X-PLANE 10 made me build a new computer

[MAHillsgrove]

What held me back for many years from a 100% Linux was the lack of any game, specifically a good flight simulator, so when I got X-Plane 9 it was wonderful, and it ran beautiful on my dual core AMD homebuilt. Note that I have NEVER owned a computer that I did not build myself.

For the longest time it was the application that brought me the most joy, and I waited for the day when they would update it so that I could enjoy it even more. The day came and it was all I could think of! So, I said to myself "Mike, you got to upgrade to XPLANE 10. It will be AWESOME!!!"

I put it on my dual core and it was awful. Just awful. The recommendations for the hardware were off the chart. The planes were uncontrollable, the display backs were slow, and all I could think to do was go back to 9.

It was when the sound started dieing on my box that I decided to upgrade. I went with an AMD 8120 chip (8 core), a Gigibyte 990FXA-UD3 mainboard, 16 Gig RAM, and a Radeon 6670 2 GB Video Card, and a 2TB WD Green HDD (a bit slower, but cheap). LG dual layer DVD Writer. 600 Watt Power Supply. I'm thinking that this should do it for me.

Is there any reason that I shouldn't be excited in anticipation of the experience that anyone knows of? All of this stuff had Linux on the box and seems to be good mid range stuff. I'm running 10.04 now, but am thinking that 11.10 might be a better place to be. Aside from internet stuff, the other primary use for the computer is writing novels, hardly a great drain on resources. Any opinion on version for this new unit?

[ardvark71]

Hi...

While I'm not sure of the brands for everything except your motherboard, the one thing I would advise anyone upgrading or building a system from scratch is not to skimp (go cheap) on the PSU! Get the best quality you can afford. Here is a list of recommended brands (and ones to avoid.) I have a preference for PC Power and Cooling, although I think Seasonic and Corsair are probably just as good, although I don't have any experience (or have ever purchased) any of their units.

Be mindful of card quality, too, whether graphics, wireless network, modem, or anything else. I had a system upgraded about a year ago that had a Diablo TNT2 M64. the card had developed a bulging cap after 3 years of continuous, daily service, possibly because it was way too close to the heatsink. The rest of the caps were fine. Gigabyte is a good brand of motherboard, from what I have read.

I've had good experiences with Ubuntu/Kubuntu 10.04, whereas, I haven't even tried any from the 11 series. For that reason, I would be a bit hesitant, especially with the problems I've see reported in the forums concerning them. That doesn't mean you personally will have any problems. Try running 11.10 live and see what happens. However, if you do decide to go with 11.10, I would advise a fresh install, not an upgrade from 10.04. :-)

Hope this helps...

[MAHillsgrove]

The power supply I bought is Corsair.

The progression will be the new machine takes over from the old and it will become the server downstairs (servers don't require sound). The server downstairs becomes wifes computer - her ancient windows computer that I refuse to touch or service anymore was killed off by viruses, goes bye-bye and wife will learn to use Linux as I won't put anything else on it.

AMD I'm sure of. All of my computers run AMD except for that thing my wife had that I built 10+ years ago. The only thing that wories me is the Radeon video card.

[ardvark71]

The only thing that wories me is the Radeon video card.

Hi...

It appears that your chipset is still officially supported by the Catalyst driver. You can download the latest driver here. :-)

Regards...

[dequire]

Hi MAHillsgrove!

I just built a new computer (6-core AMD 3.1 Ghz, Asus M5-A99X MB, 8 GB Ram, and your same video card). All I can say is that I'm a casual gamer, playing mostly indie games. But in tests in Minecraft, Urban Terror, Xontic, and a few others, I have not found a game yet that I can't run with max settings! (sweet, I know). And I did some research, as I suspect you did as well. That video card is not cutting edge, but definately was the most "bang for the buck" card that can handle most anythng out there today. I think you'll be just fine.

I do think, with those new 8-core AMD's, you'll definately need the proprietary drivers and also you'll likely need to make sure the "performance" profile is enabled when you run your simulator. It should be automatically, but I would want to know for sure. I do agree with you, AMD all the way. Do let us know your impression when the new beast is built.

[MAHillsgrove]

As it turned out, the problem is not the video card, although (Thank you very much) I did download the new one suggested. My issue is the built on NIC 10/100/1000 on the FX990 main board. No version of Ubuntu or Kubuntu supports it yet. I get link light, the main board bios has a test function (really cool, like a built in cable tester - it will tell you the length of your cable and where a break is) and the main board see's the link.

