Building Linux PC: Deuxième Partie

The GIGABYTE B760I AORUS PRO DDR4 and Intel i5-13500 combination worked as expected.

GNU+Linux is not an "officially" supported operating system for most consumer motherboards. However, there is a lot of information out there about whether specific motherboards are compatible with Linux distros. As of 0ct of 2023, any Linux distro with at least Linux kernel 6.1 will work on a majority of motherboards on the market today. I make no claims that this is best build, an expert could probably do better, especially with a different budget. However, I’m confident that these components will coalesce into a good Mini Linux PC.

The RVZ02 is one of the easiest compact Mini-ITX cases to install a components in. The case separates the motherboard/cpu from the GPU by literally giving them their own section of the case.

The Fractal Design Ion SFX-L 650W is also a nifty little power supply and perfect for use with the RVZ02. 

The 58mm of cpu cooler clearance is the biggest limit of the case. The be quiet! Pure Rock Low Profile 100W TDP cpu cooler will fit without a problem. The Intel i5-13500 CPU never ran too hot. 

The Predator BiFrost AMD Radeon RX 7600 OC fit just fine in the RVZ02. The case will accommodate all but the most massive of Video Cards (nothing longer than 13", nothing wider than 2 PCIe ports. 

Keep in mind the Radeon RX 7600 discreet graphics card is optional with this build. The Intel i5-13500 built-in 770 HD graphics is all vast-vast majority of people will need. 

 

Airflow is about as good as you can ask with all chambers given direct, airflow to the outside with exhaust paths close by provide enough air for the GPU and CPU. However, if you are wanting to apply an overclock on your CPU this will not be a good case due to the fact that the Silverstone Raven RVZ02 is passively cooled only.

If you are on a budget and looking to save some money, building your own PC has its advantages. By choosing your own parts, and looking for deals across the web, you can avoid the cost for expensive parts that you don't need. As stated earlier, you do not need a discreet graphics card with this build. Also 32 GB of memory, or RAM is overkill for most people. 16 GB of RAM is much cheaper. Last but not least, you don't necessarily need a 650 power supply if you don't intend on using a powerful discrete graphics card. A 450 power supply would be a little cheaper.

Note: if you are a hardcore gamer and need something that will be at least as powerful as the PS5 and Xbox Series X. Do yourself a favor. Buy a PS5 or Xbox Series X. Better yet you can get a Xbox Series S for under $400 USD for a complete system. A PC that is as powerful as a PS5 or Xbox Series X will probably cost around $1,500 USD.

Gnu+Linux software

 

Email clients

    Thunderbird
    Mailspring
    Evolution
 

Media Production

 
    DaVinci Resolve (proprietary video editing software)
    Lightworks (proprietary video editing software)
    Kdenlive (open-source video editing software)
    Audacity (digital audio editor)
    Ocenaudio (digital audio editor)
    Ardour (digital audio editor)
    DevedeNG (DVD and CD authoring utility)


Office and productivity suites

    OnlyOffice
    OpenOffice
    LibreOffice

Music players

    Lollypop
    Rhythmbox
    Elisa


Web browsers

    Firefox
    SeaMonkey
    Falkon
    LibreWolf
    Chromium (BSD license)
    Brave (Mozilla Public License)
    Google Chrome (Proprietary)
    Microsoft Edge (Proprietary)

rip an Audio CD

    KAudioCreator
    Sound Juicer
    Asunder
    Ripperx


Video Players

    VLC Media Player
    Dragon Player
    Gnome Videos

CD, DVD and Blu-ray authoring

    K3b (from KDE Burn Baby Burn)
    Brasero CD
    Xfburn

Media Converters

    HandBrake
    SoundConverter

Screen Recording and Streaming Tools

    Simple screen recorder
    Kazam
    recordmydesktop
    OBS (Screen Recording and Streaming)
    VokoscreenNG (video or tutorial creator)

Media Server Software

    Kodi
    Plex (Proprietary)

Backup Tools

    Timeshift
    Bacula

Virtualization Apps

    Oracle VM VirtualBox
    QEMU
    VMware Workstation Pro (Proprietary)

Webcam recording software.

