[conspire] How to check if a mobo is compatible with Linux

[David Fox]

On Fri, Mar 21, 2008 at 9:04 PM, K Sandoval <indigo.kai at gmail.com> wrote:

>  I was wondering how do you research a motherboard or other hardware to
>  verify it is Linux compatible?
>  What websites to do you check?
>  How do you phrase your google searches?

Well, doing something like "Realtek ALC662 + linux" in google will
deliver a few pages worth of posts with what might be problems getting
the sound to work (the first Gigabyte motherboard you cited features
that chipset for on-board sound). Some seem to have luck with it but
there are slight issues with what kmix reports (google hit #2). But
It's not very easy to judge how good the support is unless you have
good reports & analysis from the posters.

There used to be (and maybe still is) linux sites that are devoted to
hardware (for instance linuxlaptops, and the linux printer database
(linuxprinting.org Iirc) which are very good at maintaining lists of
printers that offer various levels of compatibility with linux. If I
were researching printers the linuxprinting site is the first place I
go looking. I've run across other sites with reviews and other
information for peripherals, such as cd and dvd drives, and maybe even
for motherboards as well. For instance, a google search (linux +
gigabyte + motherboard) leads me to linuxelectrons.com where some
spare electrons :) have been enslaved to produce a rather old review
of a gigabyte motherboard dating from 2005[1]. I'm sure that more
careful searching will tie to a more specific set of pages, unless of
course the item in question is too new. (As you might recall from
private email, I didn't see nearly enough results on that Biostar to
make a really informed recommendation.)

[1] http://www.linuxelectrons.com/news/hardware/gigabyte-motherboards-ready-linux

As with any product, specifications and reviews hosted by the
company's website should be taken with a grain of salt.

>  The Variables.
>  I do have an "unused" Biostar P4M890-M7 and a Intel Celeron 360 3.4
>  6Ghz processor to go with it. I have decided NOT to used this

That might be better for your Dad as the real target for most of these
motherboards is to run Windows since it is far more dominant (sniff)
in the marketplace. Even the gigabyte writeup for the first
motherboard (GA-G31M-S2L) mentions that it's good for Vista, may not
be suitable for Win 9x/ME and wants you to download an unnamed driver
for Linux. Whether or not drivers will be needed is something I'm not
sure about, but I'd suspect not.

>  I am looking for an ATX or a Micro ATX mobo that would support 2
>  IDE/PATA HD, 2 CD/DVD, eventually upgrade to 4 GB RAM (or more), able
>  to upgrade processor, support a floppy drive, and have 4 or more USB
>  ports.

I'd hazard a guess that the GA-G31M-S2L might be sufficient. I'm
looking at the product writeup page on Gigabyte now, and it seems that
it would work - it has a floppy controller (who needs floppies these
days though), 8 usb headers, although it seems 4 are "really"
available -- and you can always get a dongle should you run low on USB
ports (Bruce kindly gave me one a while ago). On the other hand, the
motherboard only has 2 RAM slots, which supports up to 4 gigs of RAM,
but if you have 1 gig sticks the only way to expand is to take the 1
gig sticks out and put 2 gig ram sticks in.

There also seems to be a lack of available PCI slots (I think I
mentioned that in a prior email to you) which may not be a concern if
you can make use of all the stuff that is onboard.  You'll most likely
have to add a PCI-x type of video card (I wonder if AGP is passe these
days?).

It would seem that the board has enough SATA ports. Which means that
you'll probably get better use of the motherboard if you use at least
one of these ports for a hard drive (necessitating another purchase).

>  This is what I have found
>  1) GIGABYTE GA-G31M-S2L LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX Intel

see above

>
>  2) GIGABYTE GA-P35-S3G LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX

This seems to be a better choice based on a cursory review at [2] from
just cutting the text of the model # and pasting it in a google
window. On the other hand, these are mostly pictures, not much
content, but it seems that by just looking at it you have more PCI
slots available than in the first one.

[2] http://xtreview.com/addcomment-id-4134-view-Gigabyte-Ga--p35-s3g.html


>
>  3) Intel BOXDG31PR LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX

Small form factor, it seems. This one seems to suffer from the same
problems in your first choice, i.e., lack of PCI slots. It also uses
the same sound chipset (Realtek) as the first. The number of USB ports
are 8, which is plenty (even 6 is plenty enough). The other potential
unknown is the Intel 3100 video that's in the motherboard. There's
some chatter here [3] that seems to indicate people have difficulty
with this particular video chipset, especially using Ubuntu and 3d
effects.

[3]http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=582873&page=5

>  1) The CPU is upgradeable.  Quad-core / Core 2 Duo / Pentium / Celeron

That's a big win.


>  2) RAM Memory can support 1 GB, 2 GB, 4 GB therefore I can upgrade the
>  RAM later.

If you don't mind pulling the lower-capacity DMMS and putting in
higher-capacity ones. Or, you can just get high capacity ones if your
budget allows it up front, and not have to run out of RAM for a while
longer. In the long run this would be btter provided that you buy the
RAM that's suited for the processor you intend to upgrade to down the
road, not the processor you have available to use now. Of course, that
depends how interchangeable the SDRAM is or if there is just a "one
size fits all" RAM spec on these new motherboards. (Which would imply
that people use the same SDRAM whether they use Celerons or dual-core
systems. That is a point I'm not sure of.)

I'll probably sign off for now - more later I think. Give me a ring or
email me if you want to chat some more. Probably see you at cabal
(I'll be bringing a few CDs).


>  - Kai