Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: Linux-Friendly Motherboard Manufacturers?
dotancohen writes "I am tasked with building a few Linux machines for a small office. However, many the currently available motherboards seem to be Linux-hostile. For instance, in addition to the whole UEFI issue, my last install was a three-day affair due to the motherboard reporting a Linux-supported ethernet device (the common RTL8168) while it was actually using a GbE Ethernet device that does not work with the legacy drivers and didn't even work with a test Windows 7 install until the driver disk was installed. There are no current hardware compatibility lists for Debian or Ubuntu and I've received from Asus and Gigabyte the expected reply: No official Linux support, install Windows for best experience. I even turned to the two large local computer vendors, asking if they could provide Linux-compatible machines ready to go, but neither of them would be of any help. What globally-available motherboards or motherboard manufacturers can you recommend today?"
Aren't just plain Intel boards, with Intel NICs and Intel HD graphics supposed to be 'out of the box' open source friendly?
Commenting to remove crap moderation! Pfff....Slashdot, why cant I change my mind!
I have yet to try a motherboard which is not Linux-friendly in recent years. Every single server board I have ever tried has worked flawlessly. Every true hardware RAID controller (be it integrated or PCI-X, PCI-E, or PCI) has been supported natively, and software/hybrid/fakeraid controllers have always been supported in JBOD mode. Integrated Intel or Matrox video works fine.
Workstation/desktop boards? Aside from bluetooth, wifi, or weird video chipsets, they are supported fine. Ethernet ports used to require some tweaking (especially for Marvell controllers) but even those enjoy good support. If you want a good, fast board check out the GA-Z77X-UD5H-WB
As far as UEFI is concerned - if you run 32-bit RHEL/CentOS/Scientific Linux, you won't be able to boot the 32-bit disc with UEFI enabled, but why would you forgo the flat memory space of a 64-bit board now that RAM is dirt cheap? Boot 64-bit disc and it works just fine. I have UEFI enabed on my GA-Z77X-UD5H-WB and it is fully supported out of the box by OpenSUSE and both Centos and RHEL 6.3. It's more work to get full support in Linux, actually, because the Linux install Just Works(TM). To boot Windows 7, I had to make a Windows 7 USB key. It booted 64-bit Linux just fine.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
"I am tasked with building a few Linux machines for a small office." I'm not sure how much your labor is worth but you can buy a built server on the cheap ($599).
http://www.dell.com/ca/business/p/poweredge-t110-2/pd
Operating System
Microsoft® Windows® Small Business Server 2011
Microsoft® Windows Server® 2008 Foundation R2 SP1
Microsoft® Windows Server® 2008 SP2, x86/x64 (x64 includes Hyper-V)
Microsoft® Windows Server® 2008 R2 SP1, x64 (includes Hyper-V v2)
Novell® SUSE® Linux® Enterprise Server
Red Hat® Enterprise Linux®
"...my last install was a three-day affair due to the motherboard reporting a Linux-supported ethernet device (the common RTL8168) while it was actually using a GbE Ethernet device that does not work with the legacy drivers"
So how much money did this journey save the company? Just slap in an intel card and be done with it for f's sake! Then it will support proper VLANs, jumbo frames and probably just work smoother than some cheap onboard NIC anyways.
I just built an HTPC and this is what I used for my mb/cpu
MSI FM2-A75MA-E35 mATX FM2 A75 DDR3 1PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 1PCI SATA3 HDMI DVI USB3.0 Motherboard
AMD A8-5600K APU Quad Core Processor Socket FM2 3.2GHZ 4MB 100W Retail Box
works fine here right out of the box with no BIOS settings. I have Linux Mint 14 Mate running on it. The only issue I had was getting audio over HDMI but for some reason downloading and installing the AMD propitiatory drivers wouldn't install Catalyst. I had to go and install the CCC through the package manager. Reboot and audio over HDMI worked.
If you want to stick to the open source drivers and want to have sound over HDMI (if it doesn't work) try this
Edit to /etc/default/grub and add
radeon.audio=1
to
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
To make it look like this
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash radeon.audio=1"
Haven't tried it with my HTPC but did it with my sons laptop. Also with the laptop I had to disable two settings in the BIOS and create an EFI partition but the install of Linux Mint 14 KDE went smoothly an games seem to be running good with the open source drivers.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
When vendors don't publish drivers or specs how is that supposed to happen?
Hardware is dime a dozen these days. If I can't run the OS I want on it, I will not buy it.
You should really be getting intel NICs pretty much no matter what. Dell sells them as an additional cost for a reason. The reason being broadcom sucks.
...or just buy from a Linux vendor.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
Theyre also several times their component cost, and horribly cost-ineffective if you are throwing OSX out the window.
Intel chipsets tend to be supported very well. Generally if you want to know compatibility, dont look @ "is this motherboard supported", just look at whether:
* The northbridge is supported
* The southbridge is supported
* The NICs are supported
Generally Intel stuff is VERY well supported, and GENERALLY year-old chips are supported fairly well. Try to stay away from brand new stuff unless youve done the research to make sure the kernel supports it. Googling something like "Linux support RTL8187" or "linux support P77" should give you some ideas. I wouldnt sweat it too much tho, just pilot one machine and if it goes well roll the config out.
Im not super clear on why UEFI would cause a big issue for a Linux install, but I also havent paid that much attention to it. I have an ASUS UEFI mobo, and I believe it had an option to pretend to be a normal BIOS or something, though Im using Win8 and havent really messed with it.
According to Phoronix, the Intel DZ77GA-70K and the ECS Golden Board Z77H2-A2X are fine for Linux. It is implied that almost any motherboard with the Intel Z77 chip set should be OK for linux. They did a longer follow-up review on the ECS Z77H2-A2X Ultimate Golden Edition Extreme with linux.
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
I thought it was because we Slashdotters are known to never make mistaks.
Stop being a troll. You know full and well that Linux is the server of choice for most large sites. Moron.
Tell me what you believe...I'll tell you what you should see.
Intel has stopped giving out information on memory management configuration like EDAC, and is pushing EFI BIOS control. If you want to own your PC instead of licensing it from Intel it's better to use an AMD processor. Intel NICs are still good though.
That's an odd post. You seem to have all kinds of in depth knowledge about UEFI boot processes, how Linux screws it up, and how to patch it etc.
But then you don't seem to know some really mundane easy stuff like: Flash actually works just fine* on a 64bit Linux system.
* By that I mean as well as it does on a 32bit Linux system at least.
So just to clarify, you are not a "weaker man" because you are choosing a tool that is more difficult to acquire & has no official support... for what purpose again?
Pretty much for KDE and X mouse pasting. There are some mouse pasting solutions for Windows, but none are as good as X. Furthermore, I rely very heavily on many of KDE's small but useful features, such as Keep on Top functionality, the wonderful panel configuration, and some other small features. They add up.
Without knowing more about what the ultimate goal is, it seems like you are just being pig-headed & stubborn, pushing your own personal agenda / Windows vendetta over the priorities of The Company.
Not at all. Everyone already has a Windows computer and now that a new office is opening some people want to use the features that they see me using. This is a case of people wanting to use specific features that they cannot get on Windows, not of some fosstard pushing his ideology on others. Its not even about the cost or security of Windows.
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.