HP m7480n Machine Specs:

• Processor:
  3.2GHz Intel(R) PentiumD 940 processor    Performance Analysis
  

  There are 3 types of Dual Cores:
  
  1. Core2Duo (best)
  2. Pentium Dual Core (middle)
  3. Pentium D (worst)
  
  Core2Duo is two Core2 CPUs on one die
  Pentium Dual Core is two Pentium CPUs on one die (?)
  Pentium D is two Pentium CPUs on two die 
  

  Now then, worst and best is a matter of subjectivity. I acquired this latest PC in Jan of 2007. I have been, and still am, impressed at its performance. Some of the operations complete so fast that it appears like it didn't work!! I mean, if you just blink your eyes, you can miss a screen change or update... of something you "used" to watch happen in the "old" machine which was a Pentium 4 running at 2.0Ghz.!
• Motherboard: ASUS P5LP-LE All the chipset/video/audio/raid drivers for this motherboard can be found at the Intel site http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/sb/CS-020683.htm
  Motherboard failed and replaced September 26th, 2013. Same board.
  CMOS Battery CR2032
• Chipset:
  Intel 945P Express Chipset delivers outstanding system performance through high-bandwidth interfaces such as dual-channel DDR2 memory, 1066/800 MHz system bus, PCI Express* x16 graphics port and PCI Express x1 I/O ports, next generation Serial ATA and Hi-Speed USB 2.0 connectivity. In addition, the Intel 945P Express Chipset includes support for Intel® Active Management Technology, the next generation of remote client network management for business.
• Memory:
  2GB - 240 pin, DDR2 SDRAM PC2-4200 MB/sec
  MAX 4 GB* (4 x 1 GB)
  Got a smokin' deal on 2GB of RAM. Now have the full compliment of 4GB.
• Network Cards:
  Integrated 10/100 Base-T networking interface - Actual - Integrated on MB
  AMD PCNET Family PCI Ethernet Adapter - What VMware mode sees - emulates
• Operating Systems:
  SuSE Linux 12.3 & Windows XP Media Center
  Actually, the first Linux installed on this machine was openSuSE 10.2 and we moved up from there.
• VMware OS's:
  Windows 2000, Windows Vista & Windows 7 - Inside SuSE Linux
• Video:
  As you can see, we had some Video problems. Hopefully, IF you are here looking for info because of a problem, our experiences will help you. IF you are using Linux -and- 64-bit, your problem could be the watchdog interrupt. References are in the GTX 560 blurb down below.
  Original Card:
   NVIDIA GeForce 7300LE 
  • PCI Express graphics card - (GeForce 7 Series)
  • 64MB DDR memory
  • I/O Ports: Dual VGA, DVI, TV-Out, Video-in
  • Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0 Shader Model 3.0
  • See Below: 7300 LE
  Replaced August 30th, 2013 with:
   nVidia GeForce 7600GT 
  • PCI Express
  • 256 MB memory (Mem Increase )
  • I/O Ports: S-Video, single-link DVI-I, dual-link DVI-I
    
  • See Below: 7600 GT
  Replaced October 8th, 2013 with:
   nVidia GeForce GTX 560 
  • PCI Express
  • 1 GB memory - GDDR5 SDRAM (BIG Mem Increase )
  • I/O Ports: Digital Visual Interface (DVI), High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI)
  • API: DirectCompute 5.0, DirectX 11, OpenCL
  • See Below: GTX 560
  ( Already had the following TV card -but- forgot to include it before. )
  • Hauppauge WinTV HVR-1600 -
    • Dual format TV tuner for your PC. Watch ATSC and clear QAM digital TV or analog cable TV, in a window or full screen.
    • Watch and record all digital TV formats, including the highest definition 1080i format
    • Includes TV scheduler, remote control and IR blaster to control satellite and cable TV set top boxes.
    • See Multimedia Video Controller below ...
• Sound:
  Integrated High Definition audio - Realtek ALC 882 chipset
• Main HD:
  (2) 300 GB SATA's 7200 rpm
• DVDs - CDs:
  LightScribe DVD +-Writer/CD-Writer - Lightscribe
  PIONEER DVD-ROM DVD-116
• Monitors:
  SONY SDM-HS95P 19" LCD
• Floppys:
  Floppy drive was NOT included.
• Wireless LAN 802.11 b/g
  
• Product Information
  Directly to the HP site.
• KeyBoard & Mouse:
  The Keyboard and Mouse that came with the system are of the wireless variety. There is a Receiver that plugs into a USB port and both items talk to the Tower via it.
• Remote Control
  USB infrared remote and receiver for media center. (TV changer)
• Nothgate OmniKey Ultra
  Now then, I also have a Nothgate OmniKey Ultra that I really liked. I used the new wireless KB for quite some time, mainly cause it had some DVD and Sound controls on it. I rarely used them...(but I did use them, so they will be missed) I have brought my OmniKey back out and am using it...again...for a while anyway.
• HP PC Count:
  This was my fifth HP. Hardware wise, this is straight from the store. (enhanced it with 2GB of RAM)
  1st:7360 ; 2nd:8370 ; 3rd:9680 ; 4th:9995 ; 5th:7480
• How Stuff Works - Computers

    The following table was extracted from the Intel literature. You can click on some of the headings and get more info... as of 13 Mar 09... Since it is Intel's, and I don't have a copy of the info you are taking pot luck as to whether or not it is there.

Processor Number¹	Architecture	Cache	Clock Speed	Front Side Bus	Dual- core	Intel® VTΦ	Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology²	Intel® 64Ω	Execute Disable Bit°
940	65-nm technology	2x2 MB L2	3.20 GHz	800 MHz

Still to do:

Intro - 25 Jan 07

    I was lucky enough, a couple of days ago, to just be talking to my wife at the right time and she said I could get a new PC. WOW!! I really wanted annnnd ... somewhat needed a new one...but was afraid to ask. With my new ventures into Virtual Machines I needed more disk space and more RAM. The RAM in my present machine, DIMM SDRAM, is getting difficult to find and the cost is going up. The hard drive is another expense. In addition, I just received as a present, Real Flight G3, an RC flight simulator and my current graphics card is not powerful enough to handle everything. My daughter has the first HP that I ever purchased and it is way out of date. My current one is way more than she needs but, she will get it. So, we both will get "new" PC's, so to speak. I haven't even gotten my new one yet and I am already writting this up. The biggest problem is ... I am only guessing at the model number. It wasn't specified and to small in the picture to figure it out. Seems they had a number of PC's with 7360 in them... which is what this appears to be. It was ordered today. (Nope. Found out that it is a 7480.)

    One reason for starting this early is so that I can document everything that I must do and am going to do. The one saving grace is that I will get it with a Windows XP and NOT that new Vista crap.(hope that if/when I eat my words they taste good) This will be a big change for me anyway. I have one of the original versions of Windows XP and ... I have not been getting all of their updates. I believe that a lot of them were just as intrusive as they were helpful, if you can call them that. I am a strong believer in, "If it ain't broke don't fix it." I'm sure this version that is comming with this PC will have a lot/all of those updates. But then I dual-boot with SuSE Linux and spend most of my time in Linux. Ceptin for these WebPages which I do inside HomeSite, inside Win2K, inside VMware, inside Linux. Hmmmmmmm.... this is gona be a lot of work!!

First things first

    Thanks to the Lord. He gave me another Super Computer. Only this one is really Super!! One and a half times the speed, better video and lots, lots more RAM. AND ... at only half the cost!!
Praise the Lord ... my God ... and Savior.

    Now we need to back up all that I haven't been backing up. Like everyone else I have been letting my back ups slip away a little. So now I need to move everything that I created, or saved, out to a DVD disc so that I can transfer all this to the new PC. Hope that it, the new 7480, is as well made as this one, the 9995, was. It has served me faithfully since December of 2001. Now here it is almost February of 2007. That is a little over 5 years.

