My 8 old computer (Compaq Persario CL1717SR) desktop died on me last week. So I decided to build my first computer (with some assistance) and here are my specs.

No OS... or should I say Distro, yet.

AM3+ FX 4130 / AM3+ FX 4300
GA-78LMT-SP2 / GA-78LMT-SP2 AM3+
STT DDR 1600 / STT DD3 1600 4GB
Lite-On 24x DV/ Lit-On24X DVDRW SATA

Coolmaster 460w / Coolmaster 460W
Cougar Case

Any tips or recommendations on what I should do before or after I download Linux Mint? This computer will exclusively run Linux. Thank you.

I wouldnt get a GA-78LMT-SP2.

Its old, very old, only has SATAII (SATAIII is much nicer, if only for using SSDs in the future) and has a ATI/AMD HD 3000 series GPU, which is unsupported now.

The FX-4XXX are 2 module/4 core CPUs, like the fastest FM2 CPUs. You might find a FM2 CPU + motherboard is about the same cost, with a newer GPU, SATAIII and USB 3.0 as well.

Thanks for the advice. I should have made myself clear, the list is what I have; I finished building my computer this morning. At that, most of the parts where given to me by friends... this build was my first I'm sure they'll others.

Motherboard is a 78LMT-USB3 (rev.5 I did go to Gigabytes website and they noted Linux users need to access third party venders for drivers. I"m definitely investing in a sound-card and up the RAM by 8GB. I ran both MATE and Cinnamon live today... I'm not for sure but I may wait for Linux Mint 16 before downloading anything. We shall see. Thanks.

I wouldtn bother with Mint 14, 15 or 16.

Mint 14 is only supported for 18 months, its support runs out in April 2014.

Mint 15 only has 9 months support (actually, less than that, its more like 7 months), and support runs out in January 2014.

Mint 16 wont be out until at least November 2013, will have the same support length as Mint 15.

Install 13 LTS, its supported until April 2017.

Gigabytes site really is a bit silly as far as linux goes....you'll probably have most, or all the drivers you need with that setup from any current linux distro.

Thanks cascade9 for the heads about Linux 13LTS, I'll do just that.

I have a 64-bit machine, will I have to make changes in the BIOs when bump up my RAM by 8GB, 12GB total. Should I have any issue running 64-bit on 4GB? Thanks.

Nah, you shouldnt need to make any BIOS changes installing more RAM.

Running 64bit on 4GB is no problem. I'm using 4GB with 64bit right now. I have used 2GB with 64bit in the past as well. I wouldnt use 64bit with less than 2GB of RAM though (in most cases anyway).

Downloaded LM Maya yesterday... so far so good. The only issuse I can see at this point, I can't get any sound out if I choose my HDMI

RS780 HDMI Audio [Radeon (HD) 3000 Series]
1 output
Digital Stero (HDMI) Output


Built-in Audio yes but when I select the HDMI, nothing. This info from terminal....

aplay -l

GA-78LMT-USB3 ~ $ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 0: VT2020 Analog [VT2020 Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 1: VT2020 Digital [VT2020 Digital]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 2: VT2020 HP [VT2020 HP]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: HDMI [HDA ATI HDMI], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
GA-78LMT-USB3 ~ $

