Custom build you own modern computer (new Ryzen CPU) for under 400.00 (OS not incld.)

https://pcpartpicker.com/ ^ | Thu, 08/22/19 | daniel1212

[daniel1212]

After all these years of being abused by MS since DOS, I dig this Linux and gladly welcome the very few minor short comings it might have right now for the ball and chain to be removed. It is getting better by the day and if more would load it the options and advantages would explode.

In order to run it on the latest Ryzen CPUs with integrated graphics, it seems you at least would need the latest kernel (5.x)., How can you tell which kernel version a distro has? I have looked but find no such info in release notes (such as for Minut 19.2). I understand it will upgrade, but I would want to try it out before installing it.

I hope to install Linux on my older PC, running a AMD 4350 CPU (4.2 Ghz) with 16GB ram, but how can I get the live version to recognize my USB wireless, which is the only way i can connect? It is not even shown (Windows 10 does though it needs the RealTek driver for dual-band).

And as I like to do a lot of customizing (without having to learn coding if possible) if i can ask about other customizations, is there a Linux program that is really like AutoHotKey, by which (among other things) I can easily change the CapsLock key to copy, and the Esc key to paste (and NumLock to Esc), which is a must due to my arthritic fingers. I spent much time once trying proffered solutions but which failed, and the default options for keyboard hot keys would not do this, though IIRC with Fedora I was able to partially achieve this.

is there a clock in Linux that compares to T-Clock redux in depth and ease of customization?

And do you know of any Linux utilities that are comparable to the Ultimate Windows Tweaker (200 tweaks offered) and Winaero Tweaker

Which of the many desktop flavors do you consider to be the best for functionality and customization? I like a compact yet detailed start menu, and the ability to add items to right click menus (such as the free Right-Click Extender enables). Which desktop and or app is closest to enabling such?

Which file manager is most comparable to Tree size free?

Can I customize each folder icon?

I have been the only user on this PC for years, and have never had a virus or malware in Windows 10 (two previously going back to 2000), and you have to grant permission to any program to install in W/10, or to access certain files, which just means to agree, and system files are protected, but you can permanently change permissions (like for the host file), or you can enable the Adminstrators account. Rather than needing to run sudo for each time I want to do the same in Linux, I would like to be able to just right clock and choose Run as Adminstrator, or Take ownership.

Is playing DVDs and other media with protected multimedia codecs legal in America now (MP3 is i think)? I know the VLC player (for one) will do so, and the Windows Store offers a free DVD player, and you can buy one from fluendo for Linux and Windows (separate licenses though).

Do not feel you have to answer these but they would be a help while also showing why I prefer Windows, as customized. Thanks. Grace and peace thru Jesus the Lord.

[Openurmind]

OK my friend, let’s be fair here and agree on something from the start. In no way are you near being the normal average windows user. From what you have shared so far over the last year you have a fetish for very detailed personal customization and additional applications of which some are redundant and added extra personal flair like T clock.

I’m hoping you realize that 9,999 out of 10,000 normal average users have no clue what you are talking about nor will they ever need or want all of this personal custom tweaking you do let alone have the skills. They just want something out of the box that works well and not need the extremely detailed tweaking as you do.

But with that said, yes... Any linux can be customized any way you like it with the level of skills you have with windows, and mine allows me to make custom icons as a boxed feature. There is one user here who customizes Linux desktops to look just like Windows 7. I think you should load up mint cinnamon 19.2 in your old one. Many of the menu and tree file structure features you have added to tweak yours come as a standard feature and are customizable.

Go at it with an average user mind set and resist your personal habit of wanting to tweak and customize every detail and add a bunch of extra redundant stuff right off the bat. Let the auto installer just do it’s thing on it’s own without additional boot loader software to “help” it or anything, It doesn’t need anything extra like it may have a few years ago. Try it as is with no changes.

Now I can tell you that I have absolutely no hardware driver issues at all with this version and no tweaking done. I even loaded it on a 2004 HP pavilion (did need a bootloader for this ancient PC install to boot from USB, would have been fine from the CD drive but it was broke) but I use a USB wireless adapter with it fine. And the PC I am using right now with the same OS runs the same USB adapter just fine. The only thing that does not work on the old 04 HP is the wireless button on the keyboard to turn it on and off. I found that I would have to get a mother board specific proprietary driver to make that work again. And of course they no longer have it available.