Jump or Flash Drive

    Now what is this doing in here?? I just got one. Again I have had the desire but not the need. Well, the need just came into being. One of my co-workers got a terrible virus on her PC. She wanted to save some new music files and some pictures and her favorites. Unfortunately, she does not have a writeable CD or DVD on her system. In the past, while working on her PC, I had connected to my Network, transferred the files to my PC and then wrote them out to a CD. Well this time I didn't want to connect her PC to my Network. So I got the Jump Drive and copied what she wanted to keep over to it. Then after restoring her system I copied her stuff from the Jump Drive back to her PC. You can perform wonders with 4GB of storage. My very first Hard Drive didn't even have that much space!!

It arrived - 30 Jan 07

A PC is a PC. Not if it's the Pavilion Media Center m7480n Desktop PC. It's also a TV. The built-in TV Tuner and Personal Video Recorder (PVR) let you watch, pause, rewind, and record live television on your Media Center PC. You can store up to 176 hours of Digital video on the 300GB hard drive. An online Electronic Program Guide (EPG) lets you review the TV schedule and select individual episodes or entire series, so you can watch your favorite shows on your own time, at your own convenience.

There is more: Has a slot for a removable Hard Drive. Has a remote control for the TV tuner. Slots for SD Mem Sticks. Don't know if I ever will get to use everything!! Refer:  Raoulpop.com

 April 12th, 2013 / 6:27am   Wish that we had been 'wise' enough to enter dates and times from the beginning. Would have made a lot of sense on some of this. -But- we are now so, here it is. As stated below, the UPS Truck arrived and they 'usually' come between 2 and 3:00 in the afternoon. So, that is as close as we can get to a time. The date is stated above.

    Sitting watching TV and up drives the UPS truck. Yahooo!! My new PC arrived. But I have a problem. It is heavy and I am not allowed to lift anything over 5lbs. I just had open heart surgery in December. So my wife helped me move it to the family room. She slipped it up on the couch and we opened the box. Looks like everything is there. Then we just parked on the floor between the TV and my desk while I decided what to do. Later after she laid down for a nap, I got my next door neighbor to put it up on my bench the the Hobby room. I'll get it setup, working and tested out before I replace old faithful, the 9995, on my desk. Besides I can plug it into my Network and transfer a lot of stuff that way. Beats the heck out of sneaker net.

    I desparately want to just hook things up, plug it in and go BUT I want to write this up so that anyone else can benefit, or not, and for my own record. Besides I have to go to work. Then tomorrow I must set up Danny with the upgrade to Real Flight. And I must deliver the re-loaded PC back to my co-worker. This whole page will concern setting this up ... Hardware, Windows and Linux.

    Has Asus MotherBoard P5LP-LE -- The 600GB HDD is really two 300GB's

Monitor

    Ok. It, the 7480, is nicely packed. Keyboard is in one flat box, the mouse, cables and wireless receiver are in another box. My monitor plugs into the the VGA port on the NVIDIA GeForce 7300 LE TurboCache card. There are also S-Video and Composit Video outputs. I'm initially using my smaller 15 inch ViewSonic VA520 LCD display on the New PC for this setup. It is looking the best it has looked. Not sure how much of that is biased cause I know it is a new PC and a better grapics card ... or it really is.?.

Video Card

NVIDIA® GeForce® 7300 graphics processing units (GPUs) allow you to experience the latest gaming effects without compromising performance. Boasting the 3D graphics features of today's most advanced GPUs-including full support for Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0 Shader Model 3.0 and true high dynamic-range (HDR) lighting-GeForce 7300 GPUs also bring stunning, high definition video and superb picture clarity with minimal CPU usage with NVIDIA® PureVideo^TM technology. For the performance and features you need to play the latest games and enjoy home-theater quality video, make sure your PC is equipped with a GeForce 7300 GPU.

    NVIDIA GeForce 7300 LE TurboCache I'm disappointed!! My older system containing a GeForce 2 had faster graphics than this new fancy dancy dual core, 2 GB one! The only thing that is really noticeably faster is the damn mouse. And it is to fast! The movements are to jerky.
Uncle:My apologies to the HP team. The display problem is in Linux mode. I just switched over to WinXP and the display was fast. Can't really say that it is exceptionally faster than my old one but in WinXP it is acceptable. I will have to see what it looks like on my 19 inch Sony ... soon.

    Ok. So we will try to get new drivers from nVidia and see if that will fix it.

• One driver for all products
• There is one single NVIDIA Driver for all our products. To select your download:
  1. (a) if you have a GeForce, Quadro, TNT2 or RIVA, click on Graphics Driver and select your product and Operating System, else
  2. (b) if you have an nForce Motherboard, click on Platform / nForce Drivers, select your nForce product and choose your Operating System.
  3. European users: please download the "International" version (where available) of the NVIDIA Driver.

Windows XP/2000 32-bit: 93.71_forceware_winxp2k_english_whql.exe
   Version: 93.71
   Release Date: 2.11.2006
   WHQL Certified

Linux Display Driver - x86: NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-9746-pkg1.run
   Version: 1.0-9746
   Operating System: Linux x86
   Release Date: 21.12.2006

    Allllrighty Now... I have SuSE Linux and there are special instructions for setting up the nVidia drivers. You can do it through YAST. I decided to do it that way. It not only installed the new drivers but also created a new kernel, a 2.6.18.2-34-bigsmp one. (saved the page, just in case) The new drivers definately help the Linux ops. ( SMP )

    I installed the Windows driver and because it was so good already I'm not sure how much it was improved. I read a complaint about this graphics unit on the Web. The person said that there were some frame delays in Call of Duty. I don't have or play the game, so I can not verify, or deny, that complaint. I will have to compare the usage of my new G3 flight simulator. I think it looks better ... but ...

Q: What is the physical memory for the GeForce 7300 LE?
You will see a lot of GeForce 7300 LE-based cards with 128MB of on-board memory, supporting 256MB of memory in a 512MB system. You will also see GeForce 7300 LE-based cards with 256MB of on-board memory that support 512MB of memory in a 1GB system.
Q: What kind of memory is on the GeForce 7300 LE card?
A: DDR2 memory.

  GeForce GTX 560   -   Final Replacement

Added October 8th, 2013 TRComputing

GTX 560

 October 14th, 2013 / 11:51am  Here it is days later and we have finally gotten somewhere on this card. It is working ok -but- it starts up with a racket!! The fan. Fortunately, after 5 minutes or so it quiets down. Then upon investingating on the Web, it appears to be a common problem. Not good news. We will investigate it further but for now we are just going to be using it.

 October 16th, 2013 / 6:04am  Well... we just had our first 'LockUp' with our 'Newest' setup. Annnddd... the damn fan is making more noise now.

 October 25th, 2013 / 8:56am   Allllllrighty now... We have a fix!!   As it turns out, our lockups were primarily, -and- probably only, in Windows under VMware under Linux. It seems that most, if not all, of our problems have been since we switched to 64-bit mode. Seems that the Linux gurus decided to enable the watchdog interrupt on the 64-bit systems. This caused problems when running VMware. Suffice it to say, IF you want smooth and proper operation of VMware, you have to disable this NMI interrupt. Refer: Linux NMIs on Intel 64-bit Hardware

Possible Replacement #2 - Not only possible, We Did.   Aug 22nd, 2013 / 8:55am

 Wow!  That is all we can say. As stated, in the previous replacement context, we have been having problems with our Video Card causing freezes of our system... requiring a PowerOff reset. The previous card DID NOT correct the problem and it was returned before the 'In Store Warranty' of 14 days was up.

Once again we are going to change our Video Card. This time we are going to use the card from our wife's machine. She has become a heavy Gamer and is needing a better card. Hers is already much better than ours so, it will come to our machine.

 Possible Problem  Now then, our card is a 7300LE and hers is a 7600GT. They BOTH use the 'same' driver from nVidia. The GeForce 7 Series. These are in the Legacy category.
Extreme PSU Calculator
PSU 430W
+3.3V@20A, +5V@20A, +12V@32A, -12V@0.8A, +5VSB@3A

Jonnyguru PSU FAQ
From the Jonnyguru PSU FAQ

• The 6+2-pin, or 8-pin, PCIe power connector.
  
