I Need Some Hardware Help

[Grimm]

Okay, so as many of you might know, my hard drive recently died again, and it won't start windows. So now I'm running off the Knoppix boot disk, communicating through the Java IRC client. Unfortunately, the Java client (or maybe Knoppix) won't let me copy or paste links into chat, which is why I've created this thread.

After discussing with people on IRC, mostly JHunz, I've found this hard drive:
http://shop4.outpost.com/product/4008252

And this ram:
http://shop4.outpost.com/product/3325972

From what I've gathered, the hard drive is pretty good (and a good deal), although I wouldn't mind any more help/suggestions. At the moment, though, I'm more worried about that being the right ram, since there seems to be the same kind of ram but a few different numbers that I don't understand that could make a big difference. Any other suggestions/help would be greatly appreciated, as I'd like to do this right and not screw up my computer by getting the wrong thing.

P.S. If anyone knows how to get music to play in Knoppix, please tell me, I'm going insane without any music to listen to.

[DruBo]

DDR333 is DDR333 for the most part, so if what you've got is DDR333 it'll work together unless you have some kind of wacky Dell OEM board or something.

The hard drive is a good deal, yes.

And as for playing music in knoppix, you're mostly out of luck unless it already plays sounds. If it plays sounds, then it's detected your sound card, and all you need to do is run xmms or gxine or mplayer or whatever knoppix comes with these days (my bet it's xmms), navigate to your music folder*, and load music files. It generally doesn't work with playlists unfortunately.

If it doesn't play any sounds, then it hasn't detected your sound card, and you are unfortunately out of luck.

*Your music folder is probably on your hard drive, and you can access that by mounting it in your home directory in Knoppix. Don't know how to do that? Open a terminal window (usually called Xterm or RXVT) and run the following commands:

Code: [Select]

mkdir hd
mount /dev/hda1 ./hd -t  ntfs --readonly

the /dev/hda1 should be replaced with your hard drive's device name. (the 'a' refers to it being the primary drive on the 1st IDE channel, and the 1 is the partition number, so the only partition on a  hard drive that's the master device on the secondary IDE channel would be /dev/hdc1.)

The 'ntfs' assumes that your hard drive is formatted using NTFS. If it's FAT32, then replace the ntfs above with vfat.

[Isamil]

And I agree with your custom title completly.

[DruBo]

[Dubbilex]

As for the hard drive, there is much betyter on newegg - I very nearly bought a 200 gb Seagate for $135
 
Now to the causal eye, that might seem like it's more expensive than the 99 dollar one you've rustled up.  But realize that mail-in rebates (as opposed to instant rebates)  are generally useless and usually arrive at least three months after the thing is purchased.  If you have $170 to burn right now, then by all means go for it.


But I'd go for the 135 dollar drive (or comparable), myself.  


*edit* That hard drive that grimm found is SATA, right?  I just want to make sure Grimm knows this - make sure you have SATA cables and the right hardware to support it. */edit*

[Grimm]

I would probably get my stuff from newegg, except for the fact that I need the stuff sooner than later. I'm okay with these first couple/few days without being able to do too much, but over the weekend I'm definitely going to need my regular programs to do some school work for a final senior exhibition (big speech with a power point presentation, basically). And as long as the mail in rebate comes, it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

[Lito]

You guys are so lucky.  My parents are scared panceless about getting thier creditcards haxed if they use it to buy stuff online.


So cold and alone...

[DruBo]

That hard drive that grimm found is SATA, right?

Nope. It's regular old UDMA, ATA 100 EIDE with the fat ribbon cables and everything.

Lito: Look up RC5/RC6 encryption and show it to your parents. That's the only form that the credit card numbers are ever seen in while they're out on the net proper. RC6 is 384-bit encryption, and damned near impossible to crack; I think RC5 is 256-bit and hardly easier.

In short, plugging your cc# into a web retailer like Newegg or Fry's or TigerDirect or anyone else with a good reputation is actually safer than reading it to someone over the phone, or using it to pay at a restaurant.

[Uranium - 235]

Lito: Look up RC5/RC6 encryption and show it to your parents. That's the only form that the credit card numbers are ever seen in while they're out on the net proper. RC6 is 384-bit encryption, and damned near impossible to crack; I think RC5 is 256-bit and hardly easier.

My solution was to kill his parents and eat their livers, but I guess your solution might work...

[Grimm]

I call dibs on the hearts and brains!

 

[confused!]

hey on the other hand some one haxed my credit card number a few days ago. Fortuantely my bank rulez, with a Z. So, i'm getting off with no loss of cash flow. and some jerk in new york is gettign arrested.

if you really want to freak tehm out show them this  o_O AAAHHHHHHH

[Sancho]

After tragically losing my HD 2 years back, I have sworn myself to Western Digital and neither of my two drives have failed me yet.  Probably a bit more $$, but I'd say its worth it.