How to build a mini PC?

For the past month or two, I spent on planning and building my first Mini PC. It wasn’t smooth sailing by any means, though the only hiccup I had was to do with the motherboard, which needed replacement because of graphics artefacts.

At home, we have a desktop PC, an old laptop and a MacBook. Two questions might immediately come to one's mind. Why do I need a Mini PC and what are the reasons behind wanting to build one? Here is why?

I needed a PC in my living room for the simple reason that there is so much multimedia content on the internet (like movies, Youtube, BBC iPlayer, Hulu ...), which are better off watching on a larger screen in the comfort of a sofa, rather than watching on a desktop PC or even a laptop. Spending hours in front of a PC to watch movies doesn’t sound appealing, especially if it involves an entire family wanting to watch the same movie. Furthermore, I needed a device to record digital TV programs which could be edited and used for personal use. Though Sky+ is an alternative in the UK, it is not easy to transfer the recordings onto a PC.

Next comes the question, why build one? I initially was tempted to buy a Acer Revo R3610. It was costing around £250. However, reading buyers views, it became apparent that this machine with its small foot print wouldn't be able to deliver the graphics capability I was looking for. Furthermore, I wanted a device with a DVD-RW to play and record media content. I looked at few other alternatives and the one which caught my eye was Dell Zino HD. Though Dell Zino HD's spec looked great, its processor capability was below par. The buyers views weren't positive either. Even if I were to overlook its shortcomings, the device would cost a cool £530.

As it costs upward of £500 for a half decent mini PC, I thought I may as well build something that was more powerful, but cheaper. I looked around on the internet and found mini-itx.com online store, which was selling various components needed to build a mini PC. It also gave suggestions on aspects like which cases would fit a particular mini-itx motherboard, etc,. Gleaning through the website, I found Zotac GF9300 I-E LGA 775 motherboard, which I felt was the perfect choice for building a mini PC, especially with its capability to deliver high-definition video playback. Here is a picture of the Motherboard, courtesy Zotac Website.

Taking further cues from the mini-itx website, I homed in on the following components for my mini PC:

Component	Component Model	Manufacturer's Website	Seller
Mini-ITX Case	Jou Jye NU-528i-B Mini-ITX Chassis 220W	www.jj-computer.com	mini-itx
Motherboard	Zotac GeForce® 9300-ITX WiFi	pden.zotac.com	CCL Computers
Processor	Intel Q8300 Core2 Quad	ark.intel.com	Amazon UK
Memory	Crucial 2GB DDR2 800 PC6400 SDRAM for Socket LGA775 Boards	www.crucial.com/uk	BT Shop
Hard Drive	Seagate Momentus 500GB SATA 8mb Cache 2.5 inch Internal Hard Drive	www.seagate.com/www/en-gb	Amazon UK
DVD-RW	Optiarc (Sony/NEC) 8x Slimline Black Bare DVD-RW	www.sony-optiarc.eu	BT Shop
Keyboard and Mouse	Keysonic ACK-540RF Wireless Mini Keyboard with Built in Touchpad	www.keysonic.de	BT Sho
Cable for DVD-RW	SATA / Serial ATA Combo Power Data Cable		Amazon UK

It costed me approximately £490 to source the components. Let me remind that the above cost is minus the operating system. If one were to go with a free operating system like Linux, then that is the price one would have to shelve out to build a mini-ITX PC with above build. The above build is as good as one could expect in the small foot print of a mini-ITX with a LGA775 board.

Now let's come to the actual build process itself.

Order the components as suggested above. It is likely that you could source the components from just one seller like Scan Computers, to optimize the price.

Things you need:

1. A mini Screwdriver set (non magnetic type) 
2. Anti-static wrist strap 
3. Clean rubber gloves 

The steps for building the mini PC are:

Step 1:

Find a large enough desk with plenty of room around it to build the mini-ITX PC. Ensure that there is sufficient light over the table. Put on your Anti-static wrist strap.

Step 2:

Prepare the case. Jou-Jye website contains instructions for Standard Assembly which are quite useful on how to prepare the case. Ensure that all the components in the case, except the in-built PSU are removed. This includes the I/O plate at the back and the front panel cover. Put the I/O plate supplied by the motherboard in the case. Place the case aside for the moment.

Step 3:

Take out the Zotac Motherboard and place it on the Anti Static bag it comes with. Now take out the Intel Processor from its box and by following the instructions on the Intel website place it on the motherboard in its designated location. Take care not to touch the gold contacts on the bottom side. Retain the protective covering from the load plate, in case you need to take the processor out in the future. Screw the Wifi card onto the motherboard.

Step 4:

Place the Zotac Motherboard into the case and screw it. Jou Jye case is quite a compact case and could take some dexterity to place the motherboard. Punch holes on the I/O Plate need to be removed to enable the Wifi kit to fit in. Once in place, screw in the Wifi aerial.

Step 5:

Following the instructions on the Intel website mentioned above in Step 3 and place the fan onto the processor. Take care to place the fan in a manner that the plastic tab holding the power cable doesn't face the GPU cooler. The experience from other users is, this may lead to heating of the plastic tab causing abnormal rise in the GPU temperature.

Placing the fan correctly is the second most important step (after placing the processor) in the process of building a mini PC. Improper alignment of the fan could lead to rapid increase in processor temperatures, which could eventually cause failure. Once the fan is slotted in twist and turn to see whether the fan is secured properly. If properly secured, it is possible to remove and place the motherboard with the fan, in case any problem arises in the future.

Step 6:

Slot in the Memory module onto the motherboard, taking care not to force it in. The retainer clips will give a click sound once it is slotted in properly.

Step 7:

Screw the Slimline DVD-RW and Hard Drive onto the support plates, using the Standard Assembly instructions mentioned in Step 2. Do not screw them just yet onto the case.

Step 8:

Now connect the power connectors to the motherboard. This includes the 20+4 ATX power connector to supply power to the motherboard, 4 pin ATX 12V Power connector to supply power to the processor and the CPU fan connector to supply power to the fan. Also connect the Wifi card to the USB connector. Following the instructions in the Zotac manual to make connections to the Front Panel header. This includes, Power switch, Power LED, HDD LED and Speaker header. Also connect the AC97 front audio header.

Step 9:

You are now almost on the home stretch. Connect the SATA/Serial ATA Combo Power Data Cable Molex end to the Molex connector. Connect the SATA end of the cable to the 2nd SATA connector, leaving the first one for the Hard Drive. Using the SATA cable provided with the Motherboard connect one end to the 1st SATA connector. Place the plate for supporting the DVD-RW and Hard Drive. Now slowly place the DVD-RW and Hard Drive Support Plate into the Case. Screw them securely.

Step 10:

Connect the other end of SATA connector of the 1st SATA into the Hard Drive. Next connect the power supply to the Hard Disk. Also connect the Combo Power Data Cable into the DVD-RW. It is advisable to remove the front panel of the Slimline DVD-RW while putting in the case. Once the whole thing is in place, put the top cover of the case and screw it. Put the front panel for the Slimline DVD-RW. Finally, place the front panel for the case. You are now ready to power the mini PC.

If things are followed as per the instructions above, you will once powered and connected to the LCD TV via a HDMI cable, you will see the ZOTAC POST. Enter the BIOS settings and change the Boot order to let the DVD-RW to be the primary Boot device. Save and exit.

You PC is now ready for OS installation.

I am really happy with this build of the mini PC. At the end of it all it gives immense satisfaction to see the thing work like a treat.

Here are a few pictures of the completely Assembled system.

The Windows Experience Index of the system in Windows 7 is 4.6, which is quite creditable for a mini PC.

The temperatures of the CPU and the GPU are as follows:

The chart shows that the temperatures are quite ok, indicating that the air flow through the case is good.

Lessons Learnt:
How much ever planning you do, there will still be something unexpected that could happen. The motherboard I got was faulty. When I tried to install the operating system (Windows 7 and Ubuntu Karmic), the graphics froze on more than a few occasions. I spent atleast a week troubleshooting. My two children, who were keenly following the progress of the build process were on the verge of giving up the whole thing. The various forums I went onto were of little help. Ultimately, Zotac support informed that the problem could be due to graphics artefacts. I sent back the Motherboard to CCL computers, who promptly replaced it with a new motherboard, which, touchwood is still working.

