On Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 6:49 PM, Kent Fredric<kentfred...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > On Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 6:38 PM, Aidan Gauland <wgsil...@no8wireless.co.nz> > wrote: >> >> Hello, >> >> Are there any motherboard manufacturers who usually make motherboards that >> work well with Linux, or any that Linux users should avoid? >> >> Also, should I just disregard notices like this one? >> "Due to different Linux support condition provided by chipset vendors, >> please download Linux driver from chipset vendors' website or 3rd party >> website." >> >> Thanks, >> Aidan > > Generally linux driver support is provided by linux itself, and the lack of > appropriate drivers is usually a sign of vendors being difficult and > releasing proprietary drivers. > > For example, Nvidia, ATI, you need to download drivers from their providers > because the alternatives reek at present in the video department, for > northbridge/southbridge its generally in-kernel these days. > > Simply avoiding a motherboard manufacturer on linux compliance is IMO not a > reasonable notion these days, its usually a case of specifics, not general > manufacturers. IE: What chipsets they use, what bios they have, etc, and you > should look up these specifics and discern how supported they are. > > Foxconn for example had a nasty problem where they produced a broken ACPI > specification to Linux users causing the machine to fail to boot : ( > http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=869249 > http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=871311 ) > > But theres no way to know about that sort of rubbish until you find somebody > who has that specific model and has had problems with it. >
I would use the motherboard model number and use it to search the linux kernel mailing list archives. You'll soon find posts like "sata performance sucks on xbm345tuvw motherboard" Or on the special google linux search http://www.google.com/linux Or simply choose a board and ask on a high volume (=many members) mailing list. the mythtv-users list is generally pretty knowledgeable about motherboards, although the knowledge is skewed towards multimedia, although mythtv will give most aspects of the motherboard a workout. The archives are best at http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/ nvidia graphics chipsets have the best video performance under linux, if thats important to you. The drivers are proprietary though, if thats important to you.