As for your new Ryzen CPU, The linux kernel is being worked on to make it fully function now. From what I am reading this has also a challenge with Windows because it is so new. Currently the Mint 19.2 has a Kernel 4.15.0-54 which is fine but geared for slightly older PCs of course.

[Openurmind]

As for the DVD question... The mint cinnamon comes boxed with a multimedia player. But before it can work you have to go to Menu/Sound and Video/Install codecs. After this it will play DVDs and the Rhythm Box will play audio CDs. I guess they make it an additional step to install the codecs so that you get the very newest codecs from the start instead of needing to be updated.

[greedo]

How can you tell which kernel version a distro has?

It depends on the date that the .iso file was created.

--

According to Linux Mint version history, Mint 19.2 with a release date of August 02 2019 is based on Ubuntu 18.04.

The Ubuntu 18.04.3 .iso at PNNL Mirror as of 05-Aug-2019 has the 5.0 kernel.

ubuntu-18.04.3-desktop-amd64.manifest says the kernel is linux-image-5.0.0-23-generic.

--

If the August 02 2019 Mint .iso is based on the same Ubuntu 18.04.3 as the PNNL 05-Aug-2019 .iso, it should have the 5.0 kernel.

[daniel1212]

Thanks I see
PCLinuxOS KDE Full Edition 2019.06 Release is Kernel 5.1.10

[daniel1212]

OK my friend, let’s be fair here and agree on something from the start. In no way are you near being the normal average windows user.

On that we can agree!

Any linux can be customized any way you like it with the level of skills you have with windows,

That, or finding that, is not what I have experienced.

I think you should load up mint cinnamon 19.2 in your old one.

Thanks. I also like https://www.pclinuxos.com/pclinuxos-kde-full-edition-2019-06-release/ Release is Kernel 5.1.10 May be the USB wireless with work with the latter.

Try it as is with no changes.

I have. Every major distro, and some minor, though of late there are more. But I am not giving up.

[daniel1212]

As for the DVD question... The mint cinnamon comes boxed with a multimedia player. But before it can work you have to go to Menu/Sound and Video/Install codecs. After this it will play DVDs and the Rhythm Box will play audio CDs. I guess they make it an additional step to install the codecs so that you get the very newest codecs from the start instead of needing to be updated.

I understand that; my question was about legality. I would rather buy the Fluendo OnePlay if playing them was illegal, as it seems to be (and I wish they all used Ogg). But I do not want to spend about as much as Windows cost me just to play protected content, presuming that the Ultra DVD player from the Windows store is itself legal to use.

More research finds this: Why Watching DVDs on Linux is Illegal in the USA

And Fedora states,

Fedora is unable to include support for playback of DVD video because it requires patented technologies and the necessary software may violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a copyright law of the United States. The MPEG-2 video compression format is protected by patents under United States law and international treaties. The CSS encryption scheme is a copyright protection measure, and the code that open source players must use to decrypt DVD media [via libdvdcss] using this scheme may violate the DMCA since it can be used to circumvent that protection.

Thus nocodec' versions of the Mint iso images used to be offered.

[Openurmind]

Thank you for recognizing I was not trying to be conflictive about it, It's just that with your drive to customize in detail as you do, Linux is right up your alley and actually designed for someone with your skills. I think you feel so comfortable with windows because you happen to know it so well from years of playing with it when there is a huge potential with your skills using open source.

Here is a perspective to consider. Because MS is so proprietary, including control over 3rd party apps, there are actually many more limitations to what you can do with it compared to open source like Linux. Look at how many distros and apps there are because anyone who wants to customize it can do that without the restrictions of proprietary licenses and restrictions. It is a customizers dream come true, Freedom to do anything you like including building your own personal custom distro. there is even CMOS flash firmware to make a real real old machine into a new up to date machine. so Linux is from the CMOS up capable.

I do some web development as a hobby and what I have found is that Linux and similar open source can be compared to working with webscripts, HTML, java, and CSS style. Every little element can be customized with a few snippets of code or value settings to the finest detail. And if there is anything that can possibly be done with Linux someone has indeed done it, just have to search around and find it and apply it as you like. And there is a LOT of it... with instructions and most times personal support.

But it doesn't even need to be that complicated, because it is open source there are applications designed to make everything easier for customizing it as you like. Some like the Mint Cinnamon come boxed with tools to customize folders, menus, etc. Themes, folders, menus, tool bars, colors, and custom emblems (in "properties") can be applied as you like to customize in detail. And there are assembly apps that make it easier to build your own custom distro or desktop as you like from the bottom up without restriction, or personally customize any chosen boxed distro as you like in detail.

