nForce2 MB + Linux

[Armitage]

Any comments on this combination ... I've heard you need to download and use nvidia drivers for much of the stuff on these boards.

nForce2 vs. KT600?

 

[xcript]

I've been using a Soltek 75FRN2-L nForce2 board for a while now with no major problems. Had to disable ACPI support and use APM for powering down, but other than that things have been running very well.

Initially I had to build nvidia's module (nvnet) for the onboard nic, however since kernel 2.6.0-test9-mm2 there's been perfectly functional reverse engineered nvnet support built into the kernel (forcedeth).

As for the onboard sound, I disabled it (got the cheap realtek crap) and continued using my SBLive! so I'm not sure what problems you may encounter there.

With the more recent kernels (>= 2.6.2, I'm currently using 2.6.4-rc1-mm1) sensors stuff (cpu temp, etc.) is easy enough to get going. It's nice to get a cpu temp readout during a compile when you're overclocking.

So basically, AFAIK the only thing you'd need to use nvidia's own module for is the onboard sound (if you intend to make use of it).

As for KT600 support, I have a couple of friends running gentoo with fairly recent kernels on a Gigabyte 7VT600-P-L and an Asus A7V600 (I think) and they seem to be quite happy with the support/stability/etc. I don't have any experience with linux on KT600 myself though, so I can't really compare to nf2.

 

[n0cmonkey]

I haven't tried it, but I'd guess that installation of recent distro releases will work just fine. I would recommend not getting an nforce2 based board because of politics and philosophy though.

And I hate saying that because I have considered getting an nforce board because of integrated video...

 

[manly]

I wish I could get fully-functional ACPI for my nForce2 system. I don't need any of the power management, but I do have an Orinoco PC card sitting in a PCI adapter that has not worked since I put it into this platform. :frown: Would anybody recommend a commodity USB WiFi client with official Linux support instead? Maybe it's time for Wireless-G.

 

[Zelmo3]

I've had Linux working very happily on two different nForce2 boards. One of them had to install with ACPI disabled, like xcript mentioned, but the other (newer one) works with it enabled.
I haven't used the drivers included in the kernel, I just get them from nvidia's website, like I do for the Windows drivers. They install very easily and haven't given me any problems.

 

[Netopia]

I've got Fedora Core1 running without incident on an NF7-S.

Joe

 

[Sunner]

I'g go with the VIA chipset personally.

I have an nForce2 board in my workstation, running Gentoo.
While installing nVidia's drivers is easy thanks to Portage, it's not nearly as painless as Intel/VIA chipsets.
It's certainly doable, it's just more trouble than it's worth IMO, especially since there are perfectly good alternatives out there.

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

Yet another reason why going all intel rocks

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
Yet another reason why going all intel rocks

Or AMD chipsets.

<-anti-Intel now

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
Yet another reason why going all intel rocks

Or AMD chipsets.

<-anti-Intel now

<-anti-non-intel

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
Yet another reason why going all intel rocks

Or AMD chipsets.

<-anti-Intel now

<-anti-non-intel

ia32e is still broken

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
Yet another reason why going all intel rocks

Or AMD chipsets.

<-anti-Intel now

<-anti-non-intel

ia32e is still broken

My computer works great, ignorance is bliss

 

[drag]

Sometimes I get tired of the cheap crap. Usually I know how to stretch a dollar, and get a computer that is faster then 1200 dollar dell for 400 dollars + spare parts.

But now I think I am going to go for quality instead of speed. I like how the pentium 4's have all that speed step type stuff and the thermal throttling. I want to get stuff that just plain works, and I don't want to fvk around with binary drivers and all that crap.

The sucky thing that seems to me about Intel nowadays is that they are starting to regress into the the high strung hot CPU's that originally kept AMD out of the server room. And to make things worse they aren't much faster (if any) then the competition and still has a big price premium.

But if intel = stability and good drivers, then I am all about it.

Nowadays I've gotten so lazy that I'd rather just leave my computer running for months at a time rather then bother rebooting.

Then it becomes especially irritating when the binary drivers for nvidia fubar my X windows and I have to ssh in to reboot the stupid thing.

I bought a nforce2 motherboard and the closed source drivers are a pain. I like to experiment with my computers to make them do different things, and everytime dealing with closed sourced drivers that are needed just to get my system operational was a pain.

I looked at the drivers from viaarena.com and for those at least the drivers for sound was GPL'd and I like their attitude:

For VIA's VT8601T(PLE133T), VT8601A(PLE133), and VT8361(KLE133) chips, we offer an enhanced driver version that adds the support of VIA VT1621 TV encoder and video capture. In case the driver binary does not work properly or contains bugs, its source code is available for users to modify and compile. For further information, please see the readme.txt file in the zip package.

Then I downloaded the "Non-kernel dependant" version of their drivers for "VIA's VT8601T(PLE133T), VT8601A(PLE133), and VT8361(KLE133)" chipset + support for the TV encoder chip.

In it they had source code and binary versions of their drivers, in the source code the ones that had liscencing/copyright information were in the old BSD style of

/*
* Copyright 1992-2000 by Alan Hourihane, Wigan, England.
*
* Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software and its
* documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that
* the above copyright notice appear in all copies

And it goes on in the normal fasion.

That sort of liscence is kinda annoying, but it's more then good enough in my book.

From what I can tell Via is definately the motherboard maker of choice for me for now on.

I personally would choose KT600-based motherboard over a NFORCE2 motherboard.

(btw I eventually got rid of my nforce2 board and bought 2 kt400 motherboards and am very happy about it. There was a issue with the nic locking up completely, but that is resolved by making sure that you have apic support enabled.)

I am resonably sure (60-75%) that a new distro like Fedora core 1 should support the kt600 motherboard right out of the box. It does for my kt400...

 

[tm37]

I got fedora up and running on my NF7-S and the only thing that did not take was the LAN.

Threw in a lan card and it is up and running.

No problems yet[/]

 

[n0cmonkey]

I don't want this to seem like I'm an AMD fanboy. In fact, I own more Intel based machines than AMD. But the fact that Hellboy is being made into a movie makes me open to some flaming.

I have both AMD and Intel based machines. I don't have an Intel chipset, but I considered them before getting the serverworks board I ended up getting. For stability, and decent speed, they're great.

Both of the AMD machines I have made have had AMD based chipsets. I had no problems with them. I think the stability of the AMD based chipsets is comparable to Intel's, of course, only time will tell.

But with recent developments, Intel is slacking. The ia32e platform is a joke. AMD64 is the future.

I'll be avoiding Intel for a while.