    Webcamoid
    Kamoso
    Cheese
    OBS

PDF viewer

    Okular
    evince
    LibreOffice Draw PDF editing
    Master PDF Editor (Proprietary)

Video conferencing

    Zoom (Proprietary)
    Skype (Proprietary)
    Jitsi Meet
    OpenMeetings
    Google Meet (Proprietary)
    Caprine Facebook Messenger

USB Image Writer Tools

     Gnome Multi-Writer
     BalenaEtcher
     Unetbootin
     Fedora Media Writer
     SUSE Studio Imagewriter

Messaging

    Pidgin

Photo editing/enhancing

    Photivo (photo processor.)
    Darktable (alternative to Adobe Lightroom)
    RawTherapee (alternative to Adobe Lightroom)
    Upscaler by Hari Rana (resolution enhancement)
    Gimp (photo editing alternative to Adobe’s Photoshop)

Emulator Software / Retrogaming

     RetroArch

 

Building Linux PC: Partie Un

I will be building my first Linux PC in 6 years. Back in August of 2017 I put together a Ryzen 3 series Linux-Ryzen-PC. One year later I upgraded to a Ryzen™ 7 2700 processor CPU Cores 8 Threads 16.

For 2023 I plan to put together a small form factor PC. If you are thinking about building your own S.F.F (small form factor) system, keep in mind that every compact case is unique, so no single build guide can tell you exactly how certain components will fit together in that case. S.F.F cases often arrange components in a way that makes it difficult to install otherwise standard PC parts. Putting together small S.F.F systems will also cause 35% more to put together. The smaller you go the more expensive things cost.

Even in 2023 it can be a challenge to put together a GNU+Linux PC. You definitely have to make sure the software and hardware you buy actually work with each other. It can be daunting and time consuming, but in my humble opinion worth it. Best advice I can always give is not to ever put too much stock in the latest and greatest. When trying to so-called future-proofing a PC you will find that it is a waste of time. Most expensive components provide diminishing returns. Mid-to-high components is that best way to go. You get more for your money.

The first thing to look at is your motherboard. Your motherboard will determine what components you can buy. Components you will need to choose is computer case, a central processing unit (CPU), a solid state drive (SSD) or hard disk drive (HDD) for storage, memory (RAM), a power supply (PSU), and a monitor. An optional component is going to be a graphics card (or GPU), but it's necessary for photo or video editing and modern AAA gaming.

When you're shopping for components, make sure you're buying from a reputable vendor. You may think you're buying from a large online store like Amazon, Walmart, or Newegg, but they allow third-party sellers to list products as well. There's usually a little notice that will tell you as much, right underneath the buy button.

All over the internet you can find plenty of PC building guides and videos. That's not the purpose of this post. This is a personal build of each component I selected that will work with any Gnu+Linux distribution with at least Linux kernel 6.1. As noted above even in 2023 it can be daunting to put together a GNU+Linux PC that works out of the box.

My selected components:

Silverstone Raven RVZ02
Fractal Design Ion SFX-L 650W 80 PLUS Gold PSU
 be quiet! LP BK034
Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 PC4-25600
Solidigm™ P44 Pro Series 512GB PCIe GEN 4 NVMe 4.0 x4 NVMe M.2 2280

My selected accessories:

LG HD 1080p TV
MSI Vigor GK30 Gaming Keyboard & GM11 Gaming Mouse
PowerA Enhanced Wired Controller For Xbox Series X|S
BenQ MOBIUZ EX2710Q 27 1440p monitor.
Dainty01 external USB 3.0 and type-c external blu ray drive
HP Smart Tank 7001 printer
4K Webcam, (DEPSTECH DW49 HD 8MP Sony Sensor)
Datacolor Spyder X Pro – Monitor Calibrator (SXP100)


Components I purchased new for this build in 2023

*TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan Z SATA3 4TB Internal Solid State Drive.
*Gigabyte B760I AORUS Pro
*Intel Core i5-13400 Raptor Lake
*SilverStone Technology RC07 PCI Express 4.0 x16 Riser Card

Note: The included riser card for the Raven V02B does not support PCIe 4.0. However, you can still use it with any PCIe 4.0 supported card and motherboard by selecting to run at PCIe 3.0 setting in your motherboard BIOS/UEFI.

