MotherBoards and Linux Compatibility

[CornDog]

I Need to buy a linux compatible motherboard, and due to the last board I bought not allowing linux to be installed on it, I have become rather paranoid about compatibility issues.

so my questions are as follows:

1. how can I tell if a motherboard will give me Hell trying to install and use Linux? or what are the indicators of a Linux compatible motherboard (not including brand)

2. Is the following a compatible board, or how would I tell

JetWay J754GT-P-VC Socket 754 NVIDIA nForce4 4X ATX AMD Motherboard

[Dies]

Looking at the specs on the board I would say go for it, everything should work fine out of the box. But then every machine seems to be different, I have an NForce 4 board and everything "just works" but others have had problems so......

Unless someone has the board and can verify what works you just have to chance it.

I can vouch for this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131042

and both the SLI versions.

[CornDog]

First of all, thank you for your reply.

Second, the problem is I have an agp card and a 754 Athlon 64 3200+ processor that I need to use.

any other suggestions?

[A.Serbinski]

There were some problems with some older nvidia chipsets using older drivers. nforce4 should be fine. I'm running several machines with nforce4, no problems to report.

That being said, a good place to start is by asking the manufacturer if their board works well with newer kernels, or, checking in the manufacturer's forums (if they have).

Some boards that I can definitely suggest (given your 754 and AGP requirements) are any ASUS K8V-* (via chipset) or K8N-* (nvidia chipset).

[joe.pelayo]

I have a 754 based system with an AGP Nvidia card and it works very fine under Linux (just reporting), however mine has a VIA chipset.
As a general rule you might consider that new hardware generally needs new drivers and Linux will need a little time to get them. Henceforth some hardware might not work with 'todays' Linux but will certainly do with 'tomorrows' Linux.
For example a friend of mine got a shiny new machine with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor but he is unable to use Linux on it because they won't support the newest Intel Chipset in his motherboard. He'll have to wait until next Linux version (hardware gets old) to install it.

[Demz]

the Mobo i have isn't to bad either, i know a guy that has successfully installed Ubuntu on his but he has an Nvidia card the 7900 256MB one an all he does is use to linux noapci command to get it installed

[stevea]

Hwww well without getting into the reasons why you would choose a Jetway ... I generally prefer Asus and no probs w/ Gigabit either.

IMO the memory & PCI & N.bridges are pretty well supported. Most, not all disk interfaces are supported. Graphis is an issue (but you know what you have there) and on recent years the plethora of new network chips has caused come problems. Sound is dicey too. Check these out carefully.

This is a really good website, http://www.linux-tested.com/ but check the forums too. Search "www.google.comn/linux" for your specific board and read comments.