One thing that came up on the forums was 220W PSU may not be sufficient. Though Intel Q8300 Core2 Quad processor power consumption is a touch on the higher side, I can now say for sure that 220W is more than adequate for a similar build mini PC.

While reinstalling the processor and the fan, it is likely that the thermal interface material (TIM) on the bottom of the fan would be inadequate for a second use. I called up Intel support to get the thermal interface material for free. I followed the instructions on the Intel website on how to clean the existing TIM and reapply it.

Do we need Surge Protection for Computers?

Couple of weeks back the unthinkable happened. Whilst my son was  working on the Desktop PC, there was a power surge and the hard disk electronics got fried, essentially rendering the hard disk unusable (unless you have the money and time to recover the data). Luckily, I backed up the two resident Windows operating systems (XP and 7) on the disk a day before, which made the task of reinstating them a bit easier. But I lost the music files stored on another partition, which I didn't backup.

Now comes the question, do we need Surge Protection for Computers? I didn't think about this question until I lost the hard disk. I also discovered that it is not cheap to recover data from a failed hard disk, especially if it is to do with its electronics. The cost would run into hundreds of pounds (in excess of £400).

A typical Belkin Surge Protector costs upward of £20. I recommend anyone with a desktop computer to invest in a Surge Protector, as it would save the agony of replacing a hard disk (which costs about £60 for 1 TB and £85 for 1.5 TB)  if one doesn't have the habit of backing up their hard disk regularly and there is power surge (a rare occurence, in countries like UK).

As fate had it that day, I only lost a hard disk. It could have been lot worse.

Now comes the next question, do we need to backup our hard disks regularly? I would say atleast a monthly backup (if not weekly backup) is an absolute must, if one does not want to loose their life time work stored on their computers.

Chrome OS: A Glorified Chrome Web browser!

The Developer Build of Chrome OS (0.4.22.8) is out. I downloaded it from the gdgt website and installed within my Ubuntu Operating System. The downside is you need to register to download the OS.  Another downside is one can only use it as a virtual OS, using a virtualization software like VirtualBox or VMware. The first one is free while the second one isn't.

Coming to the installation itself, TechCrunch website one of the first to write about the operating system installation, gives a detailed walkthrough on how to install Chrome OS using VirtualBox. Having used VirtualBox extensively to run Windows Operating Systems on Linux (Ubuntu) in the past, I felt the installation process was a bit easier.

Initially, I downloaded the VirtualBox version (zipped vdi file) and wasn't successful in running it. Taking a cue from other users experience (on the internet), I downloaded the VMware version (zipped vmdk file) and mounted it in VirtualBox.

I also didn't get the network to work on my desktop PC, which prevented me from logging on. So I logged in using the following -  Login: chronos and Password : blank (not a word).

To get internet connection, I did as per the following screenshot in the VirtualBox Settings for Chrome OS.

First impressions are, it looks like a Glorified Chrome Web Browser. The UI  (User Interface) we are so used to seeing is virtually not existent. The screenshot below will tell you exactly what I mean. This is the only screen you get. You may use the other tabs for browsing.

Looking ahead into the future, going by Google's track record, it might take a year or even more before the Public Beta version is released. Remember! it took Google Mail approximately three years to transition from Public Beta to an End User Version and it is more than a year since the Windows version of Chrome Web Browser is released and there is no sign of Mac or Linux version yet (though developer versions for Mac and Linux exist in the background).

Final thoughts are, Chrome OS will remain as it is now, by which I mean the UI (user interface) will be minimalist. It will be totally web-based and Google might rely on the advances in Cloud Computing to propel the OS to the forefront (OS of choice). It is likely that traditional software based computers we see and use today might eventually become redundant.

Network Manager or wicd?

Of late I have had problems with my wireless network connection on Ubuntu (mainly on my desktop installation). This problem first cropped up probably after upgrading to Jaunty from Intrepid. In those days I had Philips SNU-5600 adapter,  which needed to be unplugged and replugged after start-up for the Network Manager to detect it. I was expecting that things would improve in Karmic, but the problem remained unresolved. Furthermore, my trusted adapter due to frequent unplugging/replugging finally broke down.