So I will try Fedora to see if it has one. The alternative is an older card until I can figure out the issue with kubuntu/ubuntu. I have to get this up very soon on something.

[ardvark71]

So I will try Fedora to see if it has one. The alternative is an older card until I can figure out the issue with kubuntu/ubuntu. I have to get this up very soon on something.

Hi...

That's strange, it should be supported out of the box. Before you go over to Fedora, there are a couple options. One is to install the latest driver for your NIC. Your motherboard specs state that the chipset is a Realtek RTL8111E. You can find the latest drivers here. Here is an installation guide, although it may be for an older version of the driver. You can look around on Google to see if there is anything more up to date.

The second option is to disable the NIC in the BIOS and install a PCI card. You can what's compatible here, and here, although the lists don't appear up to date.

Let us know what you come up with.

Regards...

[MAHillsgrove]

Didn't work on Fedora, so I retried 10.04 without success. I then tried a GA311 card and it did not detect this either on that reinstall. Any computer without a NIC is useless so I'm becoming suspicious now. The cables, ports on the switch, work just fine and I've eliminated just about everything. So I've re-enabled the on board NIC and will do yet another reinstall of 10.04 because I have a 10.04 machine right next to it (this one) for settings that I know work.

I use Fedora or CentOS for diagnostics because I manage hundreds of RHEL servers at work and anything Red Hat is easy to work on. Sadly, the latest Fedora uses the Unity desktop (that I've come to loath) although it did have a console - that I desperately need. Unity is the least useful and sadly most pathetic thing I've ever seen. I know what all of the commands are, most of the useful ones don't work on Ubuntu/Kubuntu. ('service network restart' comes to mind) Also diagnostics on Kubuntu are made more difficult because you cant log on or su to root. This is a misguided attempt at security because all you really need to do is to disable remote access to root. In the real world even this isn't done because no one wants to sit in the server room when they can ssh into your servers. I hate this feature of protecting me from myself. It's really dumb.

I have a copy of just about every current distro, just to play with. I use Kubuntu at home because it's "user friendly" even if it's "Sys Admin vicious". It does multimedia well, unlike RH clones.

I will edit the /etc/resolv.conf and make sure that the nameservers are right. On this go around I told the installer to update itself which it seemed to do. I'm thinking that either the advanced features of the NIC chips or an outdated driver is the problem. If it were Red Hat I would get the appropriate rpm and do it that way, but debian does it differently.

I found 11.10 very difficult to use. Each version seems to be getting more difficult to do what I need to do. Something as simple as using different backgrounds on each desktop was frustrating in 11.10, I found the setting fine in 10.04.

[ardvark71]

I then tried a GA311 card and it did not detect this either on that reinstall.

Hi...

You're not alone, other folks have had problems with this card as well. However, a solution can be found here.

Also, in case it helps, here is Netgear's documentation for your card.

Regards...

[MAHillsgrove]

Thank you. I appreciate your research.

The driver needs to be compiled and the makefile could not find the gcc compiler. Apparently it isn't installed by default. This would have been nice. The 'solution' involves replacing Network Manager' with a different product, which might be easier with network connectivity. Working for the government, I'm perfectly happy buying my way out of this.

I asked the folks at Gigibyte about this and they basically said that We haven't tested it with Linux, you are on your own. That wasn't what they said in the advertisement.

So, there must be a known good 100meg PCI card somewhere. I don't even need 1000 base T as the house network is only 100. Even a usb NIC might work.

[ardvark71]

Hi...

So the instructions I posted didn't work? I thought it only involved replacing knetworkmanager with wicd, along with changing a couple boot flags.

Regards...

[MAHillsgrove]

SOLVED!!! I disabled the on board NIC, took the Netgear GA311 back to Best Buys, took the $30 to CompuComputers were the geeks hang out and got myself a ASUS NX1001 Fast Ethernet for $20 and reloaded the OS again (took about 5 minutes). Saw it, flew like the wind, it's downloading patches now. I'll get Libre Office on it, load up X-Plane 10 and I will be a very very happy camper.

What irritates me is that Netgear says "Supports major OS". ASUS simply lists Linux under it's supported operating systems. Both the Netgear and on board use the Realtek chipset, that should have been my clue.

I thank you all! In fact learned alot and got it down to a chipset issue.

Since I reload my OS frequently, I don't want to fight it every time.

[ardvark71]

Hi...

You're welcome, glad I could help

[dequire]

I thank you all! In fact learned alot and got it down to a chipset issue.

Since I reload my OS frequently, I don't want to fight it every time.

Glad that it all worked out! Now get to flying!