I can get a MSI motherboard KM4M-L for a relatively cheap price.
How can I be sure that I can install Linux on a PC built on this motherboard.

It has VIA® KM400 Chipset and VIA® VT8235 Chipset and onboard graphics and audio. I am a little bit concerned about these onboard stuff.

Where can I find on the web info about linux compatibility about this motherboard or motherboards in general?

Graphics Drivers
Sound Drivers
For info on finding linux drivers, search the manufacturer's website, or, Google your chipset's name and linux, ex: Via KM400 linux support
Even if there isnt official drivers, there is bound to be someone who has tried to put linux on practically every board before. If you have any problems installing them, just post.

I have mine on an Nforce2 board made by MSI. It's the infamous K7N2 Delta ILSR. However, I don't like onboard audio or graphics at all because they strain the board a lot more than it should be. Well, I can't help though so I'll be quiet now. lol

The sound component of the VIA 8235 chipst is supported by the via82xx Alsa driver, however I am not sure about the drivers for the Ethernet (Rhine, perhaps?) or IDE controller. It would be surprising if it is impossible to use though - you may have to do some poking and tweaking to get it going correctly but that is almost to be expected.

If these motherboards are sold at a store near you, burn a Knoppix CD and go over to the store and ask if you (or they) can test it. Knoppix will load and run a fully functional Linux distribution off of a CD (not writing anything to the hard drive) and provides excellent hardware detection. It also comes in handy when you are unsure what drivers to load for devices - pop in the Knoppix CD and see what it loads.


Håkan