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Old 01-03-2006, 05:41 AM   #1
dillo
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Registered: Jan 2006
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Linux on ASUS A8N-VM CSM, GeForce 6150 nForce 430


Hello,

I would really like to buy an c motherboard with
the GeForce 6150 + nForce 430 chipset, because it fits my HW
needs perfectly. However, I need to run Fedora Core and other
versions of Linux on it.

My question is if the latest binary drivers from nVidia, those
released just before Christmas, have been already confirmed to work
with Linux and that chipset combination.

Is anybody already running Linux on that motherboard or chipset?
How does it perform? Are you satisfied? Is everything recognized,

Which kernel version and/or specific distribution is required?

Which functions will be NOT available (DVI output, SATA II, whatever)?

Generally speaking, what should I do/check/install/configure
to use such a chipset under Linux? Any pointer is welcome, but
first of all I need to know if I can buy that motherboard or not.
It's perfect for my needs, but only if I can use everything it's on it.

Thanks in advance for any information,

dillo
 
Old 01-03-2006, 04:12 PM   #2
Kirzzy_Boy
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Location: Nürnberg, Germany
Distribution: Ubuntu Breezy 5.10
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Hey dillo I think you got a hell of a lot of info over at NVIDIA. Maybe you could post some of the useful stuff here for us, or didn't you bother to read all 166 posts you got?

Last edited by Kirzzy_Boy; 01-03-2006 at 04:14 PM.
 
Old 01-04-2006, 01:02 AM   #3
dillo
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kirzzy_Boy
Hey dillo I think you got a hell of a lot of info over at NVIDIA. Maybe you could post some of the useful stuff here for us, or didn't you bother to read all 166 posts you got?
Of course I did go the nVidia forum first and did try to make sense of all the posts. However, as I myself explained in post #162 of that same forum, and it is evident from other posts (cfr #155 and following):

1) such a long thread in web forum format is almost unreadable, it
it is very, very hard to make sense of it. Above all, however:

2) there are conflicting reports, see the Eth issue.

So, unfortunately, the only "useful stuff" I can post here from
that forum is "take a look to posts from # 155 and discard those before,
but (as of now, at least) do not contain anything conclusive yet.

This is why I'm also asking in other places. I've already seen. many times,
Linux answers come from the least likely places, and only after direct questions (this is not a critic at all to anybody, just a
statement of
fact!): it wouldn't surprise me at all to discover some user much more
competent than me that simply figured out by himself how to set up and patch everything during
install, but had no time nor reason to post it publicly till now.

Thanks in advance for any further information,

Dillo
 
Old 01-05-2006, 04:45 AM   #4
Kirzzy_Boy
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Location: Nürnberg, Germany
Distribution: Ubuntu Breezy 5.10
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Hi dillo

Point taken.
I am not experienced with linux myself but have found that many of the details you'r looking for are specific to the distro you intend to use and often discussed in detail on the respective forums. What works on one just refuses to work on another.
Now I hope the following will help you find your way to happiness:
1. First decide on a small selection of distros you'd be comfortable and happy working with.
2. Search the respective sites and forums for compatibility for your hardware.
3. Try to ask specific questions to a single question you might have and I'm sure some experienced people will be more than willing to give direct answers. You just seem to be asking a hell of a lot for anyone to actually try and take the time to give an educated answer.

Now I'd seriously recommend you read up on "RAID issues" with linux 'cause the NVIDIA MBs use software raid.....
This means you will need a tool such as DMRAID BEFORE you install the OS. Exactly how you do it can also be a bit of work and a good HowTo specific to your distro would also be very helpful. And as for the other issues, good luck finding the answers you need.

Regards
K
 
Old 01-05-2006, 11:47 PM   #5
dillo
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Registered: Jan 2006
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kirzzy_Boy
Hi dillo

Point taken.
I am not experienced with linux myself but have found that many of the details you'r looking for are specific to the distro you intend to use and often discussed in detail on the respective forums. What works on one just refuses to work on another.
Now I hope the following will help you find your way to happiness:
1. First decide on a small selection of distros...
2. Search the respective sites and forums for compatibility for your hardware.
3. Try to ask specific questions to a single question you might have and I'm sure some experienced people will be more than willing to give direct answers. You just seem to be asking a hell of a lot for anyone to actually try and take the time to give an educated answer.

Now I'd seriously recommend you read up on "RAID issues" with linux 'cause the NVIDIA MBs use software raid.....
This means you will need a tool such as DMRAID BEFORE you install the OS. Exactly how you do it can also be a bit of work and a good HowTo specific to your distro would also be very helpful. And as for the other issues, good luck finding the answers you need.

Regards
K
Hello,
fact is, my question here was already step 4 of your procedure, which
I do approve and try to follow every time I need to buy HW for Linux.

Namely, before posting to the nVidia forum and then here and two/three other places, I had already gone through (almost) the same two steps you suggest above. Specifically, I know I have to use Fedora Core, for
reasons irrelevant here, so point 1) took one second for me. Next
I went straight to some Fedora forums (with other pseudonyms). That
round of discussions is what led me to step 3) on the nVidia forum
and, only after (*). here, where I specifically asked something related
to some features of some chipset.

Speaking of specific advice, thanks for your RAID tip and two small
specific questions about it:

a) if I only plan to use one disk in that box there is no need at all
to install DMRAID or anything similar before or after installing, is
there??
b) do I actually lose something due to lack of NCQ driver support (that
is: do I really have to care) if I only plan to use one disk in that
box? I have tried to read something about NCQ before asking,
but honestly I didn't understand it too much...

