The family computer recently bit the dust, so I’ve transitioned to a new computer, and given them my old one. My new computer has a 64 bit AMD dual core CPU. I could run a 32bit OS on it, and have no problems, but then I wouldn’t be taking advantage of the 64bit processor. So I’m running 64bit Ubuntu. This causes a few issues.
Java plugin on amd64
Instructions and links from here.
Download these three packages and install them:
dpkg -i package1.deb package2.deb package3.deb
Restart your browser. Unfortunately, IcedTea is not quite feature complete, and this will not work on Facebook’s java applet photo uploader. Yup. That’s why I haven’t uploaded those photos I said I would…. That’s why.
Flash on amd64
There is no 64bit binary provided by Adobe. And that’s that. Yay, closed source! If one of the open-source implementations of flash is good enough for you, then you might want to use them. Otherwise, we can use the 32bit binary plugin by doing the following:
sudo apt-get install nspluginwrapper
sudo nspluginwrapper -i /full/path/to/libflashplugin.so
This has the added benefit of working on Epiphany, also!
If you’re also using Pulseaudio, then go here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=4214152
It’s all good
These issues aside, however, my new computer simply flies, and that makes me happy. Especially considering it was quite a budget purchase (about $650 after tax). I loaded it with 4GB or RAM, simply because the difference between 4GB and 2GB was only $26. Above all else, I think the best characteristic is the near-silence of operation. I spent a few extra dollars to get the Antec Sonata III case/power-supply, and it’s quite a beautiful thing. I can barely hear it when lying on my bed. Once you’ve had quiet, you simply can’t go back. It’s black, too……
Ah! I’m just about to really move to Ubuntu, again. I’m just in the process of preparing everything, and right now I’m burning the Ubuntu iso! What a coincidence. I was thinking whether I should go with 32bit or 64bit… and yeah, I always thought the 64 bit is not as well supported… Good thing you are now on AMD X2, too.
I got a Sonata II a few years back, and yeah, once you go quiet, you can’t go back. Actually, even before I had quiet, I couldn’t really go “back”. My legendary Seagate Barracuda IV 40GB showed me the meaning of silence (just HDD, though), and ever since the db has been my top priority. I recently killed it (I shall blog about this…) by accident. *sigh*
Anyway, great to know that you’re paving the road for my upcoming transition. 🙂
Nicely done, Steve. What else is in that thing?
Oh man, does my computer ever get noisy when it’s cooling itself off! I try not to push it much while Nubia’s sleeping, so that the ruckus doesn’t wake her up. I try…
@Alex: My technical support is kind of pricy, I’m not sure if you can afford it. 😛 What do you mean “really move to Ubuntu, again“?
@Kurt: Sounds like you might have a noisy hard drive. Like Alex mentioned, Seagate Barracuda drives are very quiet, BUT the last one I bought chirps every now and then. This “clink” has been referred to as the hard-drive’s swan song, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t concern me, but I’ve gotten used to it. It’s like a constant reminder to me to back stuff up. Anyway, largely because of that, and because of the salesperson I spoke to, I figured I would try a WesternDigital, in my new computer. It’s a little louder, but it doesn’t make any ‘clink’s. The salesperson told me they had less problems with WD drives. It’s also worth noting that Seagates are a bit more expensive, but they have a 5 year warranty, versus 3 of most hard drives.
The rest of my computer is… pretty basic. I took the top “value” system from a-power and upgraded the case, the memory, and the hard drive (to 320GB). I chose that system because I wanted to support AMD/ATI and that integrated graphics chip should should be enough for me – allowing for desktop effects (such as this) and basic games. (I haven’t set up the 3D on Ubuntu yet, however.) Here’s a link to the current value system. Mine was basically the same, but it’s a 5000+, not a 5200+.
Steve: Seagate Barracudas are no longer that quiet. It’s possible that the latest and the greatest are also very silent, but for quite some time, WD has taken that title from Seagate. The new-ish model (basically from 250GB to 500GB) are for sure more quiet than the Seagate counterparts. In both idle time and seek time.
Here’s a good site on acoustics review on all PC parts (if you haven’t known already): http://www.silentpcreview.com/
BTW, I don’t plan to pay for support. I plan to wait until you blog about the solutions to your problems. 🙂
i came here to read something interesting