Mark Stewart wrote: >>>>ASUS A7N266-VM 84 >>>>512M DDR 165 >>>>Two hard disks 160 >>>>CDRW/DVD 109 >>>>Case (InWin 500D) 54 >>>>Keyboard/mouse >>>>/speakers 12 >>>>Floppy drive 12 >>>>1G Duron 58 >>>>Fan/heatsink 30 >>>>Networking card 12 >>>> >>>Civileme, >>> >>>I have to say I was a little suprised to see an Nvidia mobo >>> >>recommendation >> >>>for Linux but I take it that it works well with Mandrake. >>> >>>Two questions about this setup: >>>- does the sound work okay? (obviously not expecting the super cool AC3 >>>encode/decode stuff but ...uses some Intel 810 driver, right?) >>>- did the networking work? (or was the NIC you've included in the list >>>necessary?) >>>- does the install setup program for Mandrake deal with the builtin >>>video/RAM allocation thang? >>> >>> >>>::mark >>> > >>Well, out of the box on a ProSuite workstation install, everything but >>networking... >> >>After downloading the NForce RPM for mandrake 8.2 from NVidia, the >>networking worked as well--it just could not be set up during install. >> >>That was NOT a recommendation, just an example. I had reasons for the >>NForce install related to testing, and in fact I cannot recommend it at >>all for those who will use RAID with any of the journaling filesystems. >> > >Thanks for info/clarification. I'm curious, though. If it works well what >keeps you from recommending it? > >It seems at this point that there really isn't a single chipset/motherboard >that is without _some_ issue. Mandrakelinux.com lists zero motherboards as >"Tested by MandrakeSoft" and only 9 motherboards as "MandrakeLabs Certified" >and two of these use the KT266 chipset that you were warning users about >because of clock problems. One of them even has a Promise WinRAID >controller. > > >::mark > > > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? >Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com > Well, I am having problems with the proprietary driver+Nforce+journaling filesystem+software RAID0 producing massive corruption of filesystems. The little NForce would be neat with an inexpensive processor and RAID0 (two drives striping) in terms of fleetness of foot and video performance but for that. Removing the proprietary driver shows no corruption after a lot of sledgehammering.
Yes, the WinRAIDs are often overlooked. With RAID disabled, they are high-quality extra controllers for IDE. It is also possible to make a WinRAID smaller than the whole disk and install linux on the rest of the two disks, using software RAID. In that case you should(tm) be able to read the winpartitions (if they aren't some hyper-secret form of NTFS). If WinRAID 0+1 is selected on 4 disks and the WinRAID doesn't use the whole disk, you should be able to put RAID4 or RAID5 on the balance of the four disks as well as RAID0 or RAID1. Of course the WinRAID gives you one RAID for whatever size you choose, and you partition within it, while linux software RAID gives you many RAIDs, each one partition with one filesystem. I have one machine using RAID5 for /home over 2 IDE and 2 SCSI disks, and RAID0 for /usr over the two SCSI drives, RAID0 for /var over the IDEs, and ext2 for / over the first IDE, while all 4 have swap (which stripes automatically). MandrakeLabs certified means they install and run with standard defaults. Software RAID and journaling filesystems in combination are not tested in that sequence, which is why the broken clock problem did not surface, but if ever you decide to use a BTTV 848 or similar, you will discover it quickly for yourself. And, yes, you are right. Intel 815 and 845 and the SiS chipsets seem to be the most trouble-free ATM. Performance doesn't have the pizazz power users think they need, but they do work (and the SiS stuff still tolerates my Voodoo 5). Civileme
Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