  
• High end PCI Express (PCIe) graphics cards often need auxillary power. This power is delivered to the card via either a 6-pin PCIe connector or a 6-pin and 8-pin power connector.
  
  PCI Express graphics cards without any kind of auxillary power connector are called "75W cards" because 75W is the most power the card can pull from the PCI Express slot. A graphics card with one 6-pin PCIe power connector is called a "150W card" because the 6-pin allows the card to draw up to 150W of power. A graphics card with two 6-pin PCIe power connectors is called a "225W card" and a graphics card with one 6-pin PCIe and one 8-pin PCIe power connector is called a "300W card"
  
  BFG power supplies use what is referred to as a "6+2-pin" PCIe power connector. This is because the power connectors have a removable pair of pins that converts an 8-pin PCIe connector into a 6-pin PCIe power connector.

 Some calulations August 23rd, 2013 / 1:53pm   Antec 650 watt TP3 PSU - three rails, each providing a max of 19 amps. But the total 12 volt output is 52 amps.
19x3 = 57x0.85 = 48.45 ...

Possible Replacement - Not only possible, We Did.

 January 11th, 2013 / 11:37pm  We possibly might need to obtain a new video card. It appears that nVidia is no longer supporting the GeForce 7 series. And we are having troubles with the current Driver, 304.64, in/on our Linux System.

Q:Can a DDR3 graphics card run in a DDR2 Motherboard?
A:Yes. The DDR3 memory is on the video card, it doesn't matter if your motherboard supports DDR2. The memory controller is on the video card to support DDR3. The DDR2 memory controller is on your motherboard. They're separate and not related for the purposes that we're seeking.

Just make sure it's either AGP or PCI Express x16, and that the video card and motherboard match, agp to agp or pci express x16 to pci express x16. Also make sure your Power Supply is large enough.
(copied and modified from Yahoo! answers)

 August 20th, 2013 / 6:43am   Nova GPU Chart

CPU Name                  Avg. Score   Avg. MHz   Sample Size
Intel Pentium D 3.20GHz       156        3381         477
Intel Core 2 Duo              181        2297        57673

From a: Forum
If we take Be-quiet Straightpower 550W as an example. It has the following spec:

+3.3V +5V +12V1 +12V2 +12V3 +12V4 -12V +5vsb
32A 30A 18A 18A 18A 18A 0,5A 3A

Total comibined output on +12V: 41A (492W) = The PSU's maximum capabiliy on +12V
On each rail on +12V we are allowed to draw 18A according to the spec. A theoretical maximum output of 4*18A = 72A (864W). But 864W is more than the PSU's total output of the psu (550W) and even more than the psu's capability on +12V, 41A (492W).

4*18A = 72A only tells us we are allowed to draw maximum of 18A on each of the four rails on +12V, but not on all of the rails at the same time. The maximum we can draw from +12V at the same time is 41A (492W).

The gap between the theoretical output on +12V of 72A (864W) and the capability of 41A (492W), is the headroom the spec gives us to use "unused amps" on one rail on +12V, on another rail on +12V.

In reality, the gap is bigger, all psu's with a specified maximum output of 18A on the rails, have an OCP which will shut the psu off if the draw from one of the rails on +12V exceeds 20, 22 or even 25A.

The OCP's are always programmed to shut the psu off at a higher current than specified on the label, no matter what is printed on the label. Reply With Quote

 New GeForce 210 Card - Thursday April 11th, 2013 / 3:43pm

 'The Fix'   After installation of this card, the onboard Realtek audio, for our sound system, disappeared. The solution, which the 'Lord' directed us to, was to go to the BIOS and Permanently Enable the Onboard Audio. It 'was' set to 'Auto'. Changed it to:
   F2 on reboot, Advanced --> Onboard Audio --> Enable
Refer: GeForce Dev and Video Card Benchmarks

The problem was:
    an     NVIDIA High Definition Audio     Driver
Four copies of it. Need to learn more about it -but- it is not important -cause- we don't have any use for it now, nor in the fore-see-able future. In the following, 'Included' means that they came with the System.

The real problem was/is we experienced that 'same' problem with this card as our original. It locked up!! So we returned it and are back to our 'old' card.

					  
    GeForce 210 Specifications
					  
						 GPU Engine Specs 
CUDA Cores:                             16
Graphics Clock (MHz):                   589MHz
Processor Clock (MHz):                  1402MHz
 Memory Specs 
Memory Clock:                           500MHz
Standard Memory Config:                 512MB
Memory Interface:                       GDDR2
Memory Interface Width:                 64-bit
Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec):              8.0
 Feature Support 
OpenGL:                                 3.1
Bus Support:                            PCI-E 2.0
Supported Technologies:                 CUDA
 Display Support 
Multi Monitor:                          Yes
Maximum Digital Resolution:             2560x1600
Maximum VGA Resolution:                 2048x1536
Standard Display Connectors:            DVI
                                        VGA
                                        DisplayPort
HDMI:                                   Yes
 Standard Graphics Card Dimensions 
Length:                                 6.60 inches
Height:                                 2.731 inches
Width:                                  Single-slot
 Thermal and Power Specs 
Maximum GPU Temperature (in C):         105 C
Maximum Graphics Card Power (W):        30.5 W
Minimum System Power Requirement (W):   300 W
 Legacy Specs 
Audio Input for HDMI:                   Internal

Keyboard and Mouse

    Both of these are wireless. Now that sounds good BUT may not be. I have Carpal Tunnel and found that the only keyboard I can use is an OmniKey/Ultra. This was produced by the now defunct Northgate Computer Co. I have tried the keyboards that came with other PCs and I couldn't use them. What I learned from a good friend and co-worker when I worked at Honeywell was ... it is not just the downward pressure but also the up-stroke that causes the problems. I obtained two of these KB's then and had one at home and one at work. They didn't cure me but they did allow me to continue to work in this field and not experience all that pain. My arms were hurting so bad that it hurt just to put my hands in my pockets! Anyone who has experienced this will probably know what I am saying. If you haven't then you won't and I hope you never do.

    Anyway, there is a receiver that must be plugged in for these to work. The receiver and mouse are packed together. The receiver gets plugged into a USB port. I used one on the back.

    Linux: Initial scare. During the first part of the initialization I could not use the ESC key to display the verbiage. Later, I presume after the USB code got loaded, I got some valid responses from the KB entries.

Note: A complaint on the KB and Mouse. So far the KB hasn't caused any hand or arm problems. But, there are no lites for the Cap-Lock and Num-Lock. Goes back to the old type-writer days. You have to remember. As for the mouse, it seems to take to many clicks to get an action performed annndd... it is way to fast in Linux mode with no apparent way to slow it down!! I'm sure there is ... I just haven't found it yet.
Correction: There are indicators for Caps Lock, Scroll Lock and Num Lock. They are on the receiver!!

    Mouse: Allllrighty Now. I took the time to investigate this hi-speed mouse. Faster computer, faster graphics equals faster mouse. In the Configure Desktop, Personal Settings there is a Peripherals section. Inside the Periperals section is a mouse section. Inside the Advanced section of the mouse settings is a value field and a bunch of slider buttons. The two most important ones are the Pointer Acceleration and Pointer Threshold.
Pointer Acceleration allows you to change the relationship between the distance that the mouse pointer moves on the screen and the relative movement of the physical device itself (which may be a mouse, track-ball, or some other pointing device.)
A high value for the acceleration multiplier will lead to large movements of the mouse pointer on the screen, even when you only make a small movement with the physical device.
Pointer Threshold is the smallest distance that the mouse pointer must move on the screen before acceleration has any effect. If the movement is within the threshold, the mouse pointer moves as if the acceleration were set to 1x.
Thus, when you make small movements with the physical device (e.g. mouse), you still have fine control of the mouse pointer on the screen, whereas larger movements of the physical device will move the mouse pointer rapidly to different areas on the screen.

