Re: tyan board
On Thu, Sep 21, 2006 at 09:18:50PM -0400, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'm building my new computer and am ready to look at boards. I've settled on AMD AM2 socket. I don't do games but would like to transfer videos to DVD and watch DVDs (edit out commercials?) and other home use type stuff. For this, I want a good selection of USB, more than one SATA, firewire, etc. In fact, the n3400B is only short the eSATA to match the features that I would use of the ASIS Crosshair (apparently a gamers' heaven). The Asus boards have always treated me well (although I have only ever bought the higher end models), and anything with an nvidia chipset generally does well with linux. Via can be a bit tricky although it will usually end up working within a few months (2.6.18 added support for the most recent via chipsets), and ati is simply a nightmare with linux. Is esata necesary? Is it supported by linux (I don't think hotplug is implemented for sata yet, although people are working on it). I want a solid reliable board as I usually only get a new computer every 10 years or so. I understand that Tyan boards are very good and generally well supported in Linux. So far I've found the Tomcat n3400B and the h1000s. The Tyan website under 'drivers' has them listed specifically for RHES and SLES. How does this translate to using these boards under Debian? For etch, probably not a problem. For sarge (which is about as old as RHES's last release I suspect) you would probably have driver problems due to the hardware being much newer than the kernel. It really just depends on what components does it use and whether the kernel has drivers for those in the release you decide to use. I've been trying to answer this myself using Google without success. Has anyone used either of these boards? Well I only use Asus boards myself. I have never used a tyan, although they do seem to have a good reputation (and they can run linuxbios apparently). -- Len Sorensen -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: tyan board
On Friday 22 September 2006 16:13, Lennart Sorensen wrote: Well I only use Asus boards myself. I have never used a tyan, although they do seem to have a good reputation (and they can run linuxbios apparently). I run debian amd64 etch on tyan S2895 K8WE. Everything fine, in particular a real raid1 (debian software), although I can say little about the X-system, which (although it worked finely) I have no more installed in a new installation. I do not need it. That new installation (kernel 17-2) because the Maxtor HD proved incompatible - probably with nvidia chipsets on the mainboard. One of the disks (not always the same) from time to time halted, although raid1 reconstructed it, so that when restarting the machine nothing wrong could be detected. With WD Raptor in place of Maxtor nothing wrong has happened in about ten days of uninterrupted work (I can say that because halting of one Maxtor had negative impact on calculations with mpqc2.3.1). If anything, I was unhappy with Tyan Europe. Asking them about their raid - which had nothing to do with linux although I mentioned debian linux somewhere - the answer was we do not answer linux questions or about so. My mail to Tyan Taiwan - complaining about that answer by Tyan Europe - remained unanswered. Therefore, do not expect support by Tyan if you use linux. I can not rule out that problems may arise from that Tyan way of doing. I wonder whether Extremadura is going to Tyan at all. I would not if I had to buy a new motherboard (this is no comparison with other motherboards, I am no expert). cheers francesco pietra -- Len Sorensen -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: tyan board
On Fri, Sep 22, 2006 at 10:13:32AM -0400, Lennart Sorensen wrote: On Thu, Sep 21, 2006 at 09:18:50PM -0400, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'm building my new computer and am ready to look at boards. I've settled on AMD AM2 socket. The Asus boards have always treated me well (although I have only ever bought the higher end models), and anything with an nvidia chipset generally does well with linux. Via can be a bit tricky although it will usually end up working within a few months (2.6.18 added support for the most recent via chipsets), and ati is simply a nightmare with linux. Is esata necesary? Is it supported by linux (I don't think hotplug is implemented for sata yet, although people are working on it). I want a solid reliable board as I usually only get a new computer every 10 years or so. I understand that Tyan boards are very good and generally well supported in Linux. So far I've found the Tomcat n3400B and the h1000s. The Tyan website under 'drivers' has them listed specifically for RHES and SLES. How does this translate to using these boards under Debian? For etch, probably not a problem. For sarge (which is about as old as RHES's last release I suspect) you would probably have driver problems due to the hardware being much newer than the kernel. It really just depends on what components does it use and whether the kernel