Hello, I want to build my own PC and make it linux compatible. I want to buy a new motherboard from a store like Newegg or Tigerdirect.com, I have checked the HCL list on this forum but have found that most motherboards are outdated or cant be found new.

I installed Linux on my laptop without knowing about motherboard compatibility issues and it is working fine, but now I want to build a PC and dont know if I can just buy any motherboard and install it on the PC and it would work the same. What can I do??

I hope this can be done, or else what is the use of building a PC if I have to scavenge for used parts just to make it linux compatible(even the motherboard)?

You shouldn't have any problems with new motherboards, unless you are using really obscure chipset. The major players are well supported (Intel, Nvidia, Via somewhat less so). Just make sure the chipset on the motherboard is supported, as well as the integrated peripherals and you should be fine.

Agreed. Most hardware is OS-neutral, and really the only issues that are likely to crop up is if you plan on using an onboard device (eg, video, sound, LAN) and the manufacturer hasn't released Linux versions of their drivers. As sasho mentioned, if you go with a mainstream player you should be OK. If you plan on using standalone cards and plan on ignoring the onboard devices, it's even less of an issue. Overall, any given mobo is far more likely to work under Linux than to not work.

To be honest, I think the most important issue with buying a mobo is just to make sure that it is compatible with the CPU and RAM you plan to buy. More specifically, you want the FSB of the CPU to match what the mobo can support, and the RAM speed to likewise match what the mobo can support. Good luck with it

The RAM can be faster than what is supported. I recommend ECC memory for the highest reliability and stability. If the motherboard that you are buying has NIC, SATA, PATA, make sure you check if the kernel has support it. I suggest you do not select motherboards with Promise or Silicon Image controllers because they have DMA and sometimes data curruption. If the chipset on the motherboard is nVidia nForce4, do not select a model that uses an active heatsink because fans eventually fail. I suggest models with heat pipe to cool off the nForce4 chipsets. Most nForce4 motherboards with active fan does not provide you enough room to replace the heatsink with something else. I can not recommend Gigabyte and ASUS motherboards because these days they do not come with
hardware that are compatible with Linux. I use Abit motherboards because they are cheaper and they contain less junk.

I'm on a similar quest as izquierdista, and find the replies interesting and helpful. Re: sasho's "Just make sure the chipset on the motherboard is supported" - I'm having trouble getting confirmation that any of Intel's 945 family of chipsets is supported. I understand some of the 915 chipsets are supported, and all of the 865s. But I'd prefer to go with something more current if I can. Any comments?

ffejveg, The 945 chipset should be compatible. If it is not, the kernel will use software that is most compatible with it. IMHO, Pentium 4 systems have very, very poor efficiency and they cost to much to equal the performance of an AMD Athlon64. An AMD system is much better.

Thanks Electro. I'll check out AMD Athlon 64 motherboards. Is the whole line linux compatible? Any you'd recommend? I will want a PCI-e x16 for a graphics card and be able to have at least a gig of RAM but otherwise anything Intel P4 equivalent or better would be fine. I'm new to linux and hope to install PClinuxOS.

True, but what's the point? If you buy RAM that runs at a faster speed than what the mobo can support, you are paying for performance that you will never be able to use. Personally, I recommend selecting components that all have equal performance specs, but to each his own.

Those who have taken a serious look around have found that brand-new motherboards have potential issues with onboard sound, video, networking and SATA. Whether these issues are "problems" or not depends upon your level of expertise and your perspective.

Given my particular collection of peripherals and preferred distros, all my MBs have had issues, including 64-bit MBs with NF4 and Via chipsets. But all important issues can be pretty much fixed or worked-around with some distros.

My experience correlates with the principle that a newer chipset will have more issues.

I have used PCLinuxOS on an MSI K8N Neo4 (AMD64). Initially, it could not find the SATA drive. Two other distros could find the drive. After updating the MSI BIOS, all distros can find the SATA drive. However, MSI requires a Windows startup diskette (*startup* not boot diskette) to update the BIOS.

Initially there were also issues with dialup (using PCLinuxOS on the MSI MB), but I haven't explored dialup since updating the BIOS.

Since you know your preferred distro, it may be wise to inquire about motherboards at the distro's site.

That is why I go with known motherboard manufactures that works well with Linux. I know that Abit motherboards works well in Linux because they do not require Windows. Actually Abit boards do not run Windows well, but they run Linux very, very well. However, a lot of motherboard companies are making their boards Windows dependent.

I do not recommend using a SATA drive to first install Linux because all distributions do not include SATA support in the kernel installer. A PATA drive is what I recommend.

Under clocking memory is better than clocking the memory equal or greater than its speed. By under clocking memory, you are increasing its life span and increasing stability of the system.

Well, not to start a big debate but I think you are better off running things at the speed they were designed to run at rather than to artificially adjust them. Overclocking components could definitely shorten their lifespan, but underclocking serves no purpose, because you again would be paying for performance that you aren't using. To use an imperfect analogy, underclocking your RAM would be like shelling out the big bucks for a Ferrari, then driving around with the parking brake on to keep it from going too fast. My point is simply that if you can spend $x to get the performance you need, there's really no point in spending $x + 25% more for performance that you won't use.

Wrong analogy to memory speed. A correct representation of memory speed is the engine's top speed. Let's say there are three similar cars with the same engine. The engine top speed is 400 km per hour which will stand for 400 megahertz. Car A sets the cruise control to 333 km per hour that stands for 333 megahertz. Car B sets the cruise control to 400 km per hour that stands for 400 megahertz. Then car C includes a nitro system that stands for an overclocked system that goes at 500 km per hour or 500 megahertz. What car will seize first? Car C will seize first, then car B, and finally car a. Car A will constantly go at 333 km per hour, but the speed of car B will be varied between 390 to 400 km per hour. Car B sometimes reach 400 km per hour but it instantly goes a few killometers slower.

Sounds like the path that I am on;

DFI Lanparty nForce 4 UT
AMD 64 3200+
2 Gig Ram
2 x 120 gig SATA's (PCLinuxOS on one, Suse 10.0 64 and XP 64 on the other)
2 x 350 gig SATA's (Storage video and music)
2 x 250 gig PATA's (Documents and backups)
Nvidia 6600 w/256 meg

PCLinuxOS has been working flawlessly. Though it doesn't unitlize the entire memory, nor the 64 bit processor. But other than that I highly recommend it.

Only issue or function of the DFI board that I cannot get to function is the raid. Apparently it's windows only, so I have not persued setting it up.

Your money, your choice, but you're still paying for performance you aren't using. Would you pay for a cell phone plan that provides "X" minutes, when you know you never go over "half of X" minutes? Would you pay for a T1 line if plain old DSL is more than adequate for your needs? Would you pay for a 1T RAID array if you only have 8G of data to backup? I guess you might, but I wouldn't. To each his own......

Regards