hpr-knowledge-base/hpr_transcripts/hpr2122.txt

Episode: 2122
Title: HPR2122: Alpha32's new machine
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr2122/hpr2122.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-18 14:35:31

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This is HPR episode 2,122 entitled Alpha 32's new machine and is part of the series Hardware Upbrains.
It is hosted by Alpha 32 and is about 8 minutes long.
The summary is, I will turn you computer.
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Hello friends, this is Alpha 32 coming to you again from St. Louis.
Today I wanted to talk to you about my new computer.
I just recently built a new machine and thought I ought to tell you all about it.
My old machine was a Dell Optiplex.
It had a Pentium 4 in it.
Two gigs, maybe four gigs of RAM.
And I really needed an upgrade.
It was a good machine to serve me well for years, but it was time.
She was getting a little long in the tooth, not really able to handle some of the stuff I was throwing at her.
And I wanted to play some games, so there you go.
I went with an AMD chipset on the recommendation of a friend.
I really was planning on using Intel because I generally hear that they have good support.
And that's been my experience.
Good Linux support, I mean.
I wasn't sure if AMD did and I didn't want to risk it.
So I was planning on going Intel.
But if buddy of mine who has a real Linux guru to my eyes uses an Intel or using it uses AMD in his main machine, which is pretty beefy.
And he loves it.
It works well for him.
He doesn't have to do much tweaking unless he wants to, which is always fun.
A tweaking can be a bit of a blast, huh?
So I went with a AMD motherboard, or not an AMD motherboard, a Gigabyte motherboard.
One of their gaming models.
It was the cheapest and had what I wanted on it.
To call it ultra durable, I don't know what the deal is.
Anyways, it's the, it has the AM3 plus socket.
So I got a AMD CPU as well.
There's this hex core black edition unlocked, whatever.
Six cores, three and a half gigahertz, I think.
So pretty fast.
I like it so far.
I've got 16 gigs of RAM in there right now.
I went with the cheapest RAM for the, you know, for what I wanted.
The folks at Microsoft Center were having a sale.
So I got 16 gigs of RAM for 50 bucks.
Pretty good.
That's this ballistics.
What the sticks are called.
The salesman said that folks generally like it and don't have a lot of problems with those sticks.
I did.
When I installed it, my RAM was DOA.
I might have shocked it or something, I don't know.
I got some some bad static electricity in there.
I don't know.
Whatever.
Anyways, I returned it, got some good RAM.
Make sure I was properly grounded next time.
And installed it and it runs great.
I've got a, a GeForce graphics card in there because,
and I should have checked this out before I bought the motherboard,
but there were no onboard graphics.
I didn't know that.
So anyways, that was another add on there that I had to do.
I got just not the cheapest Nvidia graphics card,
but just about, it was the next step up.
I think it's a 730 or something.
And it works really well.
It's got HDMI and VGA and,
I don't remember DVI, maybe, outputs on it.
So it does pretty well.
It lets me play my games at decent speeds,
and it looks good.
So also in there, I've got Monster Cooler.
Yeah, they all honken CPU cooler,
which I was pretty proud of.
I don't know what the model is,
but it's from Cooler Master, I believe.
It's got a massive fan on top of it,
like a 120 millimeter fan on top, at least.
It just barely fits inside the case.
I've got an SSD in there.
I got an old PNY 120 gig.
SSD that I took out of one of my other laptops,
put it in there just for fun,
because I like SSDs.
So I've got that for the OS and some of the programs.
Then I've got a one terabyte Western Digital spinning drive
that I put in there as well for all my data and all that.
Now the case is pretty cool too.
I don't like all this flashy stuff,
that you get on gaming cases,
some of the weird shapes and whatnot.
When you look at some of those alien wares,
they just look more like spaceships than computers.
So I went with a fairly cheap one that had good ventilation
and all the ports that I wanted on the front.
This one also came with three or four fans.
It's got a window in the side,
cable management, which is important.
And what else?
Oh, the fans have red LEDs in them,
which is pretty cool.
So when you've got it powered on,
the whole thing lights up and it's kind of pretty.
On the front I've got two USB 3.0 ports.
I've got a power button and a reset button.
I've got headphones and microphone inputs
and put output, whatever.
And that's it for the front panel.
I also put an optical drive in it
because, yeah, I still use optical media on occasion.
My girlfriend says that I'm an old band because of it.
Who uses CDs anymore, right?
Anyway, so I've got that.
Got it all assembled and it works like a charm.
I put a Ubuntu Mate on there and it is a dream.
Well, I first got a built.
I had a Ubuntu just straight up Ubuntu
with Unity Desktop,
a 16.04 on it.
And it wasn't great.
I don't like all the bells and whistles,
like all the fancy graphical stuff.
So Unity didn't really work with the way that I work.
So I ditched that pretty quick
and went to a Ubuntu Mate,
which is still pretty.
And still got some of the graphical bells and whistles,
but not nearly as much as Unity did.
And it's got good compatibility with everything.
It always works.
I never have any issues with Ubuntu Mate.
Mr. Winpress does a heck of a job with that thing.
It is wonderful.
I'm one who usually switches distros every...
I'd say every couple months,
but sometimes it's more like every couple of weeks
or every couple of days.
When it's free and easy to get and easy to use, why not?
But I think I'm going to stay with this Ubuntu Mate for a while.
I've had it on there for about three or four months,
and I like it a lot.
So that's probably going to be a keeper.
At least until I switch back to Devian
or something new and fancy comes out,
and I just have to try it.
But that is what I've got.
I just got a new keyboard for it as well,
one of those blue cherry switches.
It makes a hell of a racket and annoys my girlfriend,
but it feels good to type on.
There's a lot of upgrades here and there.
I've got that.
I've got a laser mouse.
One of those gaming mouse with getting mice
with all the buttons on it.
I don't know what all the buttons are for.
I suppose I'll figure it out.
If not, I'll just leave them alone.
So I don't break anything.
So there you go.
That is my new machine.
Built with some AMD components.
And Ubuntu Mate.
This is Alpha32. Sign it off.
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