1. Resync the keyboard and mouse connections . Resynchronizing the keyboard and/or mouse causes the devices to reconnect to the receiver using new identification numbers. Use the following steps to resync the devices:

   NOTE:

   The following connection sequence must be completed within 60 seconds. If the sequence is not done in 60 seconds, start over.

   1. With the receiver plugged in, press and hold the Connect button on the receiver until the activity LED flashes.

      NOTE:

      Some HP computers have receivers built into the front of the computer; such as TouchSmart 700 Series PCs and Digital Entertainment Centers. Look for a small connect button built into the case. If you have a TouchSmart 500 or 800 Series PC, the receiver plugs into a USB port on the underside of the case and does not have a connect button - skip this step.

      Figure 4: An example of a receiver

      

      1 - Connect button and LED activity light
      Figure 5: Another example of a receiver

      

      1 - Connect button

      2 - Num Lock LED

      3 - Alpha Lock LED

      4 - Scroll Lock LED

      5 - Activity LED
   2. Press and hold the recessed connect button on the underside of the keyboard until the activity light on the receiver stops flashing. When you release the button, make sure it does not stick in the depressed position.

      NOTE:

      If problems persist after resetting AND there is another wireless keyboard or mouse near, use these steps again, holding down the keyboard or mouse button for ten seconds. Doing so may give the keyboard or mouse a new ID number in case the other keyboard or mouse was using the same number.

   3. Press the Connect button on the receiver again until the activity light flashes.
   4. Press and hold the recessed button on the underside of the mouse until the activity light on the receiver stops flashing. Make sure the connect button does not stick in the depressed position.
2. If your mouse and keyboard have a USB receiver, unplug the USB receiver, wait 10 seconds, and then insert into another USB port - preferably into a USB port that is closer to the mouse and keyboard. For example, if the USB receiver was plugged into a USB port on the back of the computer, unplug it and plug it into a front USB port.

  Multimedia Video Controller

   We copied this portion from our wife's PC.  Actually, all we wanted was the section before the section that brought you here.  We "Updated" her Video card and then "Updated" ours with hers.  Hers went from a 7600GT to a 9800GT and ours went from a 7300LE to the 7600GT.

    WinTV v7 for use with the WinTV-HVR-1600 This download is a complete installation package, including drivers for supported WinTV products plus the WinTV v7 application and utilities.
Installation note:
A valid WinTV application CDROM will be needed to install this WinTV v7 version. Any WinTV v6 or WinTV 7 application CD can be used during the install. If you do not have your original WinTV CD-ROM but would like to update to this WinTV v7 version, you can purchase a new CD on the Hauppauge webstore for $9.95 ... plus $2.95 for shipping.

Sound

    The sound is Integrated Audio, Realtek ALC882. I have a pair of amplifed speakers that I usually use with the PC's I am fixing or with my shop PC. I plugged those into the (green) Audio Output on the back.

    Oooooops No sound in Linux. I do believe that I had this problem over on the 9995. I did. In version 9.2. Hmmmmm... further examination shows that evidently the sound software never got installed!! Nope, even further shows that it did. But... an lsmod doesn't show any sound. In my last system an lspci showed:
   0000:00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp. 82801BA/BAM AC'97 Audio (rev 12)
and in this one it shows:
   00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
    dusty-tr2:/home/ctaylor # modinfo -p snd
    major:Major # for sound driver.
    cards_limit:Count of auto-loadable soundcards.
Hmmmmmm... doesn't look like sound is running. So let's start it.
dusty-tr2:/home/ctaylor # rcalsasound start
Starting sound driver             done

ctaylor@dusty-tr2:~> aplay /usr/share/sounds/alsa/test.wav
ALSA lib confmisc.c:670:(snd_func_card_driver) cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:3500:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_driver returned error: No such device
ALSA lib confmisc.c:391:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:3500:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such device
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1070:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:3500:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such device
ALSA lib conf.c:3968:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such device
ALSA lib pcm.c:2143:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM default
aplay: main:550: audio open error: No such device

dusty-tr2:/home/ctaylor # rcalsasound status
ALSA sound driver not loaded.            unused

Sooooo... this shows I have no sound.

    Well, I looked on the Web and found that another person had problems with sound. It was a review on SuSE 10.2 by Clement Lefebvre. He had problems with his hardware getting setup. In the Hardware section of YAST, it detected my sound chip but did not set it up. I had to edit it and select 'automatic configuration'. Like Clement I am at a loss as to why this was not done at install. At anyrate, sound now works. Hmmmmmm... need to try a re-boot and see if it still works.
Yep! Still works and works in VMware.

    More on the sound. This involves RealPlayer 10. I didn't have sound for the net. So I installed RealPlayer ... as I have before ... but it came out choppy. Through investigation on the net I found a conversation on LinuxQuestions which centered on this problem. One of the conversants suggested this fix:
Start realplayer from the command line by doing "aoss realplay", if the sound and video are not choppy, edit your realplay executable and change

Code: $REALPLAYBIN "$@"     to Code:    aoss $REALPLAYBIN "$@"

Now then, I don't know what "aoss" is, but I plan to find out.

    Ok. I found out: aoss is a simple wrapper script which facilitates the use of the ALSA OSS compatibility library. It just sets the appropriate LD_PRELOAD path and then runs the command.
Also see: die.net

Network

    Last but not least I plugged into my Network through the Ethernet cable.

    Ooooops Problem with local net again in Linux. This is trying to show my WebPages locally. I will have to setup the http again is all that I think that it is.

    Yep. Two fold problem. I had to setup the http.conf file and I had to start apache. As I've said before, things don't get started just cause you installed them.

    Problem at a later date. Could not see dusty-tr2(Linux) from dusty3(VMware). Further investigation showed that smb was running but NOT nmb.

Power Up

    Whilst it was powering up I extended the legs on the keyboard and accidently hit the mute button. It either didn't do anything cause it was in bring up mode or I just didn't press it all the way. Either reason I still have sound.

    Oooops Problem in Linux mode. No sound.

Setup

    At Power On, the first screen is what HP recommends:

1. Keep PC updated
2. Learn about support tools
3. Learn about HP Extened Service Plan
4. Register with HP
5. Select Browser
6. Protect PC from Viruses and Spyware

    The next few screens describe these options and allow you to say yeah or neah to them. For the first one, I allowed the updates. There was a place to click on and view their Updates FAQ site and I did. However, it did not show (or so I thought).

    For the support tools you are to click on the Help and Support icon. Also states there are no recovery discs. HP creates a special recovery partition at the front of the HDD. Your normal software and operations can not read this partition. It can only be read by the BIOS recovery section. I'm gona have to ask for CD's from HP.

    I don't believe that I want the extended service. I rarely have problems with my HP's and after all, I am supposed to be able to fix them. Which I can for the most part. If I can't then I'll just have to pay them to fix it ... if it is reasonable. If not I'll just get another PC. If it is beyond what I can fix myself then it will probably cost as much if not more than a new PC. They have become throw away ... almost.

    Now we have Register the new PC. I selected later.

    Browser choice ... I picked Netscape 8 over Internet Explorer 6. They will load IE anyway, I just chose Netscape so it will get loaded and be my default choice. I'm gona install Firefox anyway.

    Now they want to Protect my PC ... with Norton. Well, I don't want it. I prefer Avast! from Alwil Software. It is free for home use and the Professional one is very inexpensive. I also use Ad-aware from Lavasoft. Both of these products have served me well. I have had problems with both, Norton and McAfee.

Setup Finished

    Allllrighty! Says I am finished with setup. Hmmmmmm, how-bout-that, when the desktop re-appeared the "Updatre from HP FAQs" is showing in MSIE. So that means it got connected to my Network and went on out to the HP site. Not sure if that is good or bad...?? I bookmarked the HP Updates in IE 6.

    By the By, the wireless mouse and KB are working. I didn't have to do a thing. Well, I did have to slow down the mouse movement. It was way to fast.

Recovery Discs!!

    OH!! And hello. After closing down the Update Window I got a Window that wants me to create some recovery discs. I'm gona say "Yes" ... After I check what kind of blank DVD's I got.

