Pimm

[Log in to get rid of this advertisement]

Wouldn't really recommend this, but I got it working.

I had problems because the S-ATA controller and the onboard ethernet controller (SiS 190) were not supported. Since kernel 2.6.14 both seem to work OK.

So newer OS versions should work with this MB with no problems.

Tried it only with SimplyMEPIS 3.4-3rc4, so other OS'ses might not work with this.

sybille

I'm liking this board so far.

With a 2.6.15 kernel, all of the hardware (including ALSA) was detected at boot by the Ubuntu daily liveCD that I used to install Gentoo (this because the kernels on the Gentoo install CDs are earlier versions). Only the hardware monitor seems not to have an lm_sensors driver.

I haven't tried the PCIe x1 slot and it's turned off in the BIOS so I don't know about that. My testing of the onboard graphics was not very extensive since I'm using a video card. AGP works fine but I haven't been able to use fast writes with my radeon 9250 card.

All in all, I think it's a fine budget motherboard provided that a 2.6.15+ kernel is used.

praveer_pdra

I have installed SimplyMepis on this board and my one and only one SATA hdd was detected along with onboard SIS LAN(NIC). Its is not worthy to buy this board for linux but if bought second hand then now it handles linux (kernel >= 2.6.15> pretty well.

sybille

Hi, here's an update. I'm now using kernel 2.6.16, the regular vanilla sources from kernel.org, and I've been able to get the hardware sensors to work. The board needs the following kernel drivers for the sensors: i2c_isa, hwmon, and w83627ehf. If you're not using a custom kernel, you should be able modprobe these modules and then run the sensors-detect script included with the lm_sensors package to set things up.

I did not mention before that the first time I booted the board, I had a problem with getting into the BIOS in order to change its settings. I had to download the most recent BIOS from the ASUS website and then use the EZFLASH feature included with the board. It's described in the ASUS manual.

The only problem remaining for me concerns using my radeon 9250 AGP card. It works fine, with 3D acceleration, using the drivers in the kernel. However, it is necessary to boot with noapic (or to remove apic support from the kernel config) in order to avoid seeing many, many apic errors in the syslog when x is running. There are no apic problems when x is not running. I've upgraded to the beta BIOS from the ASUS site, but this has not helped.
Although I believe it's either a BIOS or an AGP driver issue, I'm waiting to see if these errors will occur with the new modular xorg release, version 7, before submitting a bug report to gentoo. I intend to upgrade my xorg in the next couple of weeks, depending on how much I need the PC for work. :) I'll just say again that I'm not having any problems running the board without apic enabled (and with a current kernel + xorg 6.8.2-r6) and I do get good results for 3D acceleration.

The only part of the hardware I have not tested is the PCI-express x1 slot. I don't have any hardware to use there. I have not tested the on-board video extensively, just made sure that it was detected by the liveCD I used when first installing. Since then, I've had it disabled in the BIOS.
Everything else is working fine and with not too much hassle - no hassle at all for SATA, IDE, NIC, sound, parallel port, USB, floppy. Some small hassle for the hardware sensor, since I didn't know what modules were needed or how to set up the drivers at first. And I'd say a medium amount of hassle for the AGP card, although it is in fact working fine at present without the apic method of assigning irqs.

So I do think this is a decent motherboard to use with a current kernel (post-2.6.14). It was quite inexpensive, as were the Sempron 64-bit processor and the radeon 9250 AGP card I'm using.

Gethyn

Can't recommend this board at all. As people have mentioned above, it works okay with kernel 2.6.15 upwards. When I got this board about a year ago there was absolutely no Linux support. Gentoo 2006.0, Ubuntu 6.06 and Fedora Core 5 all ship with suitable kernels, but quite honestly Asus/SiS don't deserve your money for their total failure to support Linux from the start.