On Saturday 06 December 2003 02:29 am, Janus Sandsgaard wrote:
> I am buying a new PC and can choose between these two
> motherboards:
>
> - Asus P4BGL-MX/533 (standard)
>
> <http://uk.asus.com/products/mb/socket478/p4bgl-mx-533/overview
>.htm>
>
> - Asus P4P800-VM (with AGP)
>
> <http://uk.asus.com/products/mb/socket478/p4p800-vm/overview.ht
>m>
>
> They are both "all-in-one" types of motherboards with
> integrated LAN, audio, graphics etc.
>
> Question:
>
> - Does anyone have experience with these motherboards running
> Mandrake? - Do they work 100% with Linux?
>
> Asus provides some drivers for Linux, but I gues that is not
> the same as saying everything (lan, audio etc) will work in
> real life? I can't find the motherboard in the hardware
> database at the Mandrake website.
>
> -j
Neither would make for a multimedia machine, so the decision
comes down to their suitability for office type apps, email and
surfing.... for which they should be adequate. So AGP
capabilities are sort'a moot. Integrated graphics should be
adequate, but remember to pass a mem= append to the kernel,
subtracting 8mb for video. Usually Asus recommend ram brands to
use, if you can't find this info, Crucial/Micron is always a safe
bet for Asus boards.
So, then the main difference is that the P4BGL-MX/533 has
ATA/133 IDE ports, and the P4P800-VM has SATA, but only ATA/100
IDE ports. I'd suggest avoiding SATA for now, so I think the
P4BGL-MX/533 would be more suitable for use with Linux with
ATA/133 drive(s). My experience with vendor drivers is that
you'll be better off using native Linux kernel drivers to
maintain kernel compatibility.
Now to qualify, I don't have experience with either of these
(or any ITX) boards, and IMO, don't think Intel 8xx chipsets are
mature yet, but better than SiS chipset boards for Linux use. I'd
be lookin for a VIA chipset solution. I wouldn't be concerned
too much with Mdk's hardware database. It's woefully behind and
unmaintained. My bet is the graphics, lan and sound will have
kernel support, altho you might need to update to newer kernels,
even if Mandrake 9.2 is used. But I doubt it, Realtek items are
well supported, and to a little lesser extent, so is the i8xx
video (XFree drivers).
You should'a mentioned if you have existing parts you wanna
re-use or if the new system will be built from scratch. Could
have alot to do with which board you use.
--
Tom Brinkman Corpus Christi, Texas
Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft?
Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
