First PC + Operating System Build

Summary

@hard-shutdown:

Recently, in the past couple of years, I have been exposed to more and more technology which has sparked my interest in this field. Because of this, I decided to attend several computer/technology camps, and take specific coding and computer classes at my middle and high school. These experiences reinforced my love for technology and led me to want to dive into a topic I have been interested in for a while: the integration of hardware and software, as it pertains to personal computers. I really want to challenge my knowledge of these topics, by building a PC from scratch and creating an operating system to interact with these parts.

After doing a lot of research and talking with various teachers and experienced builders, I feel confident that I have all the resources I need to build a working PC, part by part, that will be able to be run from a Linux distribution that I create. I’ve been wanting to do this for a while, and have never been financially able to, so I’m very grateful I’ll have this opportunity to finally build it! I am also excited that my older sister has also become interested in technology as well, and wants to help me with this project to learn about this more as well. Even though I’ll be the one guiding this project, I think this will be a super fun experience for both of us to further our knowledge and experience of PCs and OSs. This build will really allow me to show my sister the ins and outs of what is possible with the right resources. I will be completing this project with @k1tt3nb4by

@k1tt3nb4by:

Growing up, I was always involved in some sort of technology-related activity, just for the fun of it. I attended camps focused on topics like computer coding and programming various builds. I really, really, enjoyed all these camps and learning about technology. However, I never thought I was smart enough to actually take it from an interest to a hobby. I didn’t think I would be able to become good at coding, or wouldn’t understand how hardware works to build something that can be complexly programmed. But, after seeing my brother become more involved in technology, coding, and PC building, I have wanted to get back into learning more about that space.

Therefore, I am extremely excited my brother told me about this incredible opportunity to be able to pursue this hobby of mine I never thought I could! When he told me we could possibly build a PC and design an OS to run our build, it reminded me of what I used to do several years ago. Even though I have a little experience with this, I don’t know a lot- he definitely knows WAY more than me. But I’m also looking forward to having my younger brother able to teach me and help me learn more about something he is extremely passionate about. I feel building a PC from scratch will help me with my critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and building an OS system will help me to think more dynamically, especially as it pertains to the interaction between hardware and software. Overall, these hard and soft real-life skills will help me in the future, and I feel this build will also allow my brother and I to bond and grow together over something we are both passionate about! I will be completing this project with @hard-shutdown.

Plan

For this build, there are two parts: the hardware and the software.

For the software, we have decided to build a Linux distribution that will be based-ish on LFS. I am fairly familiar with this OS, so designing this shouldn’t be too much of a struggle. However, we have both done lots of research, so we are confident we will be able to problem-solve any problems that we encounter. We also have curated a plethora of resources, from youtube videos to Reddit posts to Wikihows, regarding anything and everything related to the knowledge and skills ended to design this OS. We will be using a terminal on our family’s shared computer to code everything for this OS.

For the hardware, we have utilized a website called PCPartPicker.com to figure out exactly what parts we need to build our PC. This PC will require no special tools, besides our hands and basic tools to put together. We have consulted youtube videos and expert PC builders at computer stores on exactly what we need to do to put together a computer based on the parts we picked out. We simply have to obtain the parts, and start to assemble them based on the directions we have created. We have included a monitor, but the other peripherals (keyboard and mouse) we already have, so we won’t have to buy new ones.

Once done, we will double check everything was executed properly. After this, we will test out the PC with our operating system! We are super excited to try to run various programs and tasks on it, and see how performance changes based on how we tweak the hardware and software. This PC will be something we can continue to learn from and grow with for many years.

Budget