dell 530N

[DarinB]

anybody hear about the dell 530N desktop with Ubuntu 8.04?
what are the reviews on it?
I may have to get a new pc! at under 500 it seems ok.
anybody know if i will be able to upgrade the os eventually?????

[RedRat]

anybody hear about the dell 530N desktop with Ubuntu 8.04?
what are the reviews on it?
I may have to get a new pc! at under 500 it seems ok.
anybody know if i will be able to upgrade the os eventually?????

I have a 530n. I got it last year and it worked out of the box. My version came with 7.10 pre-installed. I managed to screw this up by trying to install Ubuntu Studio. So I had to install a plain vanilla copy of Ubuntu 7.10 that came with the box but this was just plain 7.10 that you get from Canonical. I mention this because Dell includes some fine tuning and also puts a recovery partition on their machines.

OK, I tried to install Studio from Synaptic and it completely fouled up my machine. So I went to the vanilla 7.10 and completely repartitioned my hard drive and installed 7.10, got rid of the Dell partition. Ubuntu 7.10 from that disk worked great, I upgraded last May to 8.04 and have had few problems, mostly having to do with new kernels to the OS and interaction with Nvidia cards. You can read about these woes here in the support forum. The problems with video cards and driver upgrades are not insurmountable but they are annoying.

I got my machine with the Nvidia 8600GS card and 2Gb of memory. The machine is very quiet and overall I am very pleased with the machine. As long as you deal with Dell Linux support you will not have problems, at least I have not had any. Dell Linux support is distinctly different from their normal support, the last phone number I have is (866)-622-1947. From messages in this forum, if you call Dell at their regular numbers the operators might not even know how to get you Linux support. Also, Dell has its own Linux Ubuntu support forum.

I am very happy with 8.04 LTS version. I have no immediate plans to upgrade to 8.10 since there are a lot of messages in Ubuntu forums complaining about significant changes to the OS. However, if you decide to go with Dell and they ship with 8.10 pre-installed, I think problems will be minimal, but do be careful of video card driver upgrades, this has not been a smooth transition. My suggestion is to wait for another year until bugs are worked out, since 8.10 seems to be a substantial upgrade to Ubuntu, might want to wait until 9.10 comes along. For what I do, 8.04 works like a charm.

My opinion: Go for it!

[gbrainin]

I bought my 530n shortly after they first came out, with 7.04. Upgraded without significant issue to 7.10 and 8.04. Haven't gotten around to 8.10 yet.

My suggestion is to wait a while after a new version comes out. Usually the few tweaks necessary for each new version become common knowledge here and on Dell's linux wiki within a few weeks after the release (for example, the RAID mode issue that arose with 8.04).

Basically, I have nothing bad to say about my 530.

[andybleaden]

Yeh I got one back in October time and changed to run kubuntu ( which I prefer ) I have had no problems with it what so ever since getting it save maybe with the ati radeon graphics card which I have just fixed. I would go ahead and order one as they were pretty cheap and got a nice spec pc for £380

[DarinB]

thanks my concern is i want to get away from all of the nvidia problems i have with my old dell dimension 8100 nvidia geforce4 mx 420 with an equally old crt, the headache is why i want to change the latest dell 530N has an onboard video card which i think would be an intel and i hope that will be fine along with the lcd monitor.
I do appreciate any comments before i spend 500 bucks.
i also am not sure which processor to get if i should stay with the pentium duo which is loads better than by old P4 or go with a core 2 duo. but i can't trust that those guys st dell won't put in 64 bit 8.04 which i hear is another issue.
argggg i am going crazy trying to figure this all out.

[DarinB]

thank you red hat any other ideas about my previous post

[gbrainin]

AFAIK, Dell only ships with the 32-bit version of the OS. I've got a Core 2 Duo, and that's how it came. Of course, that was quite a while ago, back when onboard video wasn't an option. I have an nvidia something-or-other, which works just fine.

[DarinB]

gbrainin
have you upgraded to the next version and how did that work if you did,
also how does the 32 bit os run on a core 2 duo any increase in speed or anything? did you have to add a special lib i think it may be lib32 or something.

[gbrainin]

gbrainin
have you upgraded to the next version and how did that work if you did

I have not upgraded to 8.10 because 8.04 is an LTS version, and it just didn't seem urgent. I may just wait for another version or two, depending on how bored I get.

also how does the 32 bit os run on a core 2 duo any increase in speed or anything? did you have to add a special lib i think it may be lib32 or something.

I did not require any special libraries for the core 2 duo; it always worked fine with both the standard and Dell modified versions. As for speed increase, well, compared to what? My previous computer was almost 7 years old.

[DarinB]

yeah good point, i am running a dell dimension 8100 from 2002 a p4 with 756 of ram and it is plenty fast, i am tired of the nvidia issues and the crt.
it will be cheaper to get a 530n every thing will be a big upgrade. i don't even have a dvd burner. but i do love ubuntu it has added many years to this old pc. i bet if i hold out a few more months as the ecomony crashes i bet the price goes down even more.
how many open pci slots does it come with????
maybe i can also get a 2nd internal hd

[andybleaden]

Well I managed to get a dell with ubuntu and can confirm that it was 32 bit. It runs very fast compared to what I had prior to this (VERY fast). I have yet to have any hassles at all with it being dual core.

