IT guys...

[nututhugame]

For those particular boards, wireless is probably not included. I didn't do a ton of research on the parts themselves, but at that price point, for a wireless connection you will most likely have to buy a wireless NIC for one of the PCI slots. Those are pretty cheap, although with a desktop, I would personally just wire it up.

Dropping wireless drives me up the wall, so anything that's not super mobile(phone or tablet) I like wired.

I thought of that after the fact. For a desktop there's no reason not to have it wired.

Once you have the drivers installed for the hardware you have, which is pretty easy typically, you don't really have to mess with it anymore. The major distros like ubuntu and mint are pretty point and click.

Question is, how hard is it to get the needed drivers and how do you get them if you cannot connect to the internet?

 

[eclark53520]

I thought of that after the fact. For a desktop there's no reason not to have it wired.

Question is, how hard is it to get the needed drivers and how do you get them if you cannot connect to the internet?

Depends really...most major manufacturers have the drivers right on their website. As long as you have another computer hooked up on your network that can get to the internet, you download them on that machine, and get them through the network, or transfer them via flash drive.

 

[nututhugame]

So with that PC PartPicker they pretty much search all different places to find the best prices on hardware and then check compatiblility for you. You still buy everything individually and assemble it yourself. Did you put those two together for me real quick or are those ones you had on file possibly for yourself? Are either one of those suitable for a dual boot setup?

 

[eclark53520]

So with that PC PartPicker they pretty much search all different places to find the best prices on hardware and then check compatiblility for you. You still buy everything individually and assemble it yourself. Did you put those two together for me real quick or are those ones you had on file possibly for yourself? Are either one of those suitable for a dual boot setup?

Yeah PCPartpicker does all the compatibility work for you, but you buy the parts from wherever you want. I just picked the cheapest case on the list too...you will probably want to do some research on cases and pick one you like. They can get pretty expensive...there are cases out there that would cost more than all the other parts combined in those lists...

I just threw those together real quick, if you're really thinking about one, let me know and I will go through them more thoroughly. I actually went back and updated the cheaper one because the motherboard I had on there didn't support onboard video.

 

[nututhugame]

So the buy tabs bring you to newegg or wherever to purchase there? I have to work on funds, but I will (in the not too distant future) be wanting to get a new machine.

With that first machine as an example, i'd be looking to max the ram right away since it's relatively cheap anyways (I think it was 16gig max). I would be looking to do a dual boot setup most likely with Windows 7 and Ubuntu. Then get Apache, MySQL, and PHP all put on with Ubuntu. Is there any reason you see not to do that?

With my computer, the ram is maxed at 1gig so I couldn't run anything more than XP. I don't have a problem with that other than the way the guy set it up my hard drive is partitioned into two sections c and f. All software downloads or updates go by default to c and it's out of space. Don't know why exactly he did that, but I put pics and stuff on f and it's considerably bigger than c with a bunch of free space. Is there anything that can be done about that? I'd like to keep running this computer and network it to the new one if I could.

 

[eclark53520]

So the buy tabs bring you to newegg or wherever to purchase there? I have to work on funds, but I will (in the not too distant future) be wanting to get a new machine.

With that first machine as an example, i'd be looking to max the ram right away since it's relatively cheap anyways (I think it was 16gig max). I would be looking to do a dual boot setup most likely with Windows 7 and Ubuntu. Then get Apache, MySQL, and PHP all put on with Ubuntu. Is there any reason you see not to do that?

With my computer, the ram is maxed at 1gig so I couldn't run anything more than XP. I don't have a problem with that other than the way the guy set it up my hard drive is partitioned into two sections c and f. All software downloads or updates go by default to c and it's out of space. Don't know why exactly he did that, but I put pics and stuff on f and it's considerably bigger than c with a bunch of free space. Is there anything that can be done about that? I'd like to keep running this computer and network it to the new one if I could.

I've never actually gone to the 'buy' tabs...but i'm pretty sure they just send you to the merchant.

Unless you're interested in messing with Linux for some other reason, there's no reason to run it specifically to write code. You can run apache, mysql, and php on a windows machine. The reason linux was suggested is because it's free and that facilitates the really cheap box. Running windows automatically makes you drop an extra benjamin on the box.

Zero reason to go to 16 gig of ram. My workstation at work is running 8 and I typically have three to four instances of Visual studio open, lots of browser windows, office applications, etc etc etc open at any given time and have no issues. I would put that extra money elsewhere, but that's your decision.

 

[nututhugame]

I wouldn't mind running a small partition of Linux just to have something else to mess with and learn. I would like to eventually be able to run Apache, mysql, and php on both Linux and Windows. I know i'd have to drop some $ on a Windows OS and that's ok. That's what would get used 90% of the time most likely.

Would I be correct in saying that if I went dual boot you have to install the Linux partition first?

 

[eclark53520]

I wouldn't mind running a small partition of Linux just to have something else to mess with and learn. I would like to eventually be able to run Apache, mysql, and php on both Linux and Windows. I know i'd have to drop some $ on a Windows OS and that's ok. That's what would get used 90% of the time most likely.

Would I be correct in saying that if I went dual boot you have to install the Linux partition first?

What I would do in that case is buy a nice 8 gig flash drive and boot from that when you want to mess with linux.

You can install windows first and linux second or vise versa. As far as i know its completely possible either way.

 

[eclark53520]

Hey Nut...this is a deal on NewEgg today...

Decent Core I5 processor, 1tb HDD(seagate), 6gig of DDR3 ram, keybaord, mouse, and Windows Home Premium 64bit for $400. That's $200 off regular price.

The biggest complaint about this box is if you open the case, the warranty is void...which...to me, at that price, isn't a big deal.

 

[VtDivot]

Just another thought, you don't necessarily need to be a programmer to work in IT. There are roles for people who can design, implement, suppport, build, test, project manage, networking, systems, hosting etc.

I used to write lots of code (java, xslt, PL/SQL stored procs etc) now I work more on the "solution development" side. Integration and interfacing etc. I make my living giving my opinion on the software that my company builds and implements. It involves, supporting our existing product from an engineering perspective, working with our services team, hosting groups, design teams and customers to mold our product to fit a desired need or use case. In my career I have been in implementations, support, QA, engineering, and design. A diverse skill set is very desirable IMO

In case you are wondering I have a degree in BA in History and French and a teaching degree. I went to a one year tech program 13 years ago, and started as an implementation engineer. Learned on the job and moved around into different roles as they became available.

If you can think logically and solve problems you can work in IT in some form.

 

[nututhugame]

How do I change the format of a text document I created with wordpad to another format like pdf or something? I created a cover letter and can't upload it and can't figure out how to change the format of the file.

 

[VtDivot]

Do you have Word?

 

[nututhugame]

Do you have Word?

Nope.

 

[eclark53520]

Download whatever the current version of open office is. Open your document in the open office word processor, it has an export as pdf function.

You can also save as a .doc which is Microsoft word format.

 

[VtDivot]

yup - use open office if you don't have word.