Ever see those dream builds that use the most expensive of everything?

Hardware Hub Build a PC
1

This is the opposite of that...

A few years ago, fed up with the lack of mouse/keyboard on her phone, my wife decided to buy the cheapest possible laptop from Walmart. For $268 (this included the tax), she got an HP2000 which sported an AMDE300 APU with onboard graphics, 2GB mem, a 300 GB hd and running windows 8.1. The bundled Norton package slowed it even more.

A couple of weeks later, feed up with 5-10 minute boot times, lack of touch screen abilities on a overwhelmingly touch oriented OS, and numerous other issues, her phone again became her favorite screen. The laptop came to be used by my then 8yo son who was too excited by the ability to play club penguin to realize that he was using a computer that no one else would be interested in handling. Last year, when he was finally given one of my starter winVista laptops, ancient by today's standards, but still so night/day superior to the old (now win10) one, he still spontaneously thanks me for it.

Now, I've re-inherited the wimpy walmart laptop and start to think about finally coming up to speed with the rest of the world in the learning of linux. But at the last minute, I detour to pcpartpicker and, with "compatibility check" enabled, create a build, sans optical & os, that deliberately chooses the cheapest parts possible and relies on the onboard graphics/audio capabilities of the motherboard. Even with the inclusion of an 18" monitor, keyboard & mouse, the total, including shipping comes to just $250. I don't really want to spend an additional $250 on a bad computer when I already have a perfectly bad computer at my disposal, but there is a certain appeal to the build process and I have to imagine that today's high-tech garbage is better than last year's high tech garbage.

I have a couple of questions for any tech savvy individual kind enough to respond:
1. Are these parts truly compatible (https://pcpartpicker.com/user/adamsbriand/saved/#view=fp2scf)?
. $15.95 CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 2.93Ghz Dual-Core OEM/Tray Processor
. $6.98 CPU Cooler
Masscool 8WT15-38 42.0 CFM CPU Cooler
. $71.98 Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-G41MT-S2PT Micro ATX LGA775 Motherboard
. $11.32 Memory
Kingston 2GB (1 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
. $19.90 Storage
Western Digital AV 160GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
. $22.00 Case
Thermaltake Versa H21 ATX Mid Tower Case
. $13.99 Power Supply
Logisys 480W ATX Power Supply
. $67.43 Monitor
V7 L18500WS-9N 60Hz 18.5" Monitor
. $7.41 Keyboard
Gear Head KB2500U Wired Slim Keyboard
. $3.99 Mouse
Targus AMU51US Wired Laser Mouse
. $8.99 Speakers
Cyber Acoustics CA-2011WB 4W 2ch Speakers

  Total:	$249.94

  1. Is the above parts list complete -- did I forget anything else that I will need?

  2. Is there a better/cheaper source of a linux worthy starter machine, even prebuilt?

  3. How do I determine linux compatibility with an off the shelf machine like the HP2000?

  4. Would I be better off going with a Raspberry PI to learn linux stuff -- they're certainly cuter/smaller?

  5. Was there a linux specific forum board to which I should have been posting?

Thank you.

2

Mate, what are you talking about. This is junk from freaking... god knows when, most likely hardware older than your laptop right now. Have you done any research at all? Because it does not look like you did. You have a rig that might boot, might.

3

My advice if trying for cheap SBC PC replacement is to get an odroid xu4 and put ubuntu mate on it.

4

So what I was able to gather from your post is that you were about to start fiddling with your re-inherited laptop, but decided you might just want to make a compact linux box? And that your budget is roughly $250?

If this is the case, is there anything you can salvage? Like say the 2.5 inch HDD from the laptop. Check to see if the HDD has a SATA port or IDE port. I am not exactly sure of your competency with computer hardware and I don't mean to insult. If you do not know the difference between SATA and IDE, they are basically two different methods of connecting your hard drive to your motherboard (IDE being the older version) Google if you are not sure.

