Tuesday, May 15, 2007

System 76

I've got a new desktop system, after going two years without a desktop at all. My last desktop, which served me well for about five years, was one that I built myself from parts. This time, though, I was feeling a little lazy, and I decided to order a computer from System 76, one of the few companies that will assemble and ship a computer to you with Linux (in this case, Ubuntu) preinstalled.

DSC00497.JPG

The cats were curious about something new appearing in our apartment. They were even more excited when they found out it was full of cat toys! Sadly for them, though, I confiscated all the styrofoam peanuts and stuck them in a cat-proof trash can.

DSC00499.JPG

The usual box of random CDs still exists when you have preloaded Linux. I was surprised to discover that it did not include an Ubuntu CD or five, which seems to me like a no-brainer.

DSC00501.JPG

Of course, this post wouldn't be complete without a picture of the actual box. It looks just like it did on the system76 web site; no surprise there.

DSC00504.JPG DSC00505.JPG

I used the included Ubuntu install for a little while, and it looked like everything was configured reasonably well. The one piece of weirdness was that Ubuntu uses a program called network-manager to configure the network; while it has some nice features (like doing network discovery for wireless, letting programs easily get notifications when network devices go down or come up, etc), these are offset, at least for me, by the fact that it likes to randomly break the computer's network access. This isn't exclusively an Ubuntu problem, of course; etch also installs and configures network-manager by default, and I had the same problems on etch until I purged it. I assume that network-manager works for someone, so probably something to do with the network environment here breaks it.

The system is currently running Debian etch, with Xen domains booting testing and unstable that I use for development. Even without the NVidia graphics drivers and with one of the Xen domains running a computationally intensive job, it's quite snappy; a lot snappier than any other desktop system I've owned recently. And while it's doing this, it's one of the quietest computers I own.

So, in summary, I'm quite happy with this system and I'd suggest System 76 as an option for anyone who wants a Windows-free computer.

5 Comments:

At 1:50 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Maybe System 76 is still shipping a second PC, with the source code installed on it - as per section 3 of the GPL ;)

 
At 1:24 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nice looking machine :) It looks like it has wireless adapter - do you know who made it and if it's supported by Linux?
Thanks, Martin

 
At 6:37 AM, Blogger dburrows said...

It looks like it has wireless adapter - do you know who made it and if it's supported by Linux?

The ordering Web page said Intel, but lspci says Atheros. It seemed to work in the default Ubuntu setup, but Debian didn't detect it -- probably I would have to fetch the firmware to get it working.

I was expecting to put this computer out of reach of my small wired network, but I changed my mind and so I haven't actually used the wireless card.

 
At 8:27 PM, Blogger oakleyses said...

uggs outlet, uggs on sale, ray ban sunglasses, ray ban sunglasses, louis vuitton, michael kors outlet online, oakley sunglasses wholesale, christian louboutin outlet, louis vuitton, uggs outlet, louis vuitton outlet, polo outlet, prada handbags, nike free, chanel handbags, longchamp outlet, michael kors outlet, replica watches, louis vuitton outlet, oakley sunglasses, michael kors outlet online, prada outlet, michael kors outlet online, longchamp outlet, burberry handbags, michael kors outlet, kate spade outlet, ray ban sunglasses, longchamp outlet, louis vuitton outlet, oakley sunglasses, nike air max, oakley sunglasses, replica watches, ugg boots, polo ralph lauren outlet online, ugg boots, gucci handbags, jordan shoes, cheap oakley sunglasses, michael kors outlet online, christian louboutin uk, burberry outlet, tory burch outlet, tiffany and co, christian louboutin shoes

 
At 8:28 PM, Blogger oakleyses said...

michael kors, nike tn, ralph lauren uk, abercrombie and fitch uk, north face uk, ray ban pas cher, nike free uk, lululemon canada, michael kors, true religion jeans, coach outlet, coach outlet store online, hollister uk, sac longchamp pas cher, vans pas cher, nike blazer pas cher, louboutin pas cher, nike air max uk, michael kors pas cher, nike free run, nike air max uk, new balance, sac hermes, jordan pas cher, true religion outlet, replica handbags, nike roshe, longchamp pas cher, guess pas cher, true religion outlet, north face, polo ralph lauren, coach purses, hollister pas cher, oakley pas cher, timberland pas cher, air max, polo lacoste, nike air force, nike roshe run uk, burberry pas cher, converse pas cher, nike air max, sac vanessa bruno, mulberry uk, hogan outlet, michael kors outlet, true religion outlet, ray ban uk, kate spade

 

Post a Comment

<< Home