Factory Specifications
- Socket 939 AMD Athlon 64 x2 3800+
- 1GB DDR memory (4GB max capacity)
- 250GB SATA hard drive
- WiFi (802.11 b/g)
- 56k Modem
- TV Tuner (Analog Happague)
Motherboard model: MSI MS-7184 (AmethystM-GL6E)
Support
HP has removed support information for this machine. It is 12 years old.
Linux Compatibility
Linux support is descent. It can run most distros that include non-free drivers like Ubuntu without a fuss, but it may struggle with graphical performance due to the use of a onboard Radeon Xpress chipset. A step-up GPU is recommended for the best graphical performance.
It is recommended you install 4GB of DDR 400 memory to help the machine along, since many of these machines still have the factory 1GB installed with no upgrades. Sometimes you luck out in this aspect, but be prepared to do a RAM upgrade.
The hard drive should also be replaced as well, if you can do it. Many of these drives are original and have thousands of hours on the clock as it is, and may die at any time. You should replace the drive as soon as you can do so, but this is your call.
Outside of these issues, there really is not much help the system needs to run Linux acceptably. Just remember it's a 15 year old computer.
Hardware that will likely never work
- TV Tuner (Reason: Proprietary front end code with no Linux support from Happague. Analog only.)