Linux Format forums

[Emovich]

Hi,
I'm will be building a new pc based around an AMD 939 chip and would be grateful of any advice on which motherboard to choose.

I did have in mind the ASUS A8N-E 939 nForce™ 4 Ultra or the more expensive ASUS A8N SLI Deluxe.

Any suggestion would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[jjmac]

I'm using the A8V-D, which works well, i have heard people mention that the ide/raid support associated with the promise controller dosen't fully work (linuxquestions.org), aside from that it's been all positive.


jm
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[A-Wing]

I would do your research before buying an ASUS. Simply because I know of boards that aren't Linux compatible. ASUS themselves don't seem to be Linux fans as can be seen by their driver pages
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[skecs]

There are more DOS drivers on the ASUS site than Linux Drivers - and the Linux ones are from Realtek & nVidia. I have used a number of motherboards but have generally found the best support for Linux to be from Tyan - but I don't think they are doing SLI motherboards yet.

The best bet is to look at places like LinuxHardware.org or LinuxQuestions.org as well as here for reviews of different hardware.
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[jjmac]

>>
ASUS themselves don't seem to be Linux fans as can be seen by their driver pages
>>

Yes, there whole site is very Windows oriented. The chips associated with their "cool n quite" facility is handled by lm-sensors. But thats about as far as iv'e gone into it there. I can remember Linuxquestions.org mentioning that sound support was ok but support for the "promise" controller wasn't complete in Linux. Otherwise, that particular board has been working fine for me.


jm
_________________
http://counter.li.org
#313537

The FVWM wm -=- www.fvwm.org -=-

Somebody stole my air guitar, It happened just the other day,
But it's ok, 'cause i've got a spare ...

[A-Wing]

If you can get all the chips from an ASUS k8s-mx working in linux you are a better man than I (you'll be luckey if you can get any of it working ). I'm lumbered with 5 of these at work (when I come back off holiday).
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Andrew Hutchings, Linux Jedi
www.a-wing.co.uk

[dragonnefyre]

I had an ASUS mobo, A7V8X or similar, but after I found out about ASUS's attitude towards Linux, decided to change it. I now have a Gigabyte 7VT600. When I tried installing Slackware and Mandriva on the Asus they ended up with kernel panics, but Suse 9.1 installed OK. The website I found with the info on Asus's attitude was http://www.mozillaquest.com/Linux04/Asus_Sucks_Story-01.html. BTW, I'm about to install Gentoo on it now.

Andy.

[dragonnefyre]

Sorry, I put a full stop after the link. It should be http://www.mozillaquest.com/Linux04/Asus_Sucks_Story-01.html

Andy.

[A-Wing]

It may only be a dual P3 board, but this Silcon Graphics 330 mobo I have in my home server is the most Linux compatible board I have ever seen. Which is great considering how many devices they shoved on a E-ATX.

You'll find this mobo problem is now also extending to notebook PCs. Newer budget Toshibas for example have got a BIOS that is so incomplete that only Windblows can access the PCI bus on it, no matter what boot flags you try.
I would love to stick with Tyan or SuperMicro, the problem is I am not rich (although I did just buy a brand new modded Corsa Diesel).
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www.a-wing.co.uk

[nelz]

I ran Mandrake and Gentoo on an A7V8X without problems. Of course, this doesn't prove anything because, as that article shows, they can can the spec of a board without changing the model number.
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Unix is user-friendly. It's just very selective about who it's friends are.

[A-Wing]

I have run Fedora on a A7V8X-X before (my wife's computer), not sure if that board is much different, can't remember any problems at all (apart from turbolister and smartstamp won't run under wine and those are the 2 programs she uses the most).
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Andrew Hutchings, Linux Jedi
www.a-wing.co.uk

[M-Saunders]

Oh no! The infamous MozillaQuest! Recommended reading:

http://www.mozillaquestquest.com



M

[nikkipolya]

I am almost on the verge of buying this Motherboard and want to use my new machine exclusively for running Linux. But, after reading about the problems you guys are having with this MB under Linux, I think I will ring up the HWare guy and cancel my order for this MB.

Can any of you recommend a good motherboard that works under linux? I am looking preferrably for a motherboard that has integrated Audio and Video. Here's my config:

AMD64 2800+ CPU
256MB DDR PC2700 Kingston RAM
Maxtor 80GB ATA HDD

I want the MB to have SATA disk support, although I am not planning to use it as of now, but for future. I do not have any great graphics requirements so any integrated graphics card that works perfectly under Linux is fine with me. Any Suggestions?

Any suggestions would be appreciated

[nikkipolya]

[quote="nikkipolya"]I am almost on the verge of buying this Motherboard and want to use my new machine exclusively for running Linux. But, after reading about the problems you guys are having with this MB under Linux, I think I will ring up the HWare guy and cancel my order for this MB.

Can any of you recommend a good motherboard that works under linux? I am looking preferrably for a motherboard that has integrated Audio and Video. HereSorry. I forgot to mention, I am looking for a Socket 754 MBoard.

[Gordon]

Have an ABIT AV8 myself. SUSE9.3 and my self built Linux From Scratch seem to recognise both the onboard SATA chips and sound chips. Works great.
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