has drivers for those in the release you decide to use. Well I only use Asus boards myself. I have never used a tyan, although they do seem to have a good reputation (and they can run linuxbios apparently). -- Len Sorensen Thanks Len, I hadn't heard of Tyan (I haven't looked at boards before; the last computer I bought was an IBM 486 in 1993) but it was recommended to me on this forum. Asus seems to cater to the gaming crowd while Tyan seems to cater to the server/workstation crowd and it is this latter which more closely matches my use of a computer. Both the Asus Crosshair (nVidia 590 SLI chipset) and the Tyan Tomcat n3400B have a MSRP about the same at $200. The Tyan gives me video while the Asus would mean I'd have to get a display card as well. eSATA isn't necessary right now, and I could add a card later. Since I only buy a new computer every decade or two, I'm trying to think ahead (as much as is possible with computers). eSATA seems to be the up-and-coming way to connect external storage instead of SCSI (expensive) or USB (slower). My concern here is how to backup in the future, but that's a problem for later. I don't need hotplug. The Tyan also has a serial port. While I can add a USB serial port, I don't think I can use one for a serial console. Depending on how I'm using a computer, I sometimes like to use a serial console and keep messages from showing up on the VCs (if I am still using video). I guess thats a bit old-fashioned of me, but then again, 99% of what I do is text-based (why can't lynx do javascript?). Given the price similarity, I'm assuming at this point that while Asus puts the value in making it stable for overclocking, Tyan puts the value in making it stable for the long-run. Whatever board I go with, it will be mounted in a CoolerMaster stacker with cross-flow fan with drives in the 4-in-3 fan cooled modules. The processor will be the last thing I buy because of all the components in a computer, the processor drops in price fastest. Comments on my assumptions are greatly appreciated. Thanks, Doug. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: tyan board
On Fri, Sep 22, 2006 at 01:00:27PM -0400, Lennart Sorensen wrote: On Fri, Sep 22, 2006 at 12:27:38PM -0400, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Well if you don't need video for anything other than the console and setting up, then onboard video certainly makes sense. Unfortunately it appears you have to get either firewire and audio or on onboard video on the tyan. Not sure why the one with onboard video has no firewire. Of course you may decide it makes more sense to add a seperate firewire card since then you can get 800Mbps firewire, rather than have to add a video card. The tyan also uses the nforce pro chipset, rather than a consumer level chipset. The Tyan Tomcat n3400B (S2925) has both video and 2 firewire (and floppy, ,4 USB, 1 serial, 1 paralell, sound, 2 GB LAN, 6 SATA 3.0, 1 IDE). I'll use the video for most things most of the time and for Xwidown running Mozilla, Xcdroast, and eventually video editing, only having to add a capture card (or USB dongle?). Given the price similarity, I'm assuming at this point that while Asus puts the value in making it stable for overclocking, Tyan puts the value in making it stable for the long-run. Whatever board I go with, it will be mounted in a CoolerMaster stacker with cross-flow fan with drives in the 4-in-3 fan cooled modules. The processor will be the last thing I buy because of all the components in a computer, the processor drops in price fastest. Comments on my assumptions are greatly appreciated. Well I see no problem with either. -- Len Sorensen The Tyan Tomcat n3400B s2925 uses the nVIDIA nForce Pro 3400 chipset (it also mentions SMSC DME 5017, but I don't recognize that). Is there any reason to think that it wouldn't work? -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: tyan board
On Fri, Sep 22, 2006 at 02:16:52PM -0400, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The Tyan Tomcat n3400B (S2925) has both video and 2 firewire (and floppy, ,4 USB, 1 serial, 1 paralell, sound, 2 GB LAN, 6 SATA 3.0, 1 IDE). I'll use the video for most things most of the time and for Xwidown running Mozilla, Xcdroast, and eventually video editing, only having to add a capture card (or USB dongle?). Hmm, looked at the page: http://www.tyan.com/products/html/tomcatn3400b.html I get the impression from the two SKU lines, that you either get firewire and audio, or you get graphics, but that there is no SKU that has both. Maybe the page is wrong and they have more SKUs or I just don't understand what they are trying to say. The Tyan Tomcat n3400B s2925 uses the nVIDIA nForce Pro 3400 chipset (it also mentions SMSC DME 5017, but I don't recognize that). The SMSC is just a super io chip. Those are usually generic (parallel and serial ports are generic on PCs really.) Is there any reason to think that it wouldn't work? The ones I can easily find for sale are: http://www.8anet.com/merchant.ihtml?pid=28lastcatid=5step=4 S2925A2NRF http://www.8anet.com/merchant.ihtml?pid=29lastcatid=5step=4 S2925G2NR As for as I can tell in the product codes, A = audio, G = graphics, N = networking, R = raid, F = firewire. Which ones have you found for sale? -- Len Sorensen -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: tyan board
