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Thread: 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
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    665
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    Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver

    2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC

    I ordered my new ZaReason Zeto Ubuntu 14.04.x 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux desktop PC! It cost me $1,982.00 USD with no New Jersey sales tax or shipping fees.


    Intel 4th generation "Haswell" Core i7-4790 3.60 - 4.0 GHz quad-core with Hyper Threading and Turbo Boost CPU
    16.00 GB DDR3 1,600 MHz RAM
    Crucial SATA-III 6 GB/s 256.00 GB solid state disk
    Slot loading CD-RW/DVD-RW drive
    Dual Gigabit Ethernet + 802.11 dual-band AC/B/G/N Wi-Fi with Bluetooth 4.0
    nVidia Geforce GTX 970 with 4.0 GB GDDR5 video RAM GPU
    500 watt 80 Plus Gold power supply
    ASUS LED 22" 1920 X 1080P monitor
    Logitech MK120 USB 2.0 wired keyboard and mouse
    1 year warranty


    I also ordered two 6.6 foot long HDMI cables from Amazon to connect either my Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P or ZaReason Zeto to my ASUS 22" LED monitor.


    I plan to switch my Crucial M550 2.5" 7.0 mm (with 2.5 mm bracket) SATA-III 6 GB/s 1.0 TB solid state disk from my Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P notebook PC to my new 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC. I plan to put the Crucial 2.5" 9.5 mm SATA-III 6 GB/s 256.00 GB solid state disk from my ZaReason Zeto into my Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P notebook PC. I also plan to reinstall the latest Ubuntu 14.04.2 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux desktop operating system to enable full-disk encryption and nVidia Geforce GT/GTX proprietary graphics drivers using the latest X-Org Edgers PPA on both PCs. It should take me roughly two days to reinstall my favorite software applications. I am keeping my personal user data on my Transcend StoreJet USB 3.0 2.0 TB MIL-STD portable, rugged, encrypted hard disk drive so I can plug it into either PCs and access my stuff.


    I should expect safe delivery of my new 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC sometime in late June 2015.


    I am excited!
    Last edited by Welly Wu; May 28th, 2015 at 05:15 AM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
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    Land of fire and drought
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    Hidden!
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    Xubuntu

    Re: 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC

    Sounds like one powerhouse machine. Are you intending to land a fleet of spacecraft on Mars? You probably could with that rig.

    PS: I like the looks of that power supply. Energy efficient PSUs are one of my favourite things.

  3. #3
    Join Date
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    Nutley, NJ
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    Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver

    Re: 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC

    Thank you.

    I did not mention why or what this new 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC is going to be used for. I purchased it because I have a very large apartment and a medium sized bedroom, but I have a small wooden desk. I wanted a GNU/Linux certified desktop PC so that I am guaranteed that all of the PC hardware components are 100% compatible especially with the latest Ubuntu 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux desktop operating system. This desktop PC will be used primarily for SteamOS + GNU/Linux PC gaming. I have 533.00 PC games in my Steam library of which 243.00 are available for SteamOS + GNU/Linux. That is roughly 45% which is not bad in my opinion. Recently, I went on a buying spree to get a whole slew of AAA, AA, A SteamOS + GNU/Linux PC games from the Humble Bundle Store Spring sale and Steam. I do not shop at GOG yet. While my Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P notebook PC is capable of playing most AAA SteamOS + GNU/Linux PC games at high or very high graphics settings at 30.00 frames per second or faster, I wanted a GNU/Linux certified desktop PC for more unique features and capabilities along with pure performance. I wanted to spend a reasonable amount of money to get most of my boxes checked off without going overboard by spending double or triple the amount that I did wind up spending for excessively powerful PC hardware components. I also wanted a relatively compact and smallish desktop PC case with more limited upgrade path options because I am not going to tear it apart and upgrade everything internally for the next couple of years. I looked at System76 and ZaReason and the latter company offers more compelling products that fit my budget and personal needs better at this time.

    I plan to contact ZaReason via telephone later today to ask them some more questions about my new 2015 Zeto desktop PC and about the ordering, build, and shipment processes in detail. I will ask them if swapping out the internal SSDs and reinstalling Ubuntu 14.04.2 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux will pose any unique challenges and about adding the Logitech G710+ mechanical keyboard later this year during the holiday shopping season. I am thinking that I should be good to go because these minor PC hardware component changes are relatively minor and easy to do in the field by the end user.

    I plan to keep both PCs for a long period of time. In the future, I plan to buy higher end, more modern, and more powerful GNU/Linux certified desktop PCs. I went through four notebook PCs in the since 2008 and I am getting tired of the expense and hassle of replacing notebook PCs every two years or less.