The graphics card that it came with was an external ( ie not inbuilt if that makes sense) and was an ATI RADEON HD 2400 which I had trouble with getting the driver to get it working 100% but installed ENVY to sort the right driver for my graphics card which was brilliant and has it all set up now.

Now I can do things like run compiz etc which I could not before

I have to say I have absolutely no complaints about this machine or set up and I got mine for £379 which was a real bargain for me.

If you are wanting a pc with ubuntu preinstalled and want a relatively high spec then this was it. I added a few bits extra slightly large hdd and a full fat 4 gb ram to boot ( plus another dvd--i do not know why)

[RedRat]

DarinB:
Take a look at andybleaden's post above. Really, depending on what you want to do, I would not suggest getting the 4Gb of Ram unless you plan to run the 64bit version of Ubuntu. You need the 64 bit version to recognize the full 4Gb. I have only 2Gb and that has proved fine so far. Probably better to boost your CPU power, or spring for the type of DVD burners you need/want.

From what I have seen in these posts, the ATI drivers seem to present more problems than NVidia but, more than likely, if you install Envy, this should give you some help. Be aware that everytime there is a kernel upgrade (I believe that there have been about 4 last year) you are going to have to re-install the NVidia/ATI drivers, but Envy makes this a bit easier--I learned it the hard way. This is one of the annoyances (really a PITA) of Ubuntu. I have said before that with all that brainpower at Canonical you would think they would have found a work around on that.

[DarinB]

the exact reason to go with this are my problems with and old geforce 4 mx 420 what about the onboard intel video card. won't that work just fine???
i thought i read that it will also run compiz (not sure i even want that) I prefer an easy straight forward system that plainly works,
i am greatefull for the info on the 2 Gb of ram and the 32 bit system.
So now i have to find out the onboard video, OR are my problems only because my current system is old and i use a crt...with a lcd and non nvidia card will help. i am sure that future ubuntu releases will bring more problems. THAT IS A PROBLEM WITH UBUNTU THE NEVER ENDING VIDEO PROBLEMS...EVEN MS FIGURED THAT OUT YEARS AGO. i AM TIRED OF THE CONSTANT ANNOYANCE. Well the question on this post is about the onboard video i also don't want to spend extra on a card if the onboard works...my pc use is dvd, email, browsing web, music and podcast. so i am not in need of all the gaming and swirling windows and compiz boxes.

[RedRat]

the exact reason to go with this are my problems with and old geforce 4 mx 420 what about the onboard intel video card. won't that work just fine???
i thought i read that it will also run compiz (not sure i even want that) I prefer an easy straight forward system that plainly works,
i am greatefull for the info on the 2 Gb of ram and the 32 bit system.
So now i have to find out the onboard video, OR are my problems only because my current system is old and i use a crt...with a lcd and non nvidia card will help. i am sure that future ubuntu releases will bring more problems. THAT IS A PROBLEM WITH UBUNTU THE NEVER ENDING VIDEO PROBLEMS...EVEN MS FIGURED THAT OUT YEARS AGO. i AM TIRED OF THE CONSTANT ANNOYANCE. Well the question on this post is about the onboard video i also don't want to spend extra on a card if the onboard works...my pc use is dvd, email, browsing web, music and podcast. so i am not in need of all the gaming and swirling windows and compiz boxes.

OK, compiz is kind of nice, it gives you some fancy and clever desktop effects, but if you aren't into that, you are not missing all that much. I have compiz and while it is kinda neat to see the cube, what would I use that for? Looks good and impresses others but it doesn't help me do anything better. Basically, it is eye-candy. There are those who live and breath for eye-candy (Mostly ex-Mac Users I guess). Transparency and the so-called "Aero" type interfaces are cute but hardly necessary, again eye-candy. Actually I find that transparency thing of the windows a bit annoying.

I would agree that the greatest negative of Ubuntu is its damnable inability to keep drivers au currant after a kernel update. Hopefully, and eventually, Canonical will take some time and find a way around this. I would say that this is the biggest stumbling block for new users, I know I cursed and swore the first time it hit me, but after the past 5 updates and the use of Envy, the task if now a bit easier, still a pain but not all that bad.

But even with all of these drawbacks, I now find it a pain to have to go to my Windows machine, they just seem so sluggish and unresponsive.

[andybleaden]

Well I now run compiz after using the excellent envy package and my grphics card issues are less now. It was what came as standard with my Dell not an extra..it is just that it is not the usual intergrated thing you get as standard.

As for the extra ram...it cost me a few extra pounds but not loads and the machine has bags of room to manouvre...whether or not I needed the full 4gb ram now...hmm who knows ...I would be spitting feathers if I need it in a year or two and have to find the right ones etc to match...it is a decision I skimped on a years ago on my old motherboard ( I used to have a bits and pieces pc!)and regretted it.

As for Ubuntu and graphics cards...pc users have graphics cards issues with ubuntu and other distros and I guess so do windows pcs I am sure. I have learnt a great deal since sorting out the ati issue I must admit..still much more to learn...ran into troubles on the last kernel upgrade from 2.6.24-22 to 23 which did not work :(....but I will get it sorted ( or rather those nice people at ubuntu/envy will :)...I remember all the pain in the bum of havig to upgrade o...oh god what was it on windows..active x..direct x...cannot remember not

Give me kubuntu any day

[zaphodbblx]

Mine is pretty cool! the prices went down somewhat from when I bought mine but its a great system(especially if your alleady ubuntu literate)