motherboard replacements. So no, I am not intimidated by the prospect of building a system myself, if that proves to be the cheapest or best way to go. -- .''`. Stephen Powell : :' : `. `'` `- -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/1439022488.875066.1387027381278.javamail.r...@md01.wow.synacor.com
