Cheap Ubuntu box

[Nioclas]

Hello!

I'm looking to build/buy a very cheap ubuntu/linux box. I'm pretty slim with regard financial resources at the moment!

I'm been getting used to Ubuntu on my macbook, which I intend to give to my mother to replace her aging desktop, but will be leaving Tiger on it for her.

This means I need a replacement machine. I would like to buy/build a cheap dedicated linux desktop for net/word processing/Uni(incl.SPSS/Matlab) use. Idealy it would need to last a few years and be upgradeable

A 'local' is offering the following second hand for around £100:


Gigabyte GA-945GZM-S2 mainboard.

1.8Ghz Pentium Dual-Core E2160

1Gb PC2-5300, 533Mhz RAM.

256Mb Geforce 7600GT

160Gb IDE hard drive

Would this be a good purchase?

Any advice as regards models, retailers etc and any tips and general advice would be much appreciated! NB: I'm in the UK!

Thanks!

[ajgreeny]

Sounds good, but you don't mention a CD/DVD drive; I presume there is one as well. If not make sure you add one! I think the nvidia card is good with ubuntu, but at this moment I cant get to the wiki of hardware compatibility to check it, (EDIT The page just came up at last and you are OK with that card and the restricted driver). Try it with the live CD, of course, before you go ahead, but it looks A1.

[cb951303]

I believe you can't beat that price
nice looking setup for £100

[Nioclas]

Thanks esp. re: hardware check. I'm going to pick this up Monday and use it as my desktop at least in the interim. Still interested in a possible build if anyone has advice for hardware in general.

Oh, and yeah there's a DVD RW in there!

[masticate]

That's a nice price. My strategy is to buy cheap, so that I can buy a new system every 2-3 years. My price limitation is usually $200. But I am very careful not to lose data. So I use RAID or other forms of backup ensure that there is no data loss.


I often get my computers from pricewatch.com in the "PC - No OS" section. Take a look =)

http://www.pricewatch.com/computer_systems_no_os/