For those looking to splash out a bit on a new desktop, the Linux hardware vendor Entroware have unleashed Hades, a powerful new desktop computer with Linux pre-loaded.
This is their first AMD Ryzen powered desktop with multiple choices between the CPU and GPU, although they're still only providing NVIDIA GPUs with the Hades. For those looking at the ultimate performance, they've gone with the AMD Threadripper so it really is a bit of a beast.
- CPU Options: Ryzen TR 1900x up to Ryzen TR 2990WX
- GPU Options: NVIDIA® GT 1030, RTX 2070, RTX 2080 or RTX 2080 Ti Graphics
- RAM: 16GB DDR4 2933MHz up to 128GB DDR4 (with 2400MHz ECC options)
- Front Ports: 2 x USB Hi-Speed 2.0, 2 x USB SuperSpeed 3.0, 1 x USB SuperSpeed 3.0 Type-C, 1 x Headphone Jack, 1 x Microphone Jack
- Rear Ports: 1 x PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse Combo, 8 x USB SuperSpeed 3.1, 1 x USB SuperSpeed 3.1 10Gbps, 1 x USB SuperSpeed 3.1 10Gbps Type-C, 5 x Audio Jacks (Line In, Line Out, Mic In, Rear Speaker Out, Centre Speaker Out), 2 x RJ-45 Ethernet, 2 x WiFi Antenna Connector, 1 x Power Connector
It also comes with Bluetooth support built-in as well, so that's sweet.
Operating system choices are somewhat limited, with Entroware focusing on Ubuntu and Ubuntu MATE either 18.04 LTS (Long-term support) or 18.10. The more options they add in though, the more time consuming it would be so it's not a major issue. Anyone using other distributions likely know exactly what they're doing anyway.
You will need to dig deep though, since the price starts at £1,599.99. You can't pay for a top unit on the cheap though, it pays to future-proof yourself as much as possible of course. Still, it's quite high.
For shipping, they're currently available to people in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
I personally tested a laptop Entroware sent over back in 2015 and I was very impressed with them. For those outside the US they seem like a pretty decent company to go with for Linux hardware. While I usually build desktops myself from parts, for a laptop Entroware will absolutely be my go-to company. Even so, the Hades is an impressive unit.
Find out more about Hades on the Entroware site.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: ShmerlQuoting: Avehicle7887I think if Canonical upgraded the GPU drivers regularly things might be different.
It's surprising Canonical didn't take care of providing gamers oriented preset, where kernel and Mesa are kept up to date by default. I suppose they expect that gamers aren't going to use Ubuntu in general, and would focus on rolling distros for the most part? If this PC is oriented on gamers, may be they should sell it with a rolling distro to begin with.
Personally, I also like buying components and assembling them myself, instead of getting a pre-assembled PC. An option in between are stores which assemble a custom PC for you, based on your components specification.
This is partly why I switched from Ubuntu to Debian Sid. It's a rolling release with timely kernel and Mesa updates.
In Ubuntu's defence though, the only reason you need PPA's is the rapid development of Vulkan games and Proton. As things mature, the need for PPA's will go away and just sticking to the latest Ubuntu release, or even LTS with latest HWE should be fine. Even now it is mostly fine unless you run into issues trying to use Proton.
Quoting: BrisseIn Ubuntu's defence though, the only reason you need PPA's is the rapid development of Vulkan games and Proton. As things mature, the need for PPA's will go away and just sticking to the latest Ubuntu release, or even LTS with latest HWE should be fine. Even now it is mostly fine unless you run into issues trying to use Proton.
That's not a very good excuse. Things can be changing fast for a number of different reasons. New Vulkan features, optimizations and so on. And what's next, OpenXR for example? That will also be rapidly evolving. So having a preset for gamers makes sense, especially if so many gaming stores herald Ubuntu as their primary supported distro.
Last edited by Shmerl on 15 January 2019 at 12:28 pm UTC
Quoting: CFWhitmanQuoting: GuestThreadripper CPUs are for servers and overkill for a gaming PC: best gaming cpus
This article is written from a Windows-centric viewpoint (understandably so from a mainstream site). Vulkan graphics benefit more from extra threads. However, the biggest reason to consider AMD CPUs is that they are better bang for the buck processors, and that benefit is pretty much erased if you are going to buy from a computer vendor that charges a premium like Entroware.
debianxfce is not wrong about Threadripper though. It's basically two Ryzen's slapped into the same package and it has some of the same issues that dual socket setups have with latency and scheduling between NUMA-nodes and such, and while Linux is better at handling that than Windows, it's still not ideal, and the fastest Ryzen's will mostly beat Threadripper's in games.
NovenTheHero Jan 15, 2019
Quoting: Kristian" 1 x PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse Combo"
I thought everyone had long since moved on to USB for these things.
I wouldn't buy a motherboard these days without PS/2 port. I use it for my mechanical keyboard for true n-key rollover.
Patreon
PayPal
See more from me