A7N8X Question
 

Downloaded the Linux drivers for the A7N8X from the Asus website. Since it was an RPM file I figured that I'd use RPM to install it. Was kinda guessing randomly, since am new to Linux and Slackware(Am using 9.0), but it seemed logical.

bash: rpm -i <filename>.rpm
Dependency failure:
<filename> requires /bin/sh
<filename> requires /bin/sh

I looked in /bin and sure enough, there was sh.
I ran sh just to see what happened, while in sh tried to run the same command.
Same error.
Can't find a lot of info that would tell me what is going on so am rather lost; would appreciate some help with this since I do not like having a 2 FPS system(generic drivers for ALL devices really sux).
If you have a guide or FAQ that will *specifically* answer this question in terms a Windows vet/Linux newbie will understand, and don't want to explain it yourself, please direct me to it.
Actually, give me the URL to the FAQ anyway since I could bear some in-depth info but a quick answer would be nice so I can get online w/ Linux instead of having to reboot into Windows whenever I can't figure something out.

On a separate note, I tried to install Lilo to the MBR so I could dual boot without a floppy. Every time it says that "Lilo returned an error when trying to install to the MBR" or something similar. It does *not* give a specific error, nor even a hint as to what is happening. Something to note though: I tried Debian before Slackware and installed Lilo into the MBR then. Would this have something to do with the issue?

Since I wouldn't have a clue what's
in that RPM I just can give you a few
generic pointers ....

1.) What kind of "driver" for the board
is needed in the first place, what doesn't
work as expected?

2.) Avoid usage of RPM's in Slack.
There's a tool out there that converts
RPMs to tgz-Slack-packages...

3.) For unknown RPM's (and if you
don't have the tool mentioned above
handy) you can always use Midnight
Commander (mc) to examine RPMs
(or some other packages like tar.gz,
tgz, tar.bz2) and see what it's got
in it, and where it's trying to install
it to.

As for the lilo-problem... Slacks installer
seems to be a bit flakey ... I'd recommend
you post your lilo.conf and we tackle it
from there...


Cheers,
Tink

The board is rather new and there's NO kernel support for anything but generic functions - IE, IDE is running on PIO mode or super low DMA, memory controller is flaked out, onboard LAN is non functional, onboard sound is flaked out, etc, etc.
I have an Barton 2500 +, 512 megs 3200 DDR, and a Geforce 4 Ti 4200. When I tried to run the screensavers they're averaging at 2 FPS. S9.0 supposedly supports this card, but I am wondering if I should install the drivers from nVidia to remedy the slow speeds?

(Attempted to do so and got an error that it didn't recognize my kernel -- am pretty sure the driver was designed for an older kernel and will need to recompile in order to work properly - in which case I need to install the kernel source which I have not yet had a chance to try)

Also, which tool is that? I have a partition specifically designated as a shared drive between Win2K and Slack so can download items albeit in a rather cumbersome manner.

Should MC be installed by default if I selected "everything" as my installation option?

And I'm at work now -- will post lilo.config as soon as I get home.

I'm wondering if you could get better peformance out of building a new kernel from source even though your board is so new. Perhaps. If your interested in building your own kernel try this document: http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Kernel-HOWTO/
It's a big document but keep at it, soon you'll be compiling like the best of us, and it makes you sound cool too. Imagine saying to someone, "Man, I found this weird issue with that sound driver so modified its source and made a new kernel."


--Whats weird I was planning on getting that exact motherboard and processor, with the same amount of RAM and I the same video card.

Just as long as you don't have a WD HDD and a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. If you say you have those two items I'll find that a little... peculiar.
BTW -- the Barton is running comfortably at 200x10.5@stock voltage. Just be careful with this mobo - if working w/ the BIOS, first go to nforcershq.com and do some reading -- there are some nasty traps you can get into.

first of all, i have the asus a7n8x, just download the nvidia nforce linux drivers from www.nvidia.com, and you need to use any rpm, use the rpm2tgz command and use pkgtool from there once its a tgz.
example:
rpm2tgz nvidia_nforcedrivers.rpm
installpkg nvidia_nforcedrivers.tgz

insmod nvet, nvauio, usb-ohci for adding them to boot

... by the way my amd 1700 xp is running at 200*11.5 ~ 2300 mhz.

I tried at a higher multiplier and the computer locked up after ~5 seconds of Prime95.
I was tempted to try higher multipliers(since it also locks up at 10.0 sometimes but not 10.5) but decided to error on the side of caution. Do you think it would be worth it to try? I already get rather warmer temps than I'd like -- 35° C at idle in a mid-to-warm room. This is with a good application of Arctic Silver, SLK-900 heatsink, and cheapo LED fan. Will get 92 MM Panaflo later to remedy this.

http://kitenet.net/programs/alien/

To find things like that use http://freshmeat.net,
search terms like "Slackware RPM" will help :)

Cheers,
Tink

your gonna have to increase your voltage if you want to go any faster, or have a better multiplier than what you have now, which is pretty good. from my experience, a .5 vcore increase is usually about 3-4 degrees C increase, its worth it if you dont mind the temps.

Well, the sad thing is I cant get the internet to work with my board A7N8X on Mandrake 9.1...

It wont even see my linksys lne100tx