*The Predator BiFrost AMD Radeon RX 7600 OC is

Note: The Predator BiFrost AMD Radeon RX 7600 OC is not necessary for this build. If are only intend to mostly surf the web, watch streaming services, software development, general office use or light gaming the Intel UHD Graphics 770 will be all you need.

The base cost for my system cost about $800 USD including local taxes. It does everything I need it to. Software development, general office use, and light gaming. I can even run processor-intensive tasks such as video encoding and the project will get done, but the tradeoff is the time it will take. 

It's impossible for me to test every single Linux distribution. These distributions I did have time to evaluate for the motherboard and video card I am using.

Linux Mint 21.2 Cinnamon Edge.
Debian 12 bookworm.
LMDE 6 Faye
MX-23 Libretto
Rhino Linux
Fedora Silverblue.
OpenMandriva ROME 23.08
Nobara Project 39
RebornOS.
Arch Linux.
ArcoLinux.
Garuda Linux.
Regata OS.
openSuse tumbleweed.
GeckoLinux Rolling edition.
Slackware-current.
Gentoo.

Note: New Gnu/Linux users might feel intimidated by the choice of Linux distributions available. Linux Mint 21.2 Cinnamon Edge,MX-23 Libretto,Nobara Project 38, or GeckoLinux Rolling edition are the distros which I believe are a perfect fit for beginners’ distros.

What is Ventoy?

Ventoy is an open source tool to create bootable USB drive for ISO/WIM/IMG/VHD(x)/EFI files.

So what does all of that mean?

In the free software/open source world users can create a live USB and write a single image file to the thumb drive using bootable USB creation tools  like Rufus or Balena Etcher. Because many computers don't have CD-ROM drives today placing a ISO image on a USB drive is the only way try out an operating system, troubleshoot an existing installation, or install windows or Linux distribution onto the system’s hard drive. 

The problem with using traditional bootable USB creation tools, you can only install one image at a time. Plus it will completely erase any content that is currently on the flash drive. In other words if you put a 1.4 GB bootable iso image on a 512 GB flash drive You waste hundreds of gigabytes of free space. 

What sets Ventoy apart from say Rufus or Balena , is Ventoys alternative approach to the process. Ventoy does not extract the image file(s) to the USB drive, but uses them directly. It is possible to place multiple ISO images on a single device and select the image to boot from the menu displayed just after Ventoy boots. You can add as many iso, .wim, .img, .vhd(x), or .efi file(s) as you want to a single USB flash drive, local disk, SSD (NVMe), or SD Card. It will present you with a boot menu to select one of these files. 

Ventoy has Persistent storage which allows you to store other types data along side your operating systems on the same USB drive. 

One thing to keep in mind about ventoy. You have to make double sure sure that the iso, .wim, .img, .vhd(x), or .efi file(s) that you put on  your storage of choice is fully copied. I have a Ventoy USB which I copy ISOs to and, when I copy it using my file manager It tells me 100% copied  but sometimes it is not. The image will not boot if it is not 100% copied on your drive. My recommendation: use USB sticks with a built-in activity light. That blinking activity light gives the user visual feedback the activity is occurring on the device. Don't unplug the device until the activity light stops. And last but not least, always make sure the ISO size is the size it is supposed to be.

Conclusion

Ventoy is a GPL3  (free and open source) program.

With Ventoy You don't need to format your USB over and over again. It can be installed on a USB flash drive, local disk, SSD (NVMe), or SD Card and it will directly boot from selected .iso, .wim, .img, .vhd(x), or .efi file(s) added. Simply copy the ISO file to your drive and boot it.