All of that being said, you may want to look into hard ware that is a bit more recent (going the "cheapest" route may leave you with a lot of old or used tech). While one of Linux's big advantages is that it runs on old tech, it may be difficult for you, especially if you are learning. You may run into a problem where the drivers for your tech is no longer supported, or that there is no community forum that has any information that may help you.

5

All that being said, If you go ahead with that build, it will be nice little linux journey for you.

6

OS wise:
If your only goal is to learn to use Linux, and you have the patience; I would recommend Arch.

HW wise:
-If you really, really want to put it together yourself, without risking breaking expensive components, your idea is about right. Though you should do a bit more research. (that motherboard seems a tad expensive, compared to its age and specs)

-If you just want a plain, no-game "Linux" machine for console working and basic GUIs: Buy a cheap ass laptop and you don't even need to worry about an extra screen.

And you can move it about and do other things, while waiting for the n-th install, after you've broken it again. (Speaking from experience) You'll probably save yourself a fuckton of annoyance that way.

Tip: Don't buy unused old stuff. It's often more expensive, and slower than the cheapest new stuff. Second hand old HW may break at any moment, but it should at least be dirt cheap or even free if you ask about.

7

http://m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=N82E16856158043

Put 8/4GB of RAM, small 120/60GB ssd and you have a small small linux box for the price you want.

8

To those that suggested I hadn't done sufficient research, I won't argue. This concept came about while becoming bored waiting for the old laptop to boot and then "researching" what pcpartpicker thought was the lowest cost compatible part build.

I came to you guys to get feedback as to whether or not this was a good idea. Clearly, the concensus is that it is not.

Firstly, thank you all for your feedback. I appreciate it and I'm not put off by snarky replies.

Second, my take on the feedback is that people seem to like the re-inherited laptop better than the jury-rigged pc, but the real issue is that no one likes the idea of going with the cheapest thing that pcpartpicker can recommend, even for a "minimum" linux machine (VXAce, James_Gallier, payne). Also, my min. configuration didn't include enough ram or a basic ssd to satisfy some (Quixotic_Autocrat).

Apparently, (redneckgamer185), the odroid xu4 -- recommended as an SBC alternative -- is about 4 times faster than the raspberry pi 2 I'd considered.

You've convinced me that the pcpartpicker approach was wrong, but I also don't like the idea of using/potentially destroying the laptop. Perhaps my 5 yo will be able to overlook its deficiencies.

The SBC approach may be best for me. I'm not looking to create a steam machine. The rasp. Pi 2 looks interesting and seems to have some few kits, tho I don't know how much linux I'd really be using and without getting my hands on one, it seems more like a slick upgraded cousin of the arduino. The odroid, new to me, seems to be substantially more potent, but would require more of a ramp-up in the actual linux understanding.

Right now, I'm leaning toward the sbc approach, but maybe if I come across a really good black friday computer deal, I'll change my mind again.

10

If you have a budget of... 500 USD...? you can probably slap an APU build together. Hell, on that 250 USD budget with some salvaging (well a little more that "some") I was able to put together a gaming rig that holds is liquor quite well. It's possible to do stuff like this on a budget and a good bit of research and a salt shaker.

11

The laptop is perfectly capable of reasonable performance.
Extended boot times will be due to:
Bloatware loading at start - disable anything loading at start, delete anything not wanted - 'free' games and HP bloat.
Windows 8 is not good, update to w10 (free) it is better and quicker

To further improve performance get an SSD drive to boot from , the interface is SATA.

If you want to experience Linux goodness install an easy one , say Peppermint 6 64, this can be done in dual boot so you have a fall back to windows. Check out Linux Help Guy on Youtube for info.

12

try to put more ram in and maybe pop in a samsung 840 evo ssd. She would be a good little linux box. Maybe add a smalll graphics card?

13

Couple things. I think an amd dual core(quad if you want to get crazy) am1 with an am1 board, and I swear I've seen new emachines 1366x768 monitors for $25 will be less expensive.

Also dollar store headphones LOL

14

you would be better off buying a complete computer off craigslist or ebay.