linux users with C2D

[Vad3r]

I'm going to be putting together a new system shortly. Would like it to be as trouble free as posible.
What I'm hoping for is -

working USB 2 and Firewire

Most come with sound and network, I plan on getting a half decent sound card anyway, so I'm ok with sound not working, but lan must work.
Some come with two lan ports, why ?

If someone could recommend say 1 or 2 MB's known to work well in linux. I can check out some reviews on them and go from there.

For ubuntu linux if it helps/matters.

thanks

 

[Peter]

USB and FireWire chipsets have unified programming models, no problem there. Just look for a board that uses well supported network controllers.

 

[xtknight]

sorry double post

 

[xtknight]

What you should probably be worried about first is just a working chipset, ethernet, and IDE controller. "Core 2 Duo" support for Linux, per se, didn't really come until 2.6.18.

Ubuntu, until Feisty, did not support any of the new components at all. Feisty should support most Core 2 Duo boards, but there are occasional problems still with JMicron IDE/SATA controllers both acting up and preventing installation of Ubuntu altogether.

USB/Firewire should work on all of them. The board I use with Linux, the Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3, does not have firewire. But, if you have an Audigy (2?) you have at least one firewire port and you can get firewire boards for cheap. One reason I liked the DS3 was that it still had a parallel port for legacy printers.

I can confirm this firewire board works with Linux. http://www.newegg.com/Product/...815265003&Tpk=uPD72874
The one onboard my Audigy 2 ZS Gamer also does.

This board is a good OC'er, supports 1066 FSB with the latest rev, and it will install Feisty without trouble. My NVIDIA 7800GT still gives me some grief when I install Ubuntu so using safe mode or alternate install works. I think only a few NVIDIA cards are affected by this and it happens on all mobos. Hell knows why they haven't fixed it yet, it's been reported since Dapper...

Also worth noting, I disabled the JMicron on this board and use a Promise IDE controller for my DVD drives because it is more reliable. Pretty sure the Ultra133 will work fine on Linux too but I used an old Ultra100 I got with a retail HD a while ago. Of course this prevents Windows from installing without trouble, but updating the Promise's BIOS and supplying it with the latest F6 drivers fixes the problem. I have a working PC now, no worries.

05:00.0 Mass storage controller: Promise Technology, Inc. PDC20268 (Ultra100 TX2) (rev 02)

 

[Vad3r]

Originally posted by: xtknight
What you should probably be worried about first is just a working chipset, ethernet, and IDE controller. "Core 2 Duo" support for Linux, per se, didn't really come until 2.6.18

I will be using the most up to date ubuntu (on dapper now). What is the most friendly chipset for linux ?. I'm just gonna guess something based on nvidia ?

I dual boot now, and thats only for Photoshop, for my dSLR camera. My goal is to not need windows at all. I want firewire for current video camera, and future dSLR camera.

thanks tho, I'll look into the Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3. Fairly sure I did, and crossed it off for not having firewire. Is on board sound top notch ?. Because if it's not, I'm adding a sound card, and firewire card (2 pci slots).

 

[postmortemIA]

Originally posted by: Vad3r

Originally posted by: xtknight
What you should probably be worried about first is just a working chipset, ethernet, and IDE controller. "Core 2 Duo" support for Linux, per se, didn't really come until 2.6.18

I will be using the most up to date ubuntu (on dapper now). What is the most friendly chipset for linux ?. I'm just gonna guess something based on nvidia ?

I dual boot now, and thats only for Photoshop, for my dSLR camera. My goal is to not need windows at all. I want firewire for current video camera, and future dSLR camera.

thanks tho, I'll look into the Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3. Fairly sure I did, and crossed it off for not having firewire. Is on board sound top notch ?. Because if it's not, I'm adding a sound card, and firewire card (2 pci slots).

There's no such thing as "most useful chipset for Linux"... usefulness of chipset is function of kernel version, that's all.

for instance, kernel 2.6.18 that I am on (SUSE 10.2) doesn't recognize the chipset, but it still manages to install drivers for pci-express and such; and I have 0 problems with it.

 

[Vad3r]

There's no such thing as "most useful chipset for Linux"... usefulness of chipset is function of kernel version, that's all.

Just looking for the least amount of trouble in a motherboard/chipset for linux. I dual boot now, and can in future.

If I 'Have to" boot into WinXP for firewire, ok, I will. Just want a motherboard where "most" of it works in linux, the more the better.

I don't want a MB where onboard Sound/ USB / Firewire / Network doesn't work in ubuntu linux.

If firewire doesn't work, but motherboard has it working for windows, great. But I must have usb 2 and network working under ubuntu. Anything less, is a downgrade from my 4 year old pc.

 

[postmortemIA]

SUSE and Ubuntu have best hw support, because they are pretty open to closed-source drivers. and have goal of broad hardware support. Try Ubuntu 7.04, SUSE 10.3 is behind the corner.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: Vad3r

Originally posted by: xtknight
What you should probably be worried about first is just a working chipset, ethernet, and IDE controller. "Core 2 Duo" support for Linux, per se, didn't really come until 2.6.18

I will be using the most up to date ubuntu (on dapper now). What is the most friendly chipset for linux ?. I'm just gonna guess something based on nvidia ?

I dual boot now, and thats only for Photoshop, for my dSLR camera. My goal is to not need windows at all. I want firewire for current video camera, and future dSLR camera.

thanks tho, I'll look into the Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3. Fairly sure I did, and crossed it off for not having firewire. Is on board sound top notch ?. Because if it's not, I'm adding a sound card, and firewire card (2 pci slots).

No on-board sound is "top notch" but it's not terrible. Azalia HD (AFAIK) and it's supported within Linux.

Plenty of room for PCI cards.

I thought Intel was more open with Linux compared to NVIDIA and ATI, but of course I could be wrong. None of the problems I experienced had to do with the Intel chipset. It was either the Marvell Ethernet (not supported before 2.6.18) or the JMicron (a universally-accepted POS). Intel chipsets have been rock solid for me, more so than the likes of nForce 4 and VIA KT400.

Everything on this board works flawlessly in Linux today. The JMicron can get you by but I had lots of trouble with it like freezing and no DMA. Maybe those have been fixed by now but I got a Promise controller anyways.