I'm thinking you may be locked into the "permission" mind set from working with windows when open source is a free for all to do as you like with it. And I also think you might be limiting your own potential and skill set with this when there is so much more you could achieve with open source and a little time and effort. And a search of "doing xxxxxx with or in Linux?" would open up a whole new world for your skill set. What you can actually do with it is incredible once you start searching around. Everything from building a radio telescope to running a Raspberry Pi, you can make a phone run on Linux or run android apps on your PC. The capabilities are endless and someone has done it and are sharing it somewhere. All because there are no proprietary limitations.

Again... with that being shared, search around and you will find that Linux can indeed be highly customized. I think you are on the right track with the pclinuxos kde as a base to start from with your new Ryzen CPU system. Then you can go customize it even further as you like of course. But the boxed mint cinnamon and kernel might actually serve your older PC better because it has great drivers boxed up geared for older machines. And like I say, I have installed it on 5 PCs now and the USB/internal wireless drivers have worked flawlessly. From a 2002 E machine to a brand new HP laptop with Win 10.

Now when I mention to try it as is with no changes, I was pointing towards doing any partitioning or anything before hand. If you have installed mint then you know this is not needed because the install will do all this for you and give you the size options Etc. and auto set up the two separate partitions needed during the install. These links I share are just a small example and the very tip of the iceberg with what can be done with and customized in Linux. :)

https://www.techsupportalert.com/content/tips-and-tricks-linux-mint-after-installation-mint-18-cinnamon-edition.htm

https://cinnamon-spices.linuxmint.com/

https://www.maketecheasier.com/6-tools-to-easily-create-your-own-custom-linux-distro/

[Openurmind]

I realize you are just being an honest man here, which is noble. but I am pretty sure you have nothing to worry about with “playing” DVDs and audio CDs. Many times these statements are just disclaimers to cover their own rears in case of some sort of liability suit against themselves.

This restriction would be like saying that only certain brand radios, CD players, or DVD players are allowed to be used to play these mediums. They are just insulating themselves from the end user with these statements. I think the only thing you might have to be careful with is routing around the international “zone” protections on DVD’s, or if you copy and share anything and this can be proved or actually enforced.

Even then I have never heard of this actually being enforced. it is more of just a mental deterrent. It would be grasping at straws and a lost cause to try and keep you from using any tools you want to just “play” these mediums. :)

[Openurmind]

I found some interesting stuff concerning your Kernel version issue in whatever distro you are running. You can make your own or pull a newer version from kernel.org. Latest known "stable" is 5.2.10 :)

http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/view/9.0-rc1/chapter08/kernel.html

https://www.kernel.org/

[Openurmind]

https://alternativeto.net/software/treesize/?platform=linux

But, Linux Mint cinnamon comes boxed with "Disk Usage Analyzer" which is just like TreeSize. It pulls every element of the partitions and files in detail just like TreeSize does. In fact it looks the same, graphs and all. And I think I forgot this in my earlier reply? https://www.wikihow.com/Install-and-Upgrade-to-a-New-Kernel-on-Linux-Mint

[SamAdams76]

Same here. During the mid 1990s to the early 2000s, I must have built a hundred computers for friends, family and co-workers. Those were the days when Circuit City and CompUSA were selling 486 and Pentium-based computers for well over $2,000. I could build them for under $1,000.

People were so appreciative that they'd sometimes slip me $100 bills as a bonus. If only I invested all that money in Apple. At the time, it appeared Apple was going out of business.

[daniel1212]

I realize you are just being an honest man here, which is noble. but I am pretty sure you have nothing to worry about with “playing” DVDs and audio CDs. Many times these statements are just disclaimers to cover their own rears in case of some sort of liability suit against themselves.

Well, my concern is not that of getting caught, but a matter of conscience toward God, as in "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme," (1 Peter 2:13).

Which of course is conditional upon lack of conflict with what God states, but although I do not agree with the work of Christian ministries being copyrighted so that one is a criminal if they copy and share it for free, yet as regards secular work, I believe that one who writes code for a living, thereby providing a service for others, has a right to earn profits off of it just as much as one who invents a better mouse trap.

The problem is that software can easily be replicated and shared, thus removing sales (though making the author more well-known) of the product or the license to use it.