    Well now, I have some DVD's that my neighbor 'cross the street, Steve, had a problem with. We both have had problems with different DVD's in our original HP dvd100i writers. The "original" DVD'd that HP created when they made these drives, worked great. The engineers were told to create a drive that would create DVD's that would work in any DVD player. They did. Even though the original DVD's were DVD+RW's they worked in my home DVD player. However, HP came out with some new ones and they didn't work with my dvd100i drive. I couldn't write to them. I had to get some DVD's made by Sony. These DVD's from Steve are made by Memorex and they are DVD-R's. The new LightScribe drive, which is in my new PC, is supposed to be able to write to DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R and DVD-RW plus CD-R. I'm hoping that the LightScribe in this new PC is better than the one I purchased and installed in my old PC. I had lots of trouble creating CD's that would work in my truck CD player and my "boom box".

    I didn't get a chance to try these DVD's from Steve in the LightScribe in my 9995 so, I will try them on this one. Now this is the catch, you can only create one set of recovery discs per PC. They say I can use CD-R, DVD-R or DVD+R but didn't say how many ... yet. Well they just did. 1 DVD(DL) or 2 DVD's or 16 CD's!! I don't have any double layer discs yet, so guess which one I will use. Whoa!! Just go notice of an update while it was/is creating the first back up list of files. I cancelled the update for now, naturally. This recovery creation seems to take forever. Just as I was thinkin that, I looked at the time on the screen. It is an hour behind. That is because the new PC came from California. This time of year they're are an hour behind us.

    Well, it calims to be writting the first disc. This process is extreemly slow. But we finally finished and I now have some recovery discs for my new PC.

Replacing the Lightscribe Drive

 15 Feb 2011  Well it is 4 years later and I must replace my Lightscribe Drive. It is failing me, primarily on DVD writes. And CD writes take forever. So, we go to the Net and look for a replacement. Wow!! It is not easy to find a decent PATA drive now-a-days. Everything seems to be going SATA. Looks like an HP dvd1040i would be a good replacement. However, a lot of places that sold them no longer carry them!! Hmmmmmm... is this a sign??? Maybe I had better hurry up and order one ... or two? Nawwww, if this one lasts 4 years I probably will be into another 'Puter by then with different types of drives and connections. So, we'll just go with one.

Whilst searching for info I found this which not only is for this drive, but would probably apply to others as well: Installing an HP DVD1040i. Also: HP Reference

My LAN

    Well, so much for having a hosts file. The new PC stole the IP address for dusty2, my VMware Win2K box. So, I will have to make some changes. I did and the new PC will be dusty-tr2. The 9995 will retain its status as dusty-tr. I have seeing each other. Well, I have the m7480 seeing the 9995. Since I am in Linux mode on the 9995 I can't see the new PC. I'll have to add it to my fstab... or not. This is only temporary and I am copying from the 9995 to the m7480 so there really isn't a problem if I can't see both ways.

Removals

    At boot-up I get this insistant Norton screen that wants me to set it up. I went into startup and removed the Norton that was there. That didn't stop it. Can't remember where I had to go to kill it. Probably in the registry. But there is another way. Went into Add/Remove Progs and removed Norton. Also removed the MS Office 2003 trial since I already have a real version that I purchased. Also dumped AOL, I have Cox cable ,thank you.

Power Supply - Replacement

Added January 12th, 2013 / 12:10amTRComputing

Thought that we had written this up WHEN we replaced the Power Supply -but- it didn't get in here. So it will now cause I needed to know what I have. May have to replace the video card and a lot, if not most, of the "newer" cards require more power. The 400w Supply that this beast came with was 'not' even good enough to last very long in the factory setup.

Avast!

    Installed and allowed it to do a boot-up scan. Didn't find anything but it did an update. Looks good and performing as usual.

Ad-Aware

    Installed, did a scan and found 4 tracking cookies. All from HP.

		 Tracking Cookie Object Recognized!
		    Type               : IECache Entry
		    Data               : hp_administrator@edge.ru4[1].txt
		    TAC Rating         : 3
		    Category           : Data Miner
		    Comment            : Hits:8
		    Value              : Cookie:hp_administrator@edge.ru4.com/
		    Expires            : 1-27-2037 8:26:50 PM
		    LastSync           : Hits:8
		    UseCount           : 0
		    Hits               : 8
		
		 Tracking Cookie Object Recognized!
		    Type               : IECache Entry
		    Data               : hp_administrator@2o7[1].txt
		    TAC Rating         : 3
		    Category           : Data Miner
		    Comment            : Hits:21
		    Value              : Cookie:hp_administrator@2o7.net/
		    Expires            : 2-3-2012 8:27:28 PM
		    LastSync           : Hits:21
		    UseCount           : 0
		    Hits               : 21
		
		 Tracking Cookie Object Recognized!
		    Type               : IECache Entry
		    Data               : hp_administrator@advertising[1].txt
		    TAC Rating         : 3
		    Category           : Data Miner
		    Comment            : Hits:12
		    Value              : Cookie:hp_administrator@advertising.com/
		    Expires            : 2-3-2012 8:27:30 PM
		    LastSync           : Hits:12
		    UseCount           : 0
		    Hits               : 12
		
		 Tracking Cookie Object Recognized!
		    Type               : IECache Entry
		    Data               : hp_administrator@doubleclick[2].txt
		    TAC Rating         : 3
		    Category           : Data Miner
		    Comment            : Hits:9
		    Value              : Cookie:hp_administrator@doubleclick.net/
		    Expires            : 2-3-2010 8:26:50 PM
		    LastSync           : Hits:9
		    UseCount           : 0
		    Hits               : 9
		
		Tracking cookie scan result:
		
		New critical objects: 4
		Objects found so far: 4

WinZip 80

    This is an older version but I like the way it operates. Till it won't work I will probably keep using it.

Firefox

    This will be my browser of choice for the most part. I like its simplicity.

Pluggins(Linux Side):

• Plugger-5.1.3 - When you configure it for SuSE 10.2 thru 11.3 use:
     ./configure --x-libraries=/usr/lib --x-includes=/usr/include/X11
  make configure, install-sh and magic-install.sh executable IF not already.
  The executables are placed in /usr/local/bin -or maybe- /usr/bin
• acroread - yast, Adobe Reader
• mplayer & mplayerplug-in & mplayerthumbs - yast
• smplayer & smplayer-themes - yast
• xine - yast
• RealPlayer - install or yast (See:SuSEGeek)
• java - yast
• javascript - install or yast
• Flash Player 9 - install or yast
• Timidity - install or yast
• Firebug - install
• mpg123 - yast
• 
  

    Also need win32-codecs and all the xine-lib's... so you can view the wmv's.
http://packman.iu-bremen.de/suse/11.1/
Note:  Now then, I am backtracking after my crash. So, I am up to SuSE version 11.1 and these references will have to be changed. Just a thought.(I did!)

Homesite - 11 Feb 07

    This is my preferred HTML editor. I Loaded it in Windows today cause this new PC has now become my main one. I have finally retired the 9995. Well, I'm still connected to it cause I need to get the rest of the stuff copied over. Annndd there are all those little notes that I left to myself here and there that I will need to fininish this new PC setup. I guess this isn't really from scratch ... but almost.

GTEdit - USB Flash Drive Problem

    The above first 4 items were taken from the CD that I carry with me when I go on service calls. I don't have GTEdit on that disc so I thought that I could copy it to the Jump Drive and then put it on the new PC. Well now, my 9995 has USB 1.1 and the m7480 has USB 2.0. The Flash Drive claims to be a USB 2.0 device that is compatable with 1.1. However, when I copied the data to the Jump Drive from the 9995 and then tried to install it on the new machine, it kepr complaining that the zip file was not complete. Even though I could look at it on the 9995 with the same WinZip.

