Bin Or Linux?

[OnOff]

My post #109 shows the existing gfx card, an AGP one. Seeing whats the most I could get for my £££ & keeping with the "under a tenner" theme I found this on eBay, 128MB GeForce MX440 which I think is ok for Linux. But.................says it's AGP but the slot configuration looks different?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PC-Graphics-Card-MSI-8895-VER-1-GeForce-MX440-AGP-128MB-DVI-VGA-Computer-Video-/380637755825?pt=UK_Computing_Computer_Components_Graphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW&hash=item589fc739b1

 

[steptoe]

GeForce is fine,

thats what I have in my PC,

My post #109 shows the existing gfx card, an AGP one. Seeing whats the most I could get for my £££ & keeping with the "under a tenner" theme I found this on eBay, 128MB GeForce MX440 which I think is ok for Linux. But.................says it's AGP but the slot configuration looks different?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PC-Graphics-Card-MSI-8895-VER-1-GeForce-MX440-AGP-128MB-DVI-VGA-Computer-Video-/380637755825?pt=UK_Computing_Computer_Components_Graphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW&hash=item589fc739b1

they look the same to me,,  :C

 

[OnOff]

GeForce is fine,

thats what I have in my PC,

they look the same to me,,  :C

Nah! There's 3 cutouts in the card edge on the eBay job but in my original card only TWO cutouts.................I think!

 

[steptoe]

oh, your original card, I was comparing the 2 ebay ones, maybe your existing card doesnt need the 3rd finger as its not so powerful ?

Ive sometimes seen cards in old PCs that dont use the whole slot,,,,,,,,

 

[OnOff]

oh, your original card, I was comparing the 2 ebay ones, maybe your existing card doesnt need the 3rd finger as its not so powerful ?

Ive sometimes seen cards in old PCs that dont use the whole slot,,,,,,,,

This explains it. Seems my card is a well old AGP 2x format one then: 

http://www.dslreports.com/faq/6736

Still trying to figure then whether a newer card will work in there!

 

[OnOff]

Typical! That card I was looking at has been bought!

 

[steptoe]

Ill have a look for you in a bit, I have one but Im not sure if its PCIe or agp,

its in a bag in the loft, Im out to have a quick look at a thank you job for the wifes cousin, then I'll get it out.

 

[OnOff]

Ill have a look for you in a bit, I have one but Im not sure if its PCIe or agp,

its in a bag in the loft, Im out to have a quick look at a thank you job for the wifes cousin, then I'll get it out.

No need to bust a gut on a Friday night but cheers! Should be beer o'clock by rights!

Plenty still on eBay around the tenner mark. I've a decent ASUS EN8500GT Silent Magic 512MB PCI-E card sitting here doing nowt. Has DVI, VGA & TV Out. It became spare when we swapped it out for a Radeon HD6770 1GB GDDRG for the boys gaming. That whole pc is now relegated to the "family" pc and his new one (thanks to Grandad) has an HD7770 1GB in it. I lose track tbh.

 

[steptoe]

sorry, its a pci card, BTW, im fairly certain that one of my PCs 'only' has a 128 card and it runs video spot on,

my main PC is 'only 256 iirc,

I think its only higher end gaming that needs big cards to handle all the shading , effects etc,

I think normal video/tv is ok with a smaller card, but, with everything, the bigger the better I suppose, it lightens the load on system ram.

 

[OnOff]

Just ordered this one, GeForce4 MX 440 SE 128MB:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/G538-GAINWARD-GeForce4-MX-440-SE-128MB-DDR-VGA-Video-AGP-Graphics-Card-/121108387550?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3FLH_BIN%3D1%26_sop%3D15%26_sacat%3D0%26_from%3DR40%26_nkw%3D121108387550%26_rdc%3D1&nma=true&si=G%252B2X1G%252BVlyQISb4Zd3SwiHPHjk0%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Seems to be Linux compatible as per that list I found. Done a bit more reading and seeming 4x and 8x cards are backward compatible i.e they should fit in a 2x mobo slot...........BUT they might only run at 2x..........There is the the voltage issue; 3.3V, 1.5V & 0.8V etc

Guess I'll soon find out!

 

[steptoe]

Id just found this for you

that should work, is gainward a marketing name for nVidia?

nvidia are very good on *nix , and the geForce makes me think its the same thing, I have a geForce something in my PC,

BTW, I coulda picked it up for you tomorrow, Im down that way, but, its free p+p anyway 

 

[OnOff]

Id just found this for you

that should work, is gainward a marketing name for nVidia?

nvidia are very good on *nix , and the geForce makes me think its the same thing, I have a geForce something in my PC,

BTW, I coulda picked it up for you tomorrow, Im down that way, but, its free p+p anyway 

:lol: Typical! Thanks for the legwork, pity about my impatience...........can't see how I missed the one you found as it was the same seller I'd looked at originally!

 

[steptoe]

well, my methods are probably slightly different,

nVidia [cos I know they have good *nix support] 128 under 10£ inc p+p  

AH,

the voltage issue, well, as daft as this might sound, how many times does 1.5v go into 3.3v, and how many times does 0.8v go into 3.3v ?

thats how I read it, therefore the new x8 card is 4x faster than the old x2 card  :C

 

[OnOff]

Hmmm............thinking maybe that eBay should have a breath alcohol tester so I can't buy when I've had a couple! I ordered the card on the basis of the "GeForce4MX-440 SE" bit! Pretty sure Gainward is "based" on nVidia anyway?

 

[steptoe]

Hmmm............thinking maybe that eBay should have a breath alcohol tester so I can't buy when I've had a couple! I ordered the card on the basis of the "GeForce4MX-440 SE" bit! Pretty sure Gainward is "based" on nVidia anyway?

:slap i once bought 4 x fluke 77s in one night many moons ago  :|

 Im fairly sure nvidia wouldnt allow anyone else to use the geforce name tbh, so i think your safe enough

 

[OnOff]

SUCCESS!

Well, getting there I think. With 512MB of RAM & the new 128MB grahics card in I have a clean, crisp looking install of Lubuntu 12.04 (Alternate i386). No fuzzy screen etc. The downside at the mo is it seems a bit too slow, the Chromium browser particularly, for my liking



Wondering whether the Minimal install would run quicker?

 

[steptoe]

Excellent,

Got to be worth a try surely, then only install the stuff you want from the software centre.

 

[kalross]

Could make a nice little asterisk digital pbx

 

[OnOff]

Just a BIG THANKS to all on this (especially Steps). I feel I've taken this old Vectra PC as far as I can and am going to give it back to it's owner. No less quick than when it had XP on, certainly better looking and maybe it'll get someone else on the Linux bandwagon. It's been a learning experience for me and cost me around £25.00 in parts. S'hand gfx card, some more, again s'hand memory and a BIOS battery. Plus I've put the OS on the small, previously unconnected 6GB HDD and left the 20GB in there for storage. I've gone back to Lubuntu 12.04 on it after again dabbling with the likes of Browser Linux & Mijn Puppy. If he can't get on with it being slow (in comparison to modern stuff) then I'll take another look. He's going to use it as his second pc. Once it's booted up (takes forever going through all the inbuilt HOP stuff) and you're on the net it's not too bad. Plus he now has the Anna Chapman wallpaper to remind him of home!

Again thanks to all...............and it only took 160+ posts! 

 

[OnOff]

Erm.........couldn't leave it alone! The speed issue was bugging me so I basically Googled on the lines of "old pc / best distro" etc. It's now running Peppermint Four. On balance it was easier to install than Lubuntu (more mouse than keyboard) looks slicker and seems a tad quicker too. It looks really clean and sharp tbh.