New Server. Hardware questions re; Debian

Jukas · 08-16-2006, 06:58 PM

I apologize in advance if any of this is too vague.

I'm in the processes of building out a new server that will be running Debian 3.1, and acting as a mail gateway running either postfix or qmail. My question only pertains to processors & motherboards/mb chipsets.

I already tried building this box with an AMD 3200 and an Nvidia Nforce4 chipset and have had horrible results. Debian as it doesn't support the NForce4 chipset and Nvidia's support of this chipset on both the Linux and Win 2003 front are abysmal.

Processors:

I'm looking at the new Intel Core 2 Duo chips but I know ziltch about how Linux supports a dual core chip. Will I get the full benefit of have a dual core processor if I'm running a non gui Debian install? If some is there anything special I have to do to get the OS/Kernel to recognize and utilize both cores?

Sorry, I know that's probably poorly worded, but I know nothing about dual cores in the Linux world.

Motherboards:

I'm looking at a Gigabyte GA-945GM-S2 motherboard which has the following

N Bridge: Intel 945G
S Bridge: Intel ICH7
Lan Chipset: Realtek RTL8111B

Are the above chipsets supported via linux/Debian? I tried searching the Debian site, but their search feature is showing as disabled.

Tinkster · 08-16-2006, 11:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jukas

I already tried building this box with an AMD 3200 and an Nvidia Nforce4 chipset and have had horrible results. Debian as it doesn't support the NForce4 chipset and Nvidia's support of this chipset on both the Linux and Win 2003 front are abysmal.

If you don't mind a debian-clone: I have a 64-Bit AMD rig with
an ASUS board using NForce4 running Ubuntu quite happily.

Quote:

I'm looking at the new Intel Core 2 Duo chips but I know ziltch about how Linux supports a dual core chip. Will I get the full benefit of have a dual core processor if I'm running a non gui Debian install? If some is there anything special I have to do to get the OS/Kernel to recognize and utilize both cores?

You'll need to grab the relevant SMP kernel to get the benefit.

Cheers,
Tink

rickh · 08-16-2006, 11:09 PM

When you have really new hardware, you need to install Etch instead of Stable. You'll actually find it very stable, indeed.

Jukas · 08-17-2006, 02:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickh

When you have really new hardware, you need to install Etch instead of Stable. You'll actually find it very stable, indeed.

Sorry, I wasn't clear enough. I was already planning on running testing (Etch).. my main concern was with the chipsets listed above and if I was going to run into issues with Debian (Etch) not recognizing the onboard chipsets, nic etc.

Jukas · 08-17-2006, 02:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tinkster

If you don't mind a debian-clone: I have a 64-Bit AMD rig with
an ASUS board using NForce4 running Ubuntu quite happily.

You'll need to grab the relevant SMP kernel to get the benefit.

Cheers,
Tink

Thanks for the info, but at this point the AMD has been earmarked to a Win 2000 server and I'm lookign for replacement Intel hardware for the Debian server.

I'll be sure to grab the relevant SMP kernel, but from there will the OS automatically make use of the dual core or will I have to do manual setup/tweeking?

Tinkster · 08-17-2006, 03:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jukas

Thanks for the info, but at this point the AMD has been earmarked to a Win 2000 server

How unfortunate - can't its functionlaity be replaced with a
Linux machine as well? :)

Quote:

and I'm lookign for replacement Intel hardware for the Debian server.

I'll be sure to grab the relevant SMP kernel, but from there will the OS automatically make use of the dual core or will I have to do manual setup/tweeking?

Nope. The kernel tackles that.

Cheers,
Tink