    Ok. Went out to the GWD Editor site and got a fresh copy. Gona let it sit for a while and see if possibly it was cause the copy wasn't finished ... or something. While waiting I investigated using a Flash Drive. There is an action code that you should use ... both in Windows and Linux. It is called "Safley Remove". For Windows there is supposed to be a remove hardware icon on the task bar. In Linux, at least in SuSE 10.2, you click on the Geeko to get the menu and the Computer. Inside that menu all the drives will be listed, including the Flash Drive. Right click on the Flash Drive icon and select Safely Remove. Give it a little time to dismount and then remove it.

    Nope! Still didn't work!! So, since I can read the spot on my 9995 HDD that contains this file, I am going to copy it from the 9995 to the Flash Drive on the m7480. I did and then did the Safely Remove Procedure for Windows. Removed the Flash Drive, waited a few and then put it back in. Yep, it works I could properly access it. So, maybe it isn't getting properly unmounted in Linux. I'll just get out of Linux back to my WinXP and try it from there. Nope! Must be some incompatability between USB 1.1 and USB 2.0. Leastwise that is the way it is looking right now. At any rate, I got GTEdit installed on the new PC.

Printer Setup - Windows XP

    Well, I found that I don't necessarily know as much as I think I know. But then people who design these things can make them complicated. I tried to setup the Printer on the new PC using the printer wizard in Windows. First off it wanted the name of the printer. I went thru all the names I could think of and none seemed to be correct. Then at last it hit me ... I had to use \\PSD55465\PSD55465_P1. The full pathname.

    Well, that wasn't correct either. It would take forever for anything to print. I reset all the printer stuff in Windows and all I can say is I messed with it to get it back the way it was. Printing pretty quick after you say print. One thing that I messed with was the connection. I started out with a network connection that took forever ... even though that is what I have. Instead I stated that it was a direct connect. Then I changed the settings in the port connection.

Two HDDs & Linux

    Well, it turns out that my 600GB HD is really two 300GB drives. Both of these drives are SATA. It appears that instead of hda they are to be sda. Hmmmmmm... I thought that sda was for SCSI.?.? Oh well, I'll just go with the flow.

    Now in my previous exploits, I believe that I have seen that Windows has to remain on the first HDD. I don't mind. I still like Windows ... at least a number of programs that must run under it. However, I do remember recovery problems with my neighbors PC after he had added a second HD. During a restore, or recovery, we had to disconnect the second drive to prevent the recovery process from installing WinXP on both drives! Then it became totally un-bootable...and a bear to dump the WinXP on the second drive!! So, on any of his numerous recoveries we had to first disconnect the second drive.
Note:  HP -or whoever- corrected the Recovery Process. It DOES NOT mess with my second drive. Matter of fact that is how I got most of my data back. I had been storing it out on the Second Drive. I forgot about the "Two Drive" problem until AFTER starting the recovery, by accident anyway, and it didn't bother my second drive. As it turns out, the second drive was an unplanned benefit. Because it was setup the way it should have been.

    I have decided that I want to use the second drive as a data drive and put both, or all, Operating Systems on the first drive. After all, I was running three systems on my previous PC system which only had a 120GB drive. Annndd, I was using a lot of that for storage. Now I can put the OS stuff on one and have plenty of room with the data out on the second HD. Sounds great!! Only if it all works.

Partition Magic

    Allllrighty. I installed Partition Magic 7.0 on the new PC... under Windows. First thing to see is what it says about the storage areas. This can determine how much storage space is wasted. How-some-ever, there is another concern. The number of drives!! At present there are two HD's, C and D. Two DVD's, E and F. Four SD slots, G, H, J and K. I'm not really sure where it will place a logical partion. Hmmmmmm... this is getting real interesting.

    Ok now, both HDs are formatted to NTFS. This is good as NTFS only has a 4KB cluster size for all partitions larger than 4GB. But, SuSE Linux can't write to an NTFS partition. So, in my previous PC I had the D and E drives setup as FAT32 partitions. Have to be careful here cause cluster sizes get big in FAT32. It uses inefficient 32KB clusters when applied to partitions larger than 32GB. That means a 4KB file takes up a minimum of 32KB on such a drive, leaving 28KB of unusable slack space. Dropping the partition size to between 16GB and 32GB reduces the cluster size to a more efficient 16KB, and creating partitions between 8GB and 16GB yields 8KB clusters. But this also increases the number of drives and drive letters. But, I need at least one that I can use to swap data. Data? Hmmmmmmmm... does that mean I should break up the first drive for the operating systems and then also re-partition the second drive to get the small exchange space??

    On the previous system, Drive D was 10GB and Drive E was 20GB. So we had 8KB cluster size on D and 16KB clusters on E. (C was about 25GB NTFS) So, here is what we will do for starters:

1. Split the first drive in two with Windows on the first half and Linux on the second half.
       C: Drive = 150,421.1 MB -- 150GB
       Linux     = 125,092.1 MB -- 125GB
2. Create a 15GB FAT32 partition on the second drive at the end.
3. Move the data from the old machine to the new machine in the appropriate locations.
4. After system is setup, start incorporating the new Linux code that reads and writes to NTFS partitions.

Drive Layout

    At the first part of the SuSE Install you get to assign the partitions. They came out as follows:

Arrrggg!!

    Got all the way thru the Installation of SuSE Linux and finally to the last page, the Hardware Configuration. It looked over the system came back with some values, I accepted and then it wrote out the information. Went out to start the system and promptly lost my screen.... OUT OF RANGE!!! (HP 7480 and ViewSonic VA520).

Linux Install - Finally Successful

    After lots of investigation, I found that setting vga=normal in the grub menu.lst fixed the problem. Or at least let me run the system. Monitor is a ViewSonic VA520 LCD screen. This display loss was the only real problem in this setup of Linux on this new PC.

    But ... I re-did it. I decided to move the new PC onto my desk and move the 9995 out to the shop. I will still be using the 9995 to get info from and... as right now ... I will be taking notes. I installed Homesite on the new PC but that is in Windows Mode only. Whilst I am setting up the Linux portion I don't have access to Homesite. Sooooo, here I am using my old friend and documenting the new one's setup.

    There is one thing this is teaching me. I need to adjust my WebPages. This ViewSonic VA520 is too small to properly display my settings. After I get the new PC setup, I will concentrate on that.

Linux NTFS

    This is so new ... and important ... that it gets its own section. I am starting it here on my previous PC but will finish it on the new one where it is important. I have 600GB of disk space. I do not want most of it to go to waste because of an antique file system. There are individuals working on this and if nothing else I can be a testbed for them. I am pround of my newest computing machine and plan on helping others where I can.

    Wow! WOW!! How stupid can I be??? I got so hung up on the fact that I can't write to an NTFS Partition from Linux that I forgot something... I can read an NTFS Partition from within Linux. Therefore, I can keep most of my data, which is downloads, on the NTFS drive and only use the smaller FAT32 drive when I ocassionally need to write something to a disk that will be read by, or needed in Windows from my Linux system. I still plan on using and testing the NTFS code that is being written but using the two together will give a "safe" way... that won't be to disk space expensive.

    If you need only to see your files, then you don't need to do anything as NTFS read only access is enabled on SuSE Linux / openSUSE by default. Details for adding write capabilities can be found at OpenSuSE. One of the items is the ZENworks Management, which is used to add a repositorie to the buildserver.

    Next we add to fstab:
/dev/sdb1 /Windows/D ntfs-3g user,users,gid=users,umask=0002 0 0
The umask value chosen only allows writes by owner and group. Just so happens, in my case, the D drive is owned by root. I made myself a member of the root group so I could make changes to this drive.

    Mount info can be found at: Linux mount. fmask(files) and dmask(directories) values are essentially the same as umask. These are used in the newer kernels, 2.6 and above.

VMware

    This will be my first main piece of software. Primarily so I can move this documenting over to the new machine. Ok. I lied. First I need to setup my .bashrc, .alias, .xinitrc, and .function. Annnndd... most importantly the permissions. At present time, the files on the Windows drives are owned by root. That is cause I let the system mount them instead of me. That must change. What I changed before was to allow group permissions and I became part of the root group... good, bad or indifferent.