I bought a Netgear WN111, with the Wireless N technology, which put me back by about 50 quid. When I bought WN111, I wasn't sure whether Ubuntu  Karmic had the necessary  drivers to detect it. I was pleasantly surprised when Network Manager detected it.  However, a new problem started to crop up. Though the wireless network connectivity gets established after start-up, the connection drops out after a few minutes. This went on for a week or so. I tried installing wicd with little success. It seemed like wicd wasn't detecting WN111 at all.  I wondered  whether some settings in the Network Manager were causing it to drop connection . I also looked for help around on the internet but to no avail.

Last night, I uninstalled Network Manager and used my live CD to download the wicd debian package from Ubuntu Package Download area. Incidentally, the connection dropped out on Live CD as well.

I logged back into my Ubuntu Karmic installation on the desktop and installed wicd. Bingo! it worked.

Now comes the question, Network Manager or wicd? My vote would go to wicd. The interface of wicd is much better than the default Network Manager. It has the ability to connect to both wired (No PPPoE/DSL support) and wireless networks. If I need to connect using an ADSL modem for whatever reason, tough luck!

Triple Boot MacBook (Mac OSX 10.6, Windows 7 & and Ubuntu 9.10)

When I bought my MacBook last year, my intention was to use it to Triple boot either Mac OSX, Windows or Linux. As you might know, this is only possible on a Mac system, because, no other hardware can run Mac OSX except a Mac.

This is how I managed to get the three operating systems onto one machine.The three operating systems I wanted were; Mac OSX 10.6 (Snow Leopard), Windows 7 and Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala).

The things you need are;

(1) Mac OSX 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Installation DVD

(2) Windows 7 Installation DVD

(3) Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala)  iso image burnt onto a CD-ROM. I will tell you later on how to download and burn the iso image onto a CD-ROM.

First things first. You need Bootcamp to install Windows. The guide on Apple's website gives an exhaustive account on how to use Bootcamp to install Windows Vista. You could use the same guide to install Windows 7. The website Simple Help also gives a decent walkthrough on how to install Windows 7 using Bootcamp. So I will skip this part. A thing to note is the installation will go through a couple of restarts. Do not press any key during restarts. Once the installation is completed, eject the Windows 7 installation DVD. On some occasions, you may not be able to eject the Windows 7 installation DVD. Do not panic, just restart and press Alt key (Option key) and enter into Mac OSX to eject the DVD. Alternatively, press the eject key during start-up to eject the DVD.

Now comes the part of installing the necessary drivers for Windows 7. The Mac OSX installation DVD contains the drivers for Windows Vista, which work perfectly well for Windows 7. Installing the drivers will enable you to get the following Mac components working;

• Graphics
• Networking
• Audio
• AirPort wireless connectivity
• Bluetooth
• Built-in iSight camera
• Brightness control for built-in displays

You now have a Mac with a Dual boot option.

Coming to the next question, how to install Ubuntu 9.10. Bootcamp will only permit you to install only one operating system (mainly Windows). It took me a while to figure this one out. There are no easy posts on the internet on how to do it. This is how...

For this you need to login to Mac OSX and follow these Steps.

Step 1:  Go to Disk Utility under Utilities. You will get a screen like this...

You might have noticed that the size of my Windows 7 partition is only 40 GB. I don't use Windows 7 that often on my MacBook, hence I chose to limit it to 40 GB.

Step 2:  Press on the Mac volume and Go to the Partition tab and adjust its size. I chose to reduce it by approximately 40 GB.

Step 3:  Press Apply and you will find the new Partition named Mac 2. 

Step 4:  Rename the partition as Ubuntu and set the format type to FAT32 and press Apply.

 
You will now have a new partition Ubuntu formatted to FAT32 file system.

Step 5:  Whilst still on Mac OSX, it is now time to download rEFIt as Mac OSX only detects Windows during startup. rEFIt is a boot menu and maintenance toolkit for EFI based systems like  Intel Macs. It has a graphical boot menu, which detects all operating systems (including  Linux and Windows) loaded on an internal hard disk. Once downloaded leave it on the system. We will come back to it later.