and lspci -k


00:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] RS780 Host Bridge
Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] RS780 Host Bridge
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] RS780/RS880 PCI to PCI bridge (int gfx)
Kernel modules: shpchp
00:04.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] RS780/RS880 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 0)
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
Kernel modules: shpchp
00:06.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 2)
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
Kernel modules: shpchp
00:11.0 SATA controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 SATA Controller [IDE mode]
Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd GA-MA770-DS3rev2.0 Motherboard
Kernel driver in use: ahci
00:12.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device 5004
Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd
00:12.1 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SB7x0 USB OHCI1 Controller
Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device 5004
Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd
00:12.2 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device 5004
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
00:13.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device 5004
Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd
00:13.1 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SB7x0 USB OHCI1 Controller
Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device 5004
Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd
00:13.2 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device 5004
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
00:14.0 SMBus: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SBx00 SMBus Controller (rev 3c)
Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd GA-MA770-DS3rev2.0 Motherboard
Kernel modules: sp5100_tco, i2c-piix4
00:14.1 IDE interface: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 IDE Controller
Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device 5002
Kernel driver in use: pata_atiixp
Kernel modules: pata_atiixp
00:14.2 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)
Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device a014
Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel
00:14.3 ISA bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 LPC host controller
Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 LPC host controller
00:14.4 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge
00:14.5 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI2 Controller
Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device 5004
Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 0
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 1
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 2
Kernel modules: amd64_edac_mod
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 3
Kernel driver in use: k10temp
Kernel modules: k10temp
00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 4
Kernel driver in use: fam15h_power
Kernel modules: fam15h_power
00:18.5 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 5
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RS780L [Radeon 3000]
Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device d000
Kernel driver in use: fglrx_pci
Kernel modules: fglrx, radeon
01:05.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RS780 HDMI Audio [Radeon (HD) 3000 Series]
Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RS780 HDMI Audio [Radeon (HD) 3000 Series]
Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel
02:00.0 USB controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. Device 3483 (rev 01)
Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device 5007
Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 06)
Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Motherboard
Kernel driver in use: r8169
Kernel modules: r8169

I searched and found this thread, https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...nt-4175423967/ but I'm still a novice so I could figure out what I should do next.

Everything is working now, switched out cables.


But I still want a sound card, any suggestions?

Budget? Intended use (gaming, music, video/media watching or something else)?

Definitley for music: Streaming music; LMMS/Mixxx apps; a little bit USB mic and video recording.

Budget for soundcard: ~ $135.00 US dollars.

Need to find a USB bluetooth adapter that works with my Maya also. The USB Broadcom bluetooth I have (4.0) won't work with Maya, I just figured that out after pulling my hair out attempting to make it work. :lol:

Thank you.

I'd get a Xonar DSX or DX. PCIe, great sound cards, decent linux support.

A (windows) review including the DGX here-

http://techreport.com/review/23358/a...cards-reviewed

You might be temped by the cheaper DG/DGX, I would not get one-

http://www.alsa-project.org/main/ind...ix:Vendor-Asus

[QUOTE=cascade9;5041297]I'd get a Xonar DSX or DX. PCIe, great sound cards, decent linux support.

A (windows) review including the DGX here-

http://techreport.com/review/23358/a...cards-reviewed

You might be temped by the cheaper DG/DGX, I would not get one-


I was willing to splurge on and that's a soundcard, your suggestions has saved me some money. Thank you. I'm still within my budget for this build. With the money left over, I'll be able to buy some beer to celebrate my first build.


This is what I've decided to purchase

ASUS Xonar DSX 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz PCI Express x1 Interface Audio Card

Does this soundcard need to be plugged into power source? Is it plug and play or will I have to go in search of drivers?

Nope, there is no extra power connectors (power is supplied over the PCIe bus). and argh, crap, I made a silly mistake. I forgot to check the DSX support with alsa. Stupid! Just because the PCI (DS) works doesnt mean the PCIe (DSX) works. Sorry about that.....

Its not really suported with alsa yet. There is a late 2012 patch, but I havent tried using it.

If you havent bouth it yet, maybe get the DX. If you have bought it, it might work 'out of the box' with very new distros, but if it doesnt you'll have to patch then compile.

http://git.alsa-project.org/?p=alsa-...6a86574d16939b
http://www.avitsland.com/2013/02/asu...ze-sound-card/

I saw that too and held off even so, I could have returned it. It appears alot of those sound cards that might work have been discontinued. Push come to shove, I'll probably order the, ASUS Xonar Essence STX.


I am having an issue of download software via the "Software Manager"... I have to go into terminal to install software sometimes, it iffy, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. When I see the bar stop at 16% for more than 10 seconds, I know it won't install. Any thoughts or solutions? Thank you.

Most of those cards are still avaible.

I wouldnt get the Essence STX.....its over twice as much as the DX and uses the same sound chip.

o yuo mean that vd/ling software is always 'iffy', or is it just with 'software manager'?

I've only used 'software manager' (rebranded ubuntu 'software centre') a few times. I mostly use the terminal to get software/updates/upgrades.

You could try installing and using 'synaptic'.