Linux compatible mainboards
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
Two years ago I bought a Foxconn 45CM-S mainboard. Unfortunately before
I bought it I failed to research adequately this board and other
alternatives. In time I became unsatisfied with its performance. Lenny
was and is rock-solid stable on my Lenovo R61, but not on my Foxconn
desktop, which has a habit of crashing on average twice a day.
Extensive googling revealed that Foxconn has a reputation for buggy
BIOSes, at least for some models. The googling also revealed that
Gigabyte boards are favoured by some Linux users. I am consequently
looking to replace the the Foxconn with a Gigabyte.
The replacement board must be able use my current CPU and memory
modules. The former is an Intel E2160 dual core (socket LGA775). The
latter are two Crucial Rendition 1 gb DDR2 667/PC3500 240 pin memory
modules.
Several Gigabyte boards meet these requirements. I am concerned however
about the north bridge chipsets on these boards. Both that Foxconn board
and the Lenovo R61 use the 945 chipset, the driver for which is
available in a Lenny package -- xserver-xorg-video-intel.
While Gigabyte did have boards with the 945 I could not find any seller
in Toronto who still had any in stock. The ones now available locally
use Intel north bridge G31, G41, G45, P31, P43 and P45 series chipsets.
(Intel seems to be the chipset manufacturer of choice for Gigabyte; the
Gigabyte boards available in Toronto use only those chipsets.) One
model, GA-G41M-ES2H, even integrates in it the Intel Graphics Media
Accelerator X4500.
The Gigabyte website says that Linux compatible drivers for these
chipsets must be downloaded either from Intel or a third party. I don't
see in the Lenny package list drivers for these newer chipsets; so it
would appear I would have to find them elsewhere.
Has anyone any experience with boards using these chipsets? Advice
about chipset drivers and mainboards suitable for Linux which meet my
basic requirements would be welcomed.
Regards, Ken Heard
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v2.0.9 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org
iEYEARECAAYFAkvPKFQACgkQlNlJzOkJmTf14gCfd4BH9Av6fy2JlGtmLEoCPprN
EwEAnixAR5bXX3FSM+OluYy4i1DkHA65
=as+V
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Reply to: