Building barebones system

[jbander]

And I want to keep my hard drive and cd/dvd player from my old computer. I was told that the operating system wont work in the new computer thats on my old drive and that it has to be reformatted and put my operating system back on it . That brings me to multiple questions, I would like to be able to put my recovery disk for my old computer back on the hard drive (win XP) because I have a copy of Photo Shop. What I really want to do and have been doing for the last half year is use linux (Ubuntu 11.04). If I download win xp I would be able to download ubuntu 10 10 from a dvd that I have or download ubuntu 11.04 from Ubuntu and have a duel boot with Win xp. I also have a small linux operating system on a thumb drive (puppy linux)and I would like to know if I could download Ubuntu with that. If You have any of the answer here please respond, and thank you.

[glc]

A recovery disk from a name brand computer can NOT be used on a generic build, sorry. You also can NOT legally "download" XP.

You can install Linux from a CD, DVD, or thumb drive no problem.

For a new build, your hard drive and DVD drive have to be SATA, because IDE support is pretty much gone.

[David M]

It might make more sense to keep your old computer in tact and use it for Linux. With a new computer built from scratch you could load Windows 7 and use it for running software that Linux will not run. You get the best of both worlds this way.

[jbander]

Originally Posted by glc A recovery disk from a name brand computer can NOT be used on a generic build, sorry. You also can NOT legally "download" XP. You can install Linux from a CD, DVD, or thumb drive no problem. For a new build, your hard drive and DVD drive have to be SATA, because IDE support is pretty much gone.

*****************
Thank you, I'm counting pennies, that is the reason that I want to use my hardrive and CD of the old computer ,My new mother board has the ide socket on it, so I can install 2 ide hardware pieces . Question do you know when you plug two ide hardware to one Ide socket ,how is it done, is there a splitter mor something. Also does anyone know how I can use my sata power supply on my new box with my old ide hardrive. My old system works horribly with Ubuntu11.04 in it,I've tried everything. I really like Linux and that is my direction I want to go in.

[jbander]

Originally Posted by David M It might make more sense to keep your old computer in tact and use it for Linux. With a new computer built from scratch you could load Windows 7 and use it for running software that Linux will not run. You get the best of both worlds this way.

***************************For now I will have to give up windows and my Photo Shop, it's a matter of money. This computer will not operate ubuntu 11.04 and that is the system that I want to use. It will run Puppy linux poorly.

[David M]

How much money do you have to work with? Maybe somebody has another idea that will work for you?

[glc]

Question do you know when you plug two ide hardware to one Ide socket ,how is it done

By using a 80 wire Ultra ATA cable with 3 connectors - jumper both devices to Cable Select, put the master on the end connector and the slave on the center connector.

how I can use my sata power supply on my new box with my old ide hardrive

By using the old style 4 pin Molex connectors.

Maybe you should post your parts list - the ones you want to keep and the ones you are buying or have bought - exact brands and models.

[jbander]

Ok I understand the 80 wire ultra ata cable and how to use it. Is it a adapter that I buy that will adapt the power supply plug from my new power supply to a molex connector for my old ide hard drive.************************I'm planning on buying a Ascendtech barebones system with a Asus m3n78 pro with a athlon x3 455 with dual channel ddr2 1066 memory and Nvidia geforce onboard 8300. I am going to buy 2G 2x1 pc2 6400 memory . I have a choice of three inexpensive house boxes with 300-400 watt power supply and I'm going to put in two fans. 139.00 for the barebones system and 30.00 for the memory. What I want to keep is a ide Seagate 100mb 7200rpm hard drive and a ide CD/DVD/ recorder/ player. By the the way i really appreciate the help. I want a system to operate well with Ubuntu11.04

[glc]

Are you saying that your power supply has NO molex connectors?

Be careful with cheap cases with included power supplies - the power supply without exception in them is junk. Buy a case without a power supply and get one of these:

Newegg.com - Antec Basiq BP350 350W ATX12V v2.01 Power Supply

[jbander]

Don't know if it has a molex reconnecter haven't bought it yet ,I assumed it would have a connector that fits to a sata hard drive and a sata CD/DVD There is no more dimes left, I will have to go with this or less not more. No power supply. Off course I got the power supply in my Emachine that has been working for the last 5 years.

[glc]

Today's power supplies have both SATA and Molex connectors.......

Most E-machine power supplies are the worst of the worst.

[jbander]

I don't feel held back because of a tight budget, I'm quite interested into seeing what I can do within the parameters of a concise dollar. Everything can always be better. But in my case better just stops at a smaller number.

[glc]

Don't buy bad components, no matter how tight you feel you have to be. The power supply is a very important component, a bad one can blow out and kill other components when it goes.

[David M]

If something breaks because it is junk then it is wasted money no matter how cheap it is.