Step 6:  Now is the time to download Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) iso image file (32 bit). After downloading it burn it onto a CD-R. This is how to do it.

1. Open Disk Utility. It's in the Utilities folder (/Applications/Utilities).
2. Go to File menu and click Open Disk Image and then choose the downloaded iso image file.
3. Insert a blank CD-R and click Burn. Follow the prompts thereafter. 
4. Once the burning is complete, leave the CD as it is.
5. Restart Mac.

Step 7:  When the Mac starts to power up click the Option Key (Alt Key) and hold it. Mac OSX and Windows discs will be displayed via the Mac Bootloader. Continue holding the Alt key until the CD-R is displayed. Incidentally the CD-R will be titled Windows. It is normal that all the non-Mac discs are named Windows in Mac OSX. Once the CD-R is displayed click on it. The Ubuntu CD-R will start to load.

Step 8:  The first screen will display five options. Choose the Install Ubuntu option.

Step 9:  Thereafter you will be led through a series of screens with some straight forward options, first is Language, second is Where are You? (to set your Time Zone) and the third is Keyboard Layout. Under Keyboard Layout choose the Keyboard that has got Macintosh (for example: United Kingdom - Macintosh).

Step 10:  Now comes the most important step in the installation process, which is to Prepare Disk Space. Choose the Manual Option. You will be presented with four partitions.

Ignore the following partitions; (1) First fat32 partition (likely to be /dev/sda1) that has got Windows MBR (2) hfs+ partition (likely to be /dev/sda2) that has got Mac OSX and (3) ntfs partition (likely to be /dev/sda4) that has got Windows 7. Choose the second fat32 partition (likely to be /dev/sda3) which matches the size created using the Mac's Disk Utility in Step 4.

Step 11:  Press Add. Under the screen New Partition you will be given the following choices ;
(1) Type for the new partition select Primary 
(2) New Partition Size. Give a partition size that will leave about 1 GB space for the Swap partition.
(3) Location for the new partition. Select Beginning.
(4) Use as to set the file system. Choose Ext4 journaling file system.
(5) Mount point set to /.

Step 12:  Select the next partition /dev/sda5 to set the Swap partition. Press Add. Under the screen New Partition you will be given the following choices ; 
(1) Type for the new partition select Primary 
(2) New Partition Size. Give a partition size of 1 GB space for the Swap partition.
(3) Location for the new partition. Select Beginning.
(4) Use as to set the file system. Choose Swap.

Press Forward to apply the partitioning changes.

Step 13:  Next screen will be Who are you? to set up your login details. Enter the details and Press Forward.

Step 14:  You will get the screen Ready to Install.  In this screen press the Advanced tab and select Install Boot Loader to /dev/sda4 (likely location of your Ubuntu installation). Do not select (hd0).  This will overwrite the Windows 7 MBR. If so refer to my earlier post on how to repair Windows 7 MBR.

Come out of the Advanced screen and press Install.

If the steps are followed as suggested you will have Ubuntu 9.10 installed on your Mac.

Step 15:  Now is the time to get back into Mac OSX. Go to the location where rEFIt was downloaded and install the software onto Mac OSX installation volume. Once the installation is complete, rEFIt will load on startup. The second icon is your Ubuntu 9.10 installation.

Here is the screenshot of Ubuntu on Mac. Isn't it amazing?

This is how the Mac Disk Utility will look after Ubuntu installation.

One final point of note. Ubuntu's Network Manager might not detect the wireless card on MacBook. To get wireless internet access, I used an USB wireless adapter (Philips SNU5600), which the Network Manager detected. To resolve the problem I installed Wicd via Synaptic, which detects the MacBook wireless card. Though Wicd detected MacBook's wireless card, it didn't detect Netgear WN111 connected to my Desktop computer. I will write about Wicd's problems in another post.

POST UPDATE ON 01/01/2010:

I also advise you to visit the following webpage (Thanks to Sean):

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBook

to get help on the latest Linux drivers required for Ubuntu to work effectively on a  MacBook.