Ventoy can be installed on a USB flash drive, local disk, SSD (NVMe), or SD Card and it will directly boot from the selected .iso, .wim, .img, .vhd(x), or .efi file(s) added. Ventoy does not extract the image file(s) to the USB drive, but uses them directly. It is possible to place multiple ISO images on a single device and select the image to boot from the menu displayed just after Ventoy boots.

You can easily try out several distro on a machine if needed and have a live CD iso of Gparted in there just in case. 

Ventoy supports over iso, .wim, .img, .vhd(x), or .efi file(s). You can even update even update Ventoy on the fly should that be necessary.

Black Friday system

#GIGABYTE B760I AORUS PRO DDR4 (LGA 1700/ Intel/ B760/ Mini-ITX/ DDR4/ Dual M.2/ PCIe 4.0/ USB 3.2 Gen2X2 Type-C/WiFi 6/ Intel 2.5GbE LAN/Q-Flash Plus/Motherboard)

#Intel - Core i5-13500 13th Gen 14 cores 6 P-cores + 8 E-cores, 24MB Cache, 2.5 to 4.8 GHz Desktop Processor.

#Acer Predator Radeon RX 7600 OC RDNA 3 GPU features 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM. With a free ($69.99 USD value) copy of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora via lutris/ digital Ubisoft store.

My PC build will not be a guide on how-to install and configure GNU/Linux, but a list of the components I used to build my personal Linux system. I am using Arch Linux as my daily driver but this build will work with any Linux distro with at least kernel version 6.2.

The system will be able to play movies and music. Social media, videos and photos. Internet browsing and streaming video. It has great specs for 1080p gamers with great visuals and frame-rates.

Black Friday sales were very good this year. I saved about 35% on components.

RetroArch

RetroArch is a free and open-source, cross-platform frontend for emulators. Retroarch lets you play classic games from various platforms, like the Atari 2600/5200/7800, NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, Sega Master System, Neo Geo PlayStation 1 and 2, Game boy color even Sega Dreamcast.

A classic video game system that is dear to my heart is called the Sega Master system. The Master System is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console manufactured and developed by Sega. Despite its technical superiority to the dominant NES, the machine failed to reach critical mass. The Master System was essentially a way of getting their arcade hits into the home. However third generation systems did not have the horsepower to completely replicate the arcade experience. It couldve been something really good, but thanks to nintendo having a near monopoly on the market in the 80s, it just faded into almost obscurity.

Thanks to retroarch the Master System can be enjoyed by generation of people that missed out on it in the system's first run. There was always Sega game called Pantasy Star that I never got a chance to play. Right now Phantasy Star is only available on the Nintendo switch from the Sega Ages series. 

Phantasy Star is a role-playing video game (RPG) developed by Sega and released for the Master System in 1987. Phantasy Star is now considered a landmark RPG. The game was released for the Master System two days after Final Fantasy. Phantasy Star is a traditional Japanese role-playing game with a top down perspective. However when the player is exploring dungeons or when entering a battle it changes to a first person view.

Using retroarch, I downloaded a retro core called Sega - Master System (Emux SMS). The Emux SMS core was authored by Sebastien Ronsse and is licensed under the GPLv2. I obtained a copy of the original Phantasy Star for the master system. 

Note: Retro Arch does not include video games for any system. In United States, copyright protection lasts for 70 years after the creator's death.

Note: Phantasy Star will not reach public domain in the United States until around 2092. 

Did I miss out on plane the original Phantasy Star on the master system? In short yes. It would have been a great game play in the middle of cartoons and homework. I liked it better than Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished, which came to the master system around the same time. 

 

As far as I know there is around There are 357 video games on SEGA Master System. So now I plan to explore a few more obscure ones like Astro Warrior, Robocop Vs The Terminator, Alex Kidd in Shinobi World, Golvellius: Valley of Doom and James Buster Douglas Knockout Boxing.