Thanks in advance for any information,

Dillo
(*) seeing that other *fedora* users, who evidently never bothered to
follow any fedora forum otherwise they'd have answered my first round
of questions, still have problems.
 
Old 01-07-2006, 08:41 AM   #6
Kirzzy_Boy
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Location: Nürnberg, Germany
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If you only use 1 disk then you dont have a RAID setup. If you dont have a raid setup you dont need DMRAID. I'm not 100% sure about the NCQ, but I suspect it's a function used for raid only.
If I find anything useful I'll let you know.
 
Old 01-08-2006, 12:11 AM   #7
dillo
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kirzzy_Boy
If you only use 1 disk then you dont have a RAID setup. If you dont have a raid setup you dont need DMRAID. I'm not 100% sure about the NCQ, but I suspect it's a function used for raid only.
If I find anything useful I'll let you know.
Thanks!

Dillo
 
Old 02-04-2006, 06:00 PM   #8
hank_o_bot
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I have both the ASUS A8N-VM (and the CSM version). I don't think video is supported (it just uses VESA), but I don't need it, so I didn't look too far, but it seems to be a common theme from posts I've read.

(haven't tried audio yet, probably never will)

There have been many bugs and "ghosts" with these boards, but I've worked through every one but the one mentioned below, which you might not care about. USB was kinda hokey early on, but BIOS updates seem to have resolved most of that.

I'm having issues with sata, with my GC-RAMDISK, which I'm still trying to figure out (doesn't see it, no driver req'd). My WD raptor's are seen just fine, used SW raid as well as standalone JBOD, works fine. (didn't use on-board fakeraid)

FYI: If you care, XP SP2 works just fine, no issues whatsoever.

Hank
 
Old 02-05-2006, 06:18 AM   #9
Kirzzy_Boy
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Location: Nürnberg, Germany
Distribution: Ubuntu Breezy 5.10
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Hi again dillo

I got some info on that NCQ issue you were looking at.....
http://linux.yyz.us/sata/sata-status.html#nvidia
http://linux.yyz.us/sata/software-status.html

It's very useful info and I hope that settles the issue for you.


And as for hank_o_bot
XP-SP2? Most of us on these forums don't actually want to use it. If you prefere to use it then go ahead, but please stop trying to ram that s**t down our necks - we know it works(most of the time) but really don't want it!
 
Old 02-06-2006, 09:11 PM   #10
hank_o_bot
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Easy. Just recounting my own personal experiences with both models of the compact board. Nothing more, and nothing meant.
 
Old 02-07-2006, 03:34 AM   #11
Kirzzy_Boy
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Sorry Hank.
I've just had too many people around recently who've tried to force MS products on me and I'm sick of it.
As to the boards working with MS, well it's to be expected. Although MSI products are generaly of higher quality there is still no sign whatsoever that the developers are facilitating Linux. They have MS drivers galore and nothing to make Linux users lives easy. I hope they follow companies like NVidia soon though.
 
Old 02-22-2006, 05:29 PM   #12
gkrobert
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Registered: Feb 2006
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Hi everyone,
This is my first post. I bought a new machine recently DIY. I have the Asus A8n-VM CSM and have tried Fedora 3 and 4 with similiar results. I get about 20% into the packages install and the process just stops without any feedback. So, I tried CentOS. I have succeeded in getting the system to install as a workstation. BUT, it runs extremely slooooow. And the install itself took over 5 hours. It's like running a 10Mhz 286. How do I figure out what is causing such slow operation. I have been successful getting the eth0 to work fine without any hacks etc. My Bios version is 0403. I have 1GB ram and a Pioneer DVD/CD WR drive which seem ok. Using the standard vesa driver so far, but I am thinking that may be the problem. The various threads I have been reading are very patched. It would be sooo helpful if someone could summarize a process from start to finish for installing the drivers and patches etc. I am not a Linux guru, in fact I put this system together to learn Linux and get more comfortable in it. But I don't have the expertise to wade thru all the bits and pieces of information. Plus I have totally crashed it once trying to get the video drivers installed.
 
Old 02-23-2006, 10:28 PM   #13
hank_o_bot
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Flash the BIOS, and see if that helps any. There are at least two more releases after the initial 0403 release. I had a couple issues with that version myself.
 
Old 02-24-2006, 04:12 PM   #14
gkrobert
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Registered: Feb 2006
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regarding the BIOS update, there are conflicting answers as to which version to use. 0702 has USB issues, 610? had other bugs and all have ACPI issues. Does this sound right? Which BIOS version would you recommend? I want first off to use the nVidia ethernet driver and the graphics driver. I am not concerned yet with sound.
Anyone care to comment on this? I could really use a step by step process here.
Like, how do you get familiar with Linux when you can't even install it! wow.
 
Old 02-25-2006, 10:50 AM   #15
hank_o_bot
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I used 0403, 610 and 702. 0403 was by far the worst (USB really sucked). 610 was good, and running 702 I don't really notice differences between 610.

So, in my experience anyways, you really can't go wrong moving away from 0403, it by FAR had the worst USB issues. On FC4.2 w/702, USB works pretty good, but I must admit, I don't use it too much. (have USB k/m, and sometimes ext. USB DVD-R/W - that's it)
 
  


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