Linux socket 939 mobo

[Giantwasp]

I am building a new rig that I am plan to run Fedora Core 2 64bit on.
However, I am having trouble establishing linux support on these boards.

The main one I am looking at is the Asus A8V Deluxe Wireless Edition Motherboard.
Mainly because Asus seem to have a good reputation and I need a WiFi card.

However, I can't tell whether the card can be used in Linux and also if it can only be used as an Access point when I want to use it to connect to an access point I already have.
Of course I could by another wifi card but that is annoying if the board comes with one.

Another major point is although I have read that the VIA chipset is support in Linux I also read elsewhere that it does not support IDE (PATA) RAID in kernel 2.6, which I need.

Alternatively, I could go for a nforce3 board. But then I understand that the Gigabyte Lan is not supported. Does that mean no LAN is supported or is it supported at 100Mbits but not at 1Gbit.

So what socket 939 mobo will give me the best Linux support and will that be full support?
NB. I can't find the MSI boards available in the UK.

 

[FacelessNobody]

I was just investigating this too. I'm going for a K8T800 Pro board because VIA typically supports Linux better, and I like em a little more . I suspect nForce 3 stuff will work with Linux eventually, but it doesn't seem well supported now, though arguably the 64-bit extensions aren't well supported either. I use Slackware/Dropline Gnome, anyway.

 

[borntodie]

According to the nVidia website they've had Linux support for nForce3 since the 27th of May... does it not work well?

Linux nForce Driver - IA32

Version: 1.0-0274
Release Date: May 27, 2004

Release Highlights for 1.0-0274:

* Fixed performance problem in network driver that was causing stuttering in audio playback
* Added support for nForce3 platforms
* Added audio control panel application
* Added 6 channel output, audio input selection, speaker selection, per channel volume control, and analog / digital enable to audio driver.
* Added GART patch for kernel 2.4.21

This page contains drivers and documentation for the nForce chipset. The chipset includes hardware support for IDE disk control, ethernet networking, audio support, win modem support, and a USB controller. These packages have support for ethernet networking and basic ACI audio. USB and IDE hardware will work with standard Linux drivers. There is no win modem support.


Link

 

[FacelessNobody]

Originally posted by: borntodie
According to the nVidia website they've had Linux support for nForce3 since the 27th of May... does it not work well?

Linux nForce Driver - IA32

Version: 1.0-0274
Release Date: May 27, 2004

Release Highlights for 1.0-0274:

* Fixed performance problem in network driver that was causing stuttering in audio playback
* Added support for nForce3 platforms
* Added audio control panel application
* Added 6 channel output, audio input selection, speaker selection, per channel volume control, and analog / digital enable to audio driver.
* Added GART patch for kernel 2.4.21

This page contains drivers and documentation for the nForce chipset. The chipset includes hardware support for IDE disk control, ethernet networking, audio support, win modem support, and a USB controller. These packages have support for ethernet networking and basic ACI audio. USB and IDE hardware will work with standard Linux drivers. There is no win modem support.


Link

See, what we're getting into is the confusion I found myself in. Depending on the distro and the motherboard, the nForce 3's networking is or isn't supported out of the box. And if it's you're only way to connect to the net to get the driver you need...you're stuck. I suppose that could be true for any other networking controller though. I like nVidia's stuff, especially in Windows, but I'd like to see their drivers integrated into the kernel the same way VIA's often are. As far as 64-bit drivers go (your link was to IA32 drivers), I have no idea. Someone here has got to be running 64-bit Linux.

With Linux, it's a careful process designing a system that works instead of a system that needs a lot of work. I think nVidia for graphics, Intel processor/Intel-based mobo or AMD processor/VIA-based mobo, and a Creative Labs sound card is the 'safest'. I'm no expert, though, but those work for me.

 

[Giantwasp]

I think I made a mistake about the PATA RAID not being supported in linux, I believe I got confused with support problems with a different board (P4P800) as far as I can tell there is no support problems with the ASUS AV8 . Although I am not sure about the WIFI@Home can anyone confirm whether or not this is supported?