    Well, I lied again. I'm installing nedit first... cause I like it!! Ok. So we have my favorite editor installed and the above personal files in my home dir. Now for the permissions... after work. Permissions are evidently ok. I was able to download a new copy of nedit and save it on my new L: drive.

    Further lie ... I decided to setup my Thunderbird E-mail before going any further. Annndd, yep, I had a ton of mail. Some strangely was duplicates. I attempted to copy over my previous e-mail setting and messages and was only partially successful. This time I came from Windows to Linux. Didn't work as well.

    Alllllrighty now. Back to the VMware Install. We first need to get into root, change to my TRInstalls dir and unziptar the VMware installation files. The first part of the install is performed in root.

    The second part is to go back to you HomeDir and execute /usr/bin/vmware. This will setup VMware in your area for further use. The initial setup is basic. If you have more than one CD or DVD you will have to add them yourself. As for the amount of RAM ... ? well, we will have to experiment with this. I now have 2GB of RAM in this machine. Twice what I had before and it will accept up to 4GB of RAM!! Wow. (the original computer filled a large room and had one thousandth of the power this desktop model has!!)

    Ok. Got VMware installed with Win2k. Had some interesting experiences which I will relate after work. Have to shut-down and go make some feed money.

    Alllrighty. All I have to do now is remember. For your first laugh, I got a little confused and forgot that I was working on two different PC's and one of them was brand new. Never had Linux or VMware cross its partitions before. Also being brand new, the hardware is different. Sooooo... you can not just copy over and untar the stuff you have saved from your previous machine!! Arrrggg!! Just suffice it to say that I caused myself some delays over it.

    Now in the past, I was not updating because I didn't feel that I needed to. Essentially, I still feel that way but... I am updating to IE6 and Win2k SP4.

Networking and Samba

    Hmmmmmm... what to say?? Well, if nothing else this is showing the security, and or, lack of it in Windows and Linux. I have had four or more PC's newtworked here at my homestead/shop. Family and customers. The HP9995 has been my main machine since December of 2001. I would setup Linux on the 9995, with Samba and then rule the roost from there. Now ... now I want to change that. I have a new rooster in the house. The HP m7480n. It came with Windows Media Center installed. My 9995 was one of the first machines to have Windows XP. It also contained one of the earlier P4's. Now I have the almost latest technology in my most recent PC.

    Sooo... what am I leading up to? Well, so far I have this:

    At present, the Windows OS's on the new PC can see the files and dirs on the HP 9995. But, the new machine can not see its Linux files from within Win2K. This means that I have to get Samba properly setup on the new PC. My current Samba conf on the 9995 looks like this:

# =============================================================================
#
# A setup for SuSE 10.2 - 1 Linux box, 1 Win98 boxes, 1 VMware WinNT "box", 1 WinXP
#                          dusty-tr     workhorse        dusty2             dars-pc
#
# SMB config file for my system. Remember to be careful when setting
# things up with VMWare. You can get conflicts on the Samba parameters.
# You don't really want both running Samba!!! Comments in this file MUST
# be on lines of their own!!
#
# To stop and start on a SuSE system.
#   /etc/rc.d/smb stop
#   /etc/rc.d/smb start
#  Use "testparm" to check the settings.
#
# ======================= Global Settings =====================================
[global]
	workgroup = TRComputing
	netbios name = dusty-tr
	server string = Samba SMB server 3.0.22-13.18
	socket options = TCP_NODELAY
	interfaces = 192.168.0.3/255.255.255.0
#
	browseable = yes
	writeable = yes
	hosts allow = 192.168.0. 127. 172.16.
	log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
	max log size = 50
	smb passwd file = /etc/samba/smbpasswd
	unix password sync = yes
	passwd program = /usr/bin/passwd
	user = ctaylor, administrator
	security = user
	wins support = yes
#
	domain master = No
	domain logons = No
	add machine script = /usr/sbin/useradd  -c Machine -d /var/lib/nobody -s /bin/false %m$
	read only = No
	username = ctaylor, administrator

# ============================ Share Declarations ==============================
[homes]
	comment = Home Directories
	browseable = no
	writeable = yes
	create mode = 0755
	guest ok = no
	printable = no

# [printers]
#	comment = All Printers
#	path = /var/spool/lpd
#	browseable = no
#	printable = yes
#	public = yes
#	read only = yes
#	create mode = 0700

[wrkdev]
	comment = Directory for Work development - P4.
	path = /home/ctaylor/WrkDev
	browseable = yes
	read only = no
	create mode = 0755
	guest ok = no
	printable = no

[ntfiles]
	comment = Directory for NT files -P4.
	path = /home/ctaylor/NTfiles
	browseable = yes
	read only = no
	create mode = 0755
	guest ok = no
	printable = no

[downloads]
	comment = Download Directory - P4.
	path = /home/ctaylor/Downloads
	browseable = yes
	read only = no
	create mode = 0755
	guest ok = no
	printable = no
    
[zip]
	comment = Zip Drive on P4.
	path = /media/zip
	browseable = yes
	read only = no
	create mode = 0777
	guest ok = no
	printable = no

[pubht]
	comment = Public HTML dir on my Linux Home Page.
	path = /home/ctaylor/public_html
	browseable = yes
	read only = no
	create mode = 0755
	guest ok = no
	printable = no


# ================================================================

[p2zip]
	comment = Zip Drive on PII.
	path = /p2zip
	browseable = yes
	read only = no
	create mode = 0755
	guest ok = no
	printable = no
    

# ================================================================

[windrve]
	comment = Directory for my Win Drive E - P4.
	path = /windows/E
	browseable = yes
	read only = no
	create mode = 0777
	guest ok = no
	printable = no


[windrvd]
	comment = Directory for my Win Drive D - P4.
	path = /windows/D
	browseable = yes
	read only = yes
	create mode = 0755
	guest ok = no
	printable = no

## Share disabled by YaST
# [netlogon]

    On the 7480: Someone has created an equivalent "My Network Places" for Linux. (this has been created for quite a while not just on my 7480..) They simply label it "Network Browsing". In it they have a Samba section. When I look inside I can see dusty-tr, dusty2 and the PSD55465 printer server. Since my wifes PC is not on, there is nothing else. The point here is that I am seeing the 9995 but not the 7480... cause ... I don't have a samba conf setup properly yet on the 7480.

    Now then, the big question is ... can I have Samba running on both machines on the same network?? Why do I ask this question. Well, I ran into trouble when I had Samba running inside VMware. This is similar to two different machines BUT not quite the same. We will see. I do want the new PC to be the new main master... naturally. I don't think it will be a problem with physically separate machines cause Scott was using Samba on his PC whilst I was using it on my PC at Telesoft. There were no conflicts there. The following is the file I created and.... it didn't work the first time. In the Linux Network all I saw was the same three. Hmmmmmmm.... so what needs to be changed.

# ===================================================================================
#
# A setup for SuSE 10.2 - 1 Linux box, 1 Win98 boxes, 1 VMware Win2K "box", 1 WinXP
#                          dusty-tr     workhorse        dusty2             dars-pc
# ===================================================================================
#
# A change in the above on 13 Feb 07. I now have a new HP 7480 and it will eventually
# become the new master. At present in Linux or WinMC it is dusty-tr2. The win2K inside
# VMware is now dusty3.
#
# ===================================================================================
#
# SMB config file for my system. Remember to be careful when setting
# things up with VMWare. You can get conflicts on the Samba parameters.
# You don't really want both running Samba!!! Comments in this file MUST
# be on lines of their own!!
#
# To stop and start on a SuSE system.
#   /etc/rc.d/smb stop
#   /etc/rc.d/smb start
#  Use "testparm" to check the settings.
#
#
# smb.conf is the main Samba configuration file. You find a full commented
# version at /usr/share/doc/packages/samba/examples/smb.conf.SUSE if the
# samba-doc package is installed.
# Date: 2006-11-27
# ======================= Global Settings =====================================
[global]
	workgroup = TRComputing
	netbios name = dusty-tr2
	server string = Samba SMB server 3.0.22-13.18
	socket options = TCP_NODELAY
	interfaces = 192.168.0.4/255.255.255.0
#
	browseable = yes
	writeable = yes
	hosts allow = 192.168.0. 127. 172.16.
	log file = /var/log/samba/log.m%
	max log size = 50
	smb passwd file = /etc/samba/smbpasswd
	unix password sync = yes
	passwd program = /usr/bin/passwd
	user = ctaylor, administrator
	security = user
	wins support = yes
#
	domain master = No
	domain logons = No
	add machine script = /usr/sbin/useradd  -c Machine -d /var/lib/nobody -s /bin/false %m$
	read only = No
	username = ctaylor, administrator
#
	printing = cups
	printcap name = cups
	printcap cache time = 750
	cups options = raw
	map to guest = Bad User
	include = /etc/samba/dhcp.conf
	logon path = \\%L\profiles\.msprofile
	logon home = \\%L\%U\.9xprofile
	logon drive = P:
	usershare allow guests = Yes

