Linux Ubuntu 14.4 System build advice please

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23 Dec 2005
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Location
Staffordshire
Good morning.
Let me start from the beginning; I'm a complete Linux noob. I dug out an old system I built for the kids back in 2007 running Wndows XP that had been unused for years. I decided to do something with it last week rather than scrap it. Having discovered the MS have stopped all support for XP and Vista both of which I have genuine copies of I decided to look at Ubuntu.
I installed Ubuntu 14.4 64 bit and had a bit of a play but this morning I have messed something up and I'm about to do a full reinstall but before I do I want a more informed approach based on the spec of the machine I'm using which is here:
Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe motherboard BIOS v0701
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ 2.5 GHz @2.76
4Gb Elixir PC-3200 DDR 400
300Gb SATA HD.

It was originally fitted with an ATi Radeon 2900XT but I then fitted a Radeon AX4870 1Gb but couldn't find drivers for it. I also have an old Radeon X1900XT.

So I have three choices of graphics card to fit in the machine so I'd like some advice on which would be the most compatible.

I know this is a really low spec machine by current standards and it's not intended to replace my current system which I know is also getting long in the tooth but it's sufficient for my needs at the moment. This is a project and my way of discovering the refreshing change Ubuntu offers.

Thank you.
 
Last edited:
Hi and thank you for the replies. I have just completely reinstalled Ubuntu with the ATi
AX4870 installed and it's installed the latest Gallium drivers.
Strangely though the OS only reports 2.9GiB of RAM present when there is 4GiB installed.
 
Hi.
I've installed the 64bit version but it only reports 2.9GiB of memory. The BIOS show 4GiB.
I have to say though that this install is far quicker than my first attempt when I was swapping memory and graphics cards. I messed it all up when I installed the PAE Kernel patch.This is for 32bit systems with more than 3GiB of memory.
I think it may be a BIOS issue but I have the latest release installed on the board so I think I'll have to live with it. I'm starting to really like Ubuntu though. It's somehow unadulterated if you get my meaning.
 
Hi.
All sorted now. Got 3.9GiB showing in System Details.
I had a dig around and play with some of the settings in the BIOS "Memory Configuration" and enabled "Hardware Memory Hole" which did the trick.

Cheers.
 
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