    I also purchased two Aurum high speed 6.6' long HDMI cables:

    2. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ilpage_o00_s00

    This should work.
    Last edited by Welly Wu; May 29th, 2015 at 01:47 AM.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
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    87
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    Ubuntu Mate 16.04 Xenial Xerus

    Re: 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC

    Quote Originally Posted by Welly Wu View Post
    I ordered my new ZaReason Zeto Ubuntu 14.04.x 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux desktop PC! It cost me $1,982.00 USD with no New Jersey sales tax or shipping fees.


    Intel 4th generation "Haswell" Core i7-4790 3.60 - 4.0 GHz quad-core with Hyper Threading and Turbo Boost CPU
    16.00 GB DDR3 1,600 MHz RAM
    Crucial SATA-III 6 GB/s 256.00 GB solid state disk
    Slot loading CD-RW/DVD-RW drive
    Dual Gigabit Ethernet + 802.11 dual-band AC/B/G/N Wi-Fi with Bluetooth 4.0
    nVidia Geforce GTX 970 with 4.0 GB GDDR5 video RAM GPU
    500 watt 80 Plus Gold power supply
    ASUS LED 22" 1920 X 1080P monitor
    Logitech MK120 USB 2.0 wired keyboard and mouse
    1 year warranty


    I also ordered two 6.6 foot long HDMI cables from Amazon to connect either my Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P or ZaReason Zeto to my ASUS 22" LED monitor.


    I plan to switch my Crucial M550 2.5" 7.0 mm (with 2.5 mm bracket) SATA-III 6 GB/s 1.0 TB solid state disk from my Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P notebook PC to my new 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC. I plan to put the Crucial 2.5" 9.5 mm SATA-III 6 GB/s 256.00 GB solid state disk from my ZaReason Zeto into my Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P notebook PC. I also plan to reinstall the latest Ubuntu 14.04.2 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux desktop operating system to enable full-disk encryption and nVidia Geforce GT/GTX proprietary graphics drivers using the latest X-Org Edgers PPA on both PCs. It should take me roughly two days to reinstall my favorite software applications. I am keeping my personal user data on my Transcend StoreJet USB 3.0 2.0 TB MIL-STD portable, rugged, encrypted hard disk drive so I can plug it into either PCs and access my stuff.


    I should expect safe delivery of my new 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC sometime in late June 2015.


    I am excited!
    Never heard of this company - so it was an interesting post for me, but I checked out the website - why not go with the Valta X99i? It's specs are for serious work:

    The high-end i7 LGA2011-V3 processor with an available 8-cores (16 threads) makes the Valta X99i the ultimate desktop/workstation. Designed to perform and built to last.


    • Intel Haswell i7 CPU (LGA-2011 v3 socket) 6 or 8 core
    • DDR4 Memory
    • Dedicated ATI or Nvidia GPU
    • SATA3 6Gb/s
    • 7.1 High-Definition Audio
    • Side Window
    • Case Fan Controller (High/Low/Off)
    • Silent Case Fans w/ blue LED


  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
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    Nutley, NJ
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    Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver

    Re: 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC

    The reason why I didn't go for the Valta X99i is because the desktop case is much too big for my wooden desk. I wanted to be able to put my ZaReason Zeto desktop PC on my wooden desk right next to my ASUS 22" Full HD monitor. It's pretty crowded right now, but I think that I can make it fit if I remove some stuff off the surface of my wooden desk. What I'm really trying to write here is that I like compact and small form factor desktop PCs, but not necessarily something like an Intel NUC or ZaReason Zini 1550. I still need fairly modern and powerful desktop PC hardware components to play older and newer SteamOS + GNU/Linux PC games. The other reason why I did not get the Valta X99i is due to cost. I wanted to spend up to $2,000.00 USD in total including shipping fees. Fortunately, ZaReason has a limited Memorial Day sale whereby they offer free ground shipping until May 31st, 2015 so I took advantage of that special offer.

    I think that I got not necessarily the best value for the dollar, but I got a reasonable GNU/Linux certified compact SFF desktop PC, monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
    Last edited by Welly Wu; May 29th, 2015 at 12:15 AM.

