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Configuration:

KT880 motherboard; Sempron 2200+ processor
video: nVidia NV18 GeForce4 MX440 8x, 6629 drivers
additional PCI cards:
Cirrus Logic CS 4624 (sound)
RTL-8139 (aditional network card)
Much TV Bt878
IT8212 ATA/RAID PCI card

/sbin/lspci output:

stk@walkingbear:~$ /sbin/lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc.: Unknown device 0269
00:00.1 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc.: Unknown device 1269
00:00.2 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc.: Unknown device 2269
00:00.3 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc.: Unknown device 3269
00:00.4 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc.: Unknown device 4269
00:00.7 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc.: Unknown device 7269
00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237 PCI Bridge
00:09.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
00:0a.0 Multimedia video controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Video Capture (rev 11)
00:0a.1 Multimedia controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Audio Capture (rev 11)
00:0c.0 Unknown mass storage controller: Integrated Technology Express, Inc.: Unknown device 8212 (rev 11)
00:0d.0 Multimedia audio controller: Cirrus Logic CS 4614/22/24 [CrystalClear SoundFusion Audio Accelerator] (rev 01)
00:0f.0 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc.: Unknown device 3149 (rev 80)
00:0f.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C/VT8235 PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)
00:10.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6202 [USB 2.0 controller] (rev 81)
00:10.1 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6202 [USB 2.0 controller] (rev 81)
00:10.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6202 [USB 2.0 controller] (rev 81)
00:10.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6202 [USB 2.0 controller] (rev 81)
00:10.4 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 86)
00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237 ISA bridge [K8T800 South]
00:14.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): VIA Technologies, Inc. IEEE 1394 Host Controller (rev 46)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV18 [GeForce4 MX 440 AGP 8x] (rev a2)


Kernel 2.4.26 (default, generic kernel):

Everything works nice, with one little problem: i don't have APM. Also, in dmsg I have this warning:

agpgart: Unsupported Via chipset (device id: 0269), you might want to try agp_try_unsupported=1.
agpgart: no supported devices found.

But video (2D/3D, OpenGL) works without problems.
I don't know if SATA works (i don't have SATA drives, so I couldn't test it).


Kernel 2.6.9:

Well, this is another story ...
First, as I learned here http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/showproduct.php?product=1803 you have to disable generic/default IDE chipset support in the kernel, and to enable VIA 82Cxxx support (built-in, not module). This is in order to get UDMA support for your drives.
Even with this, I wasn't able to use X. I starts ok, but after a few mouse moves / keystrokes, it freeze completely. I have to push the reset button and boot under 2.4 kernel ... (any sugestion to solve this problem is welcome).



later edit (december 26, 2004)

I give it a try with the new 2.6.10 kernel. Binary nvidia drivers still freeze my machine, but the opensource "nv" drivers works well. Of course, this means no OpenGL available.
After few weeks of working with this system/motherboard, I had no other issues with it. So the solution to my problem may be one of the following:
a) use the 2.4 kernel
b) hope that a new version of nvidia drivers will solve the problem
c) change the videocard (this is a crappy one, anyway)


later edit (february 25, 2004)

After a while, I searched the 'net and found this:
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=31858
It looks like the freeze problem using nvidia binary drivers is quite common, and not related with motherboard/chipset/kernel version.
It seems that if you disable agpgart/via_agp and use this:
Option "NvAGP" "1"
in xorg.cfg/xfree86.cfg. With this, everything works, even OpenGL. Note that in large resolutions (1600x1200), 2D performance may not be the same (agp is not used at the full potential).
However, these are nvidia problems, and not related with this motherboard.


So, after all, this seems to be a good motherboard. I've been using it successfully with Linux Kernels 2.4.x, 2.6.x, FreeBSD (5.3), and Solaris 10 for x86.