This restriction would be like saying that only certain brand radios, CD players, or DVD players are allowed to be used to play these mediums.

I if you wanted to produce your own DVD player, you are sppsd to license CSS support from the DVD Copy Control Association, while and those who publicly transmit copyrighted material are supposed to pay royalties to the artist. In Linux and programs like the VLC player, libdvdcss is used to hack the CSS 40-bit encryption. Which circumvention is illegal, if not prosecuted in the case of private persons.

Yet before knowing this I have used the VLC player or the like, while I also must have more than one backup copy of web pages that are copyrighted (which is illegal according to the letter), and have watched some videos that TMK apparently did not have explicit permission from the owners to do, but which I hope to avoid doing in the future.

Which is not to say that I agree with the excessive restrictions. I feel that if you are going to display something in public then you should expect it to be recorded in totality and multi-copied to read, watch or hear again, if not to the public at large, and that there should be no restriction on that. Likewise if you purchase a DVD or music. "Fair use" usually only allows portions of a work to be used in commentary, reviews and some other purposes.

Anyway, i am both expressing my desire as well as my discontent.

[Openurmind]

I knew that was the case. :)

But while a shovel is designed to dig holes it can also be used to commit murder. But until someone actually does this they are innocent in both the eyes of the law and the eyes of the lord. Just because it “can” be used in such a way to commit a crime, it does not mean that just owning a shovel already makes you guilty of a crime. Same as with a firearm. I think if you only use them as they are meant to be used in a legal way you can have a clear conscience.

[Openurmind]

Anmd by the way I forgot, But the mint cinnamon DVD player is VLC media player.

[daniel1212]

But while a shovel is designed to dig holes it can also be used to commit murder. But until someone actually does this they are innocent in both the eyes of the law and the eyes of the lord. Just because it “can” be used in such a way to commit a crime, it does not mean that just owning a shovel already makes you guilty of a crime. Same as with a firearm. I think if you only use them as they are meant to be used in a legal way you can have a clear conscience.

That is not really analogous, for it seems that the issue with the DRM is that, according to the letter, it allows no right use of playing a DVD without the license (thus players themselves are required to have them), likewise the patent license for proprietary MM codecs. Which means that even if you have a licensed DVD player that can legally decrypt DVD's, yet the right to use use the multimedia codecs to play it also requires a license. Thus the offer of the ONEPLAY Codec Pack (a complete set of GStreamer plugins made available together with their respective patent licenses and provided by the most important multimedia patent holders) or player. Though their web site indicates they really are not very interested in selling to individual users.

[Openurmind]

See, now this is the Microsoft style mentality I have a huge problem with. You can pay good money for it but it is NEVER yours to use as you like, it always belongs to them and they dictate how you can or cannot use it even as the “end user”. At some point consumer rights should be recognized and a moral line drawn. It’s like buying a car and having the car manufacturer perpetually dictate who can and who cannot ride in YOUR car.

I’m thinking that because the products capable of this have not been legally opposed and eliminated from the market they have accepted it and hereby legally nullified their own decree. Like with right of ways across private property, if you do not oppose traffic from using it, then legally it becomes a public right away with no recourse just because you neglected and did not act on your own right to oppose it.

“you allowed it you accepted it”.

[Openurmind]

Anyhow, please let me know if you decide to load the cinnamon and I will get you the paths to all the goodies. :)

[daniel1212]

See, now this is the Microsoft style mentality I have a huge problem with. You can pay good money for it but it is NEVER yours to use as you like, it always belongs to them and they dictate how you can or cannot use it even as the “end user”. At some point consumer rights should be recognized and a moral line drawn. It’s like buying a car and having the car manufacturer perpetually dictate who can and who cannot ride in YOUR car.

Actually, selling a license to use software is a reasonable capitalistic business model, while i find more freedom under Windows than Linux, due to the greater variety of freeware the works with all recent versions of the OS and much less of a learning curve.

And I was not happy finding that at least on one Linux distro insisted that the files of mine on a separate drive were not mine to do with as I pleased, but required learning some script to run each time. That was one reason I liked Puppy.

So many flavors, so much variety, but I think there is much more potential for a free alternative to Windows.

[daniel1212]

Anyhow, please let me know if you decide to load the cinnamon and I will get you the paths to all the goodies. :)

Thanks muchly! Maybe as the weather turns colder, though i like the KDE desktop