I received this from the Tyan automated tech support mail system. They say that the nVidia nForce chipset isn't supported in Debian. Does anybody know from the Debian perspective if this is true? What OS's are currently supported by the nVidia nForce Chipset? Here is a listing of the OS's that will/won't and will be supported for these motherboard: Yes: Workstation and Advanced Server RHEL3 Update 4 (No update 1, 2 or 3) Workstation and Advanced Server RHEL4 SuSE 9.1, 9.2 and 9.3 (64-bt) No: No RedHat 32-bit Distributions No SuSE 32-bit Distributions No Debian, Gentuu, Fedora Core or Turbo Linux No FreeBSD I take it that this refers to current Debian 3.1. Since 4.0 isn't released yet but will include an AMD64 specific version, will it then work? -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: tyan board
On Fri, Sep 22, 2006 at 04:32:30PM -0400, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I received this from the Tyan automated tech support mail system. They say that the nVidia nForce chipset isn't supported in Debian. Does anybody know from the Debian perspective if this is true? In sarge that is probably true. In etch it almost certainly isn't. Support depends on the kernel version, not the distribution. The nforce pro 3400 is as far as I can tell a modification of the MCP51/MCP55 series chipset, which I believe is what the 570/590 is. So it is basicly an nforce 5 series chipset with some server oriented specs. The nforce2 works with sarge (I have multiple machines with it), the nforce 3 works with sarge (my wife's laptop has that chipset), and the nforce 4 might work with sarge, but might not work perfectly. A newer 2.6 kernel works fine with it. The nforce pro 3400 chipset in this case. Of course this does appear to be one amazingly new chipset, and hence may not be fully supported yet, although if they claim RHEL can boot on it, I expect anything with a recent kernel should too. Drivers for any fake raid or other such device on the other hand may be harder to get. As for what actually supports that board, I can't really find anything, since it appears to be much too new for anyone to actually have one yet. I take it that this refers to current Debian 3.1. Since 4.0 isn't released yet but will include an AMD64 specific version, will it then work? I would think so. Just because they won't support it, doesn't mean it won't work. Redhat and Suse don't get to have their own kernels with special drivers other people don't get (unless they add binary only drivers seperately for some things). Dell also doesn't support Debian, but lots of people use it anyhow. -- Len Sorensen -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: tyan board
Sorry Len, I sent it directly to you instead of the list by accident. (I know, no excuse for hitting the wrong key in mutt). On Fri, Sep 22, 2006 at 05:56:23PM -0400, Lennart Sorensen wrote: Support depends on the kernel version, not the distribution. The nforce pro 3400 is as far as I can tell a modification of the MCP51/MCP55 series chipset, which I believe is what the 570/590 is. So it is basicly an nforce 5 series chipset with some server oriented specs. I expect anything with a recent kernel should too. Drivers for any fake raid or other such device on the other hand may be harder to get. Any raid I would do would probably be Linux kernel as I understand that its faster than most hardware-based. I'm not really interested in raid anyway; more interested in learning about logical volume management. As for what actually supports that board, I can't really find anything, since it appears to be much too new for anyone to actually have one yet. I've never tried to use a testing-level system. Once I get my CD-burner working on my 486, I'll try to get the current Debian testing CD. Thanks, Doug. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
tyan board
Hello, I'm building my new computer and am ready to look at boards. I've settled on AMD AM2 socket. I don't do games but would like to transfer videos to DVD and watch DVDs (edit out commercials?) and other home use type stuff. For this, I want a good selection of USB, more than one SATA, firewire, etc. In fact, the n3400B is only short the eSATA to match the features that I would use of the ASIS Crosshair (apparently a gamers' heaven). I want a solid reliable board as I usually only get a new computer every 10 years or so. I understand that Tyan boards are very good and generally well supported in Linux. So far I've found the Tomcat n3400B and the h1000s. The Tyan website under 'drivers' has them listed specifically for RHES and SLES. How does this translate to using these boards under Debian? I've been trying to answer this myself using Google without success. Has anyone used either of these boards? Thanks, Doug. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