  6. #6
    Join Date
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    Re: 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC

    A few people asked me why I decided to purchase a GNU/Linux certified desktop PC. Here are my answers. First, I own a Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P notebook PC and it is certified to run Microsoft Windows 8.1 Home 64 bit. I got so fed up with Microsoft Corporation that I decided to throw away my Lenovo system recovery CD-ROMs in the garbage and I tried different GNU/Linux distributions. I tried Elementary OS Freya 64 bit, Linux Mint 17.1 64 bit, OpenSuSE 13.2 64 bit, Red Hat Fedora 22 Workstation 64 bit, Manjaro 64 bit, Arch 64 bit, Debian 8 64 bit, etc. Almost all of them either failed to install or boot or I had technical issues with the closed source, proprietary, nVidia Geforce 64 bit graphics drivers. In the end, I was lucky to get Ubuntu 14.04.2 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux installed and working with zero technical issues. It is important to recognize the fact that UEFI and especially Secure Boot plus the proprietary nVidia Geforce graphics drivers are in varying states of compatibility and support across different GNU/Linux distributions. This fact gets compounded when trying to install a GNU/Linux distribution on PC hardware components certified to run Microsoft Windows 7 or 8.1 64 bit. The other major issue is the Lenovo warranty. By switching to Ubuntu 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux, I voided my one year warranty so I am unable to get software support.


    There is an Apple and Microsoft tax that must be paid with their products. The less mentioned fact is that there is a Linux tax. The Linux tax imposes significantly higher prices for GNU/Linux certified PC hardware components and products compared to Microsoft products, but it is due to the realities of the current PC market. Tier one PC OEMs like Hewlett Packard, Dell, Razer, Lenovo, etc. work to leverage the scales of economies within the Microsoft ecosystem of products and services while much smaller GNU/Linux certified PC OEMs or ODMs do not have this advantage yet. This is why GNU/Linux resellers like System76 and ZaReason in particular charge more for their products and services compared to Microsoft products and services. The other major consideration to take into account is the fact that building GNU/Linux certified PC hardware components into a desktop, notebook, or server costs more time and money for the reseller. Those costs are passed onto the customer directly.


    The chief advantages of purchasing GNU/Linux certified PC hardware components and products is the 100% guarantee that most major distributions will work right out of the box and customers will get support for both the hardware and software. I don't have to fight with both the PC hardware components and the manufacturer which in my case is ZaReason just to get Ubuntu 14.04.2 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux installed and running smoothly. I used to own a 2012 System76 Lemur Ultra Thin (lemu4) notebook PC and Ubuntu 12.04.x 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux worked perfectly along with almost all of the other major GNU/Linux distributions that I tried in the past with that laptop. The peace of mind in knowing that I can play with my GNU/Linux without any major headaches and the support that comes from the company directly are priceless. Think about those facts the next time you consider purchasing a desktop or notebook PC and you intend to install and use GNU/Linux on it.


    Finally, I wanted to mention the obvious: desktop PCs rock for pure performance! I am tired of having to purchase a new notebook PC every two years or less because something starts to malfunction or break through my heavy computing usage scenarios. I wanted to learn from the lessons in my past and try something new and different which is why I decided to purchase a new 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC. I expect this to last me up to five years with no major problems. Time will tell.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
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    Nutley, NJ
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    Re: 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC

    In December 2015, I plan to do some holiday shopping at Amazon:


    Logitech G710+ illuminated mechanical USB 2.0 wired keyboard:


    1. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009C98NPY/...AMXAA4EC&psc=1


    Western Digital Velociraptor 3.5" SATA-III 6 GB/s 10,000.00 RPM 64 MB cache 1.0 TB desktop hard disk drive:


    2. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...f_rd_i=desktop


    I contacted ZaReason and they will wire my new 2015 Zeto desktop PC to be able to hook up a second hard disk drive right out of the box and they will provide me with all of the parts necessary including the SATA-III 6 GB/s cables and screws. Awesome! Altogether, my price should go up to $2,732.98 USD by the end of this year for my new 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC including the new keyboard and high speed hard disk drive. I can afford it.
    Last edited by Welly Wu; May 29th, 2015 at 06:13 PM.

  8. #8
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    King's Lynn, UK
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    Re: 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC

    Quote Originally Posted by Welly Wu View Post
    ...The reason why I didn't go for the Valta X99i is because the desktop case is much too big for my wooden desk...

    ...Altogether, my price should go up to $2,732.98 USD by the end of this year for my new 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC including the new keyboard and high speed hard disk drive. I can afford it.
    You know, I kinda hate to say this, but..... If you're splashing out that kind of money on a new machine, couldn't you afford to buy a bigger wooden desk?


    Regards,

    Mike.
    Last edited by Mike_Walsh; May 29th, 2015 at 09:36 AM.
    Compaq Presario SR1619UK, running Xubuntu & Puppies 'X-Slacko' & 'Slacko'
    Dell Inspiron 1100, running Xubuntu & Puppies 'TahrPup' & 'Precise'

    IF
    the advice given has helped you, PLEASE have the courtesy to post back and say 'Thank you'..!

