hardware recommendations (mobo)?

[Ricky Ng-Adam <rngadam@yahoo.com>]

Hello!

I'm looking into a home-built server for a small intranet, mostly for 
file sharing and running a few web server applications (Java servlets).

I've been looking around for affordable hardware components with modern 
features (SATA, GB LAN, etc) and found that the biggest question about 
compatibility with Linux seems to be centered around the motherboard.

I'd like one that has a socket 939 (for an AMD 64+ CPU) and features 
oriented toward servers (serial console?).  I particularly would like a 
motherboard where ALL of the chipset and on-board features work for once!

I've been googling a lot and most reviews or users comments out there 
seem to start with "This mobo is perfectly compatible with Linux" where 
"perfectly" is defined as thermal monitoring not working, GB LAN broken 
and most things on-board not tested... The rests are counter-indication 
("don't buy this mobo for this or this reason...")

So, does anyone who has tested a recent mobo in-depth have a recommendation?

Thanks,

Ricky