# ============================ Share Declarations ==============================
[homes]
	comment = Home Directories
	valid users = %S, %D%w%S
	browseable = No
	read only = No
	inherit acls = Yes
	create mode = 0755
[profiles]
	comment = Network Profiles Service
	path = %H
	read only = No
	store dos attributes = Yes
	create mask = 0600
	directory mask = 0700
[users]
	comment = All users
	path = /home
	read only = No
	inherit acls = Yes
	veto files = /aquota.user/groups/shares/
[groups]
	comment = All groups
	path = /home/groups
	read only = No
	inherit acls = Yes
#
# ==============================================================================
# Now then, this is basically a copy from the samba file on my 9995, with changes.
#
[wrkdev]
	comment = Directory for Work development - P4.
	path = /home/ctaylor/WrkDev
	browseable = yes
	read only = no
	create mode = 0755
	guest ok = no
	printable = no

[ntfiles]
	comment = Directory for NT files -P4.
	path = /home/ctaylor/NTfiles
	browseable = yes
	read only = no
	create mode = 0755
	guest ok = no
	printable = no

[downloads]
	comment = Download Directory - P4.
	path = /home/ctaylor/Downloads
	browseable = yes
	read only = no
	create mode = 0755
	guest ok = no
	printable = no
    
[zip]
	comment = Zip Drive on P4.
	path = /media/zip
	browseable = yes
	read only = no
	create mode = 0777
	guest ok = no
	printable = no

[pubht]
	comment = Public HTML dir on my Linux Home Page.
	path = /home/ctaylor/public_html
	browseable = yes
	read only = no
	create mode = 0755
	guest ok = no
	printable = no

# ================================================================

[p2zip]
	comment = Zip Drive on PII.
	path = /p2zip
	browseable = yes
	read only = no
	create mode = 0755
	guest ok = no
	printable = no
    
# ================================================================

[windrvl]
	comment = Directory for my Win Drive L - P4.
	path = /windows/L
	browseable = yes
	read only = no
	create mode = 0777
	guest ok = no
	printable = no

[windrvd]
	comment = Directory for my Win Drive D - P4.
	path = /windows/D
	browseable = yes
	read only = yes
	create mode = 0755
	guest ok = no
	printable = no
#
# ==============================================================================
# For some reason in my old setup I had the printers commented out. I think it is
# cause I have a "Network" printer. Have to watch this.
#
[printers]
	comment = All Printers
	path = /var/tmp
	printable = Yes
	create mask = 0600
	browseable = No
[print$]
	comment = Printer Drivers
	path = /var/lib/samba/drivers
	write list = @ntadmin root
	force group = ntadmin
	create mask = 0664
	directory mask = 0775

Printer Setup - Linux

    Well, the printer in VMware mode did not work cause I don't have it setup in Linux mode, yet. Went through YAST and setup the printer.

Printer Configuration
HP Color Inkjet Printer CP1700 / printer
Connected As socket://PSD55465:4010
With Spool printer

QPS

    Ok. I threw in QPS, the graphical version of ps, so that I could look at the processes. Well, guess what?? SMBD and NMBD are not running!! That is why I can not see them. However, I found this out with the normal ps cause QPS didn't list anything... for some reason. I'll have to see what was the problem in the past... like everything else.

    Alllrighty. As usual there have been updates. I got the latest version of QPS from the net, installed it and we are back in business. Still no samba. Me thinks we been here before. Just cause you installed it, it don't mean that you will get to use it automatically. Think I gota say "Start it" somewhere.

Samba Works

    Well, if you go into the YAST manager and tell it to start and then restart your system, you will find both smbd and nmbd running. Then when you look into the neighborhood you will see your new Linux system.

1. Start DNS server at boot time.
2. Enable HTTP at boot time.
3. Start Samba at boot time.

Bluefish - 28 Feb 07

    Installed Bluefish today. Need my Linux HTML editor so I don't have to jump into VMware everytime I want to make a note about this setup.

HP and Compaq Desktop PCs - Noise from Fan Increases or Decreases While the Computer is Used

References:

Thermal Design Power (TDP)
Pentium D
Wiki Pentium D
SSE3 and SSE2 Dual-core

Memory Info

Q: For a dual core mother board, are all ddr2 240 pin memory RAM OK to mix disregard to their speed on each core channel? I have a 1g pc4000 ram on my single core cpu. But if I upgrade to a m/b with dual core cpu, can i use my old pc4000 ram and add the other. say, 1g pc6400 ram and running OK on this new m/b? since they are all 240-pin ddr2 ram memo...... (4 answers - asked 13 months ago)
A: You should be fine

Unless your motherboard has a specific issue regarding this, mixing memory speeds should be fine. The one thing you should keep in mind is that, as with many aspects of computing, everything runs as fast as the slowest component. I like to think of it like "No Child Left Behind" for computers. You can use slower hardware if you want, but don't expect any other hardware to work to it's full potential.

In simpler(?) computer terms, if you mix pc4000 RAM and pc6400 RAM, it will probably work, but it will cause the pc6400 RAM to run at only pc4000 speeds.

Aside from your not getting the best speed out of your new, expensive memory, this will have no effect on your computer.

Another option would be to overclock your old memory to pc6400 if it can handle it. Check Google concerning your motherboard and your old RAM to see its overclocking potential.

I, personally, ran a mix of PC2400 and PC3200 DDR RAM in an older computer of mine for a long time with no ill effects.
Sources: Personal Experience

---

Product Specifications

ASUS P5LP-LE HP Compaq Emery 775 Board Intel NEW
Member id efor_store ( Feedback Score Of 607)
Item condition:	New other (see details)
Sale date:	Sep 12, 2013
Quantity:	1
Price:	AU $38.00 -- USA $35.53
Total plus shipping: USA $59.94

  Seagate Barracuda ES - 750 GB - internal - 3.5" - SATA-300 - 7200 rpm - buffer: 16 MB

Added April 29th, 2013 /3:00pmTRComputing

Detailed item info

Product Description An ultimate storage solution for desktop PCs, gaming systems, RAID, DAS, and NAS, the Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3750528AS is a 7,200 rpm hard drive. The SATA interface enables you to transfer data between this Seagate internal HDD and the PC at speeds of 3 Gbps. The Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3750528AS has a storage capacity of 750 GB, letting you store your valuable data. Using a 32 MB cache memory along with the OptiCache technology, this Seagate internal HDD lets you search stored records in seconds. This 7,200 rpm hard drive's DiscWizard software allows you to easily copy all the data from your old drive to a new one. Product Identifiers Brand Seagate Model Barracuda 7200.12 MPN ST3750528AS UPC 2001703769001, 4046443012336, 5051964580904, 5704327634034, 683728201807, 715663213949, 7636490020865, 763649022313, 8032976051788, 9858594547637 Key Features Enclosure Internal Capacity 750 GB Buffer Size 32 MB Hard Drive Type HDD (Hard Disk Drive) Spindle Speed 7200 RPM Interface SATA I Technical Features Platform PC Form Factor 3.5"

Product Description

Seagate Barracuda ES - Hard drive - 750 GB - internal - 3.5" - SATA-300 - 7200 rpm - buffer: 16 MB

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