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
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    Nutley, NJ
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    Re: 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC

    I just don't have enough physical space for a larger desk in my bedroom. I'm thinking about using the spare bedroom as my second one since it is not occupied. I'd rather not do this, but I may have to sometime in the future. I measured the ZaReason Zeto and ASUS monitor and both should fit along with the Logitech keyboard. It's going to be a tight fit, but there will be enough vertical space to allow all of my electronics to cool properly during the seasons. I should be getting my two Aurum HDMI 1.4a cables today. I think that I'll get my ZaReason Zeto desktop PC system on June 10th.

  10. #10
    Join Date
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    Re: 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC

    I wanted to ask a question to this community. I am going to have up to three internal solid state disks. On my Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P notebook PC, I have a Transcend M.2 42 mm NGFF SATA-III 6 GB/s 256.00 GB solid state disk and a Crucial M550 2.5" 7.00 mm (with 2.5 mm bracket) SATA-III 6 GB/s 1.0 TB solid state disk. I installed Ubuntu 14.04.2 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux on the Crucial M550 and I enabled full-disk encryption. I worked hard to install, configure, setup, and optimize my Ubuntu desktop operating system and everything is working just fine. For my new 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC, I will have a Crucial MX100 2.5" 7.00 mm SATA-III 6 GB/s 256.00 GB solid state disk and I will eventually have a Western Digital Velociraptor 3.5" SATA-III 6 GB/s 10,000.00 RPM 64 MB cache 1.0 TB hard disk drive. What should I do with the Crucial M550 1.0 TB SSD? Should I keep it inside my Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P notebook PC and just leave Ubuntu intact or should I put it inside my ZaReason Zeto desktop PC and reinstall Ubuntu 14.04.2 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux twice on both PCs in order to enable full-disk encryption and to get a clean installation?


    Most of the time, I stay at home in my bedroom and I use my PC a lot. I play a fair number of SteamOS + GNU/Linux PC games, but I limit myself up to five at a time because it gets to be too much to play more PC games at a time. Otherwise, I keep most of my personal user data on my Transcend StoreJet USB 3.0 2.0 TB 5,400 RPM MIL-STD certified portable, rugged, encrypted hard disk drive. I calculated the total disk space consumed by my five SteamOS + GNU/Linux PC games and it is roughly 25.40 GB. Ubuntu typically takes up to 10.00 GB including my installed software applications, packages, libraries, and dependencies. In fact, I am using 44.40 GB on my Crucial M550 1.0 TB SSD, but this is what I consider to be a full desktop installation with everything installed except my personal user data such as my large multimedia library. I do own a legal copy of VMWare Workstation 11.1.0 64 bit and I have roughly 129.00 GB of guest virtual machines, but they are stored on my Transcend SATA-III 6 GB/s 256.00 GB SSD inside my Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P notebook PC. So, my calculations are such that I would consume roughly 174.00 GB of data on my Crucial MX100 SATA-III 6 GB/s 256.00 GB solid state disk inside my new 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC in order to replicate my Ubuntu 14.04.2 64 bit LTS GNU/Linux installation on my Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P to the desktop PC. It should be sufficient with enough available disk space to spare. In other words, I'm trying to make both my notebook and desktop PC as similar to each other as possible in terms of the Ubuntu desktop operating system, installed software applications, packages, libraries, dependencies, SteamOS + GNU/Linux PC games, and VMWare Workstation guest virtual machines. I would still leave my multimedia library on my Transcend StoreJet portable hard disk drive so that it is convenient for me to access my personal user data between both PCs. I can also put it inside my Sentry Safe to lock it up and secure it.


    When I travel, I do go for extended visits. I stay over at my parent's apartment in Northern New Jersey and my friends' apartments in Essex County, New Jersey for a few days. I also visit my local public library, coffee shop, eatery, etc. and I almost always bring my notebook PC and portable hard disk drive.


    I am thinking that the WD Velociraptor will be used as a high speed scratch disk. I could transfer my VMWare Workstation guest virtual machines to it and create more of them in the future. This will save me 129.00 GB from putting them onto my Crucial MX100 SATA-III 6 GB/s 256.00 GB SSD inside my new 2015 ZaReason Zeto desktop PC. I use VMWare Workstation quite a bit and I do download, install, and use quite a number of guest virtual machines daily. I like to test different desktop operating systems in a controlled and safe environment. Preferably, I like to keep my guest VMs on a separate disk partition and volume.


    What should I do? Should I keep the status quo or should I switch the Crucial MX100 and M550 SSDs between the notebook and desktop PCs? What would you do and why?

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