I am brand new to linux. I want to build a desktop that will act as a server and I want to run centos 5.3 enterprise. Does anyone know a motherboard that will support centos 5.3 enterprise. I dont care who manufactures it but I would prefer to run a amd cpu.

thanks

brad

Almost any current motherboard will run Centos 5.3

I've had better luck with Asus motherboards than other brands, but other people will probably give you opposite opinions.

Pay attention to how many memory slots it has and what kind and max memory supported.

For a server, you probably don't want gaming quality graphics and you don't want to pay extra, take up a backplane slot and draw extra currect for a graphics card, so you probably want a motherboard with built in graphics.

For comparison purposes, I did a quick check on Newegg for a moderately priced AMD CPU motherboard with better than average memory flexibility and built in graphics. That led to this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131382

Note I don't have that motherboard (my motherboards are slightly older designs) so I can't say for certain that it will work well, but most motherboards will work well.

I just got off the phone support for asus and they told me they have no driver support for centos.

Usually Linux does not need any motherboard specific drivers and the motherboard manufacturer doesn't need to do anything to provide Linux support.

Someone might have needed to do work to provide Linux support for the Northbridge (NVIDIA GeForce 8300) or the built in video (NVIDIA GeForce 8 series) or the audio (VIA VT1708S) or the network chip (which I don't see listed). But usually the same chips are used in many different motherboards and someone already did that work when those chips were new.

I don't know for those specific chips. That Newegg link was just a random suggestion, not carefully researched. But the lack of Linux support directly from the motherboard manufacturer is generally not a problem.

Hi,

Look at the 'HCL';

Motherboards

Any board (Foxconn may be tricky though) that is not too new unless you will be compiling a recent kernel.

FWIW, I do not think that there is any motherboard manufacturer that explicitly lists support for linux.

Intel and Supermicro are kind enough to offer some support.

Intel:
http://www.intel.com/support/motherb.../CS-028648.htm

Supermicro:
http://supermicro.com/support/resources/OS/C2.cfm

The only deal breaker for me is if the BIOS can only be updated with Windows.

(I've had my eye on the Intel DG41TY when I get the money.)

Linux supports motherboards, not the other way around. With that said, look for a board that has devices that Linux supports.
I got lucky with my Gigabyte GA-K8NE rev.2 as every single device on it is supported.
Although *most* of current desktop boards are supported by Linux to an acceptable extent, with laptops it trickier cause you want stuff like ACPI working and that can be tricky.