-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Gigabyte CPU Board and compatibility issues
Date: Sun, 29 Aug 2004 01:27:51 -0600
From: Ted Hilts
Organization: help-for-you
To: suse-linux-e@suse.com
This is a bit lengthy so please bear with me. It will make sense as you
read it all.
I am looking at building a heavy duty file server with plug in hard
drives to accommodate large backups and other storage concerns. Before
I invest in hardware for this purpose I would like to establish which
CPU board hardware is most acceptable to Linux. I am also considering
the 64bit option of Linux.
In this regard has anyone had success or problems with the Gigabyte line
of CPU boards. In the past I have used AMD Athlon CPUs on two computers
and have had problems on both where the screen goes blank and I am
unable to determine if the computer is alive or has lost control of it's
keyboard, mouse, and video output. On one computer the problem was
positively identified as a heat problem with either the CPU or
supporting chip set. A large fan producing a high speed cooling effect
on all parts of the CPU board eliminated the problem. On the second
computer I have not had time to make such a determination. But both
problems have left me with a distrust of AMD cpu boards for Linux even
though I would prefer to use AMD rather than an Intel Pentium series. I
have never experienced a problem with the Linux machines running with a
Pentium series processor.
Because of this confusion on my part I would like some advice regarding
the CPU board manufacturer.
Most of these modern CPU boards have many functions on board so if one
of these functions fail the entire board becomes useless. Generally
speaking, I tend to NOT use these additional on board functions and
provide a separate board for sound, graphics and monitor, LAN interface,
etc. and use only the CPU related functions on the CPU board. I think
this gives me a little more control and more flexibility in terms of my
hardware options. It also reduces the chance of board failure. If
anyone disagrees I would like to hear their side of the issue.
Apparently there can be incompatibilties between board functions and the
CPU board function. For example a particular graphics board may under
certain circumstances cause a system crash. I've actually had this
happen on an XP machine. An even more weird phenomena is when one memory
board can cause a system problem and another memory board, same kind of
memory but different manufacturer will work. Yet both memory boards
will pass the system memory check. It turns out there are exotic memory
test tools that expose these incompatibilities and depending upon the
size of the memory can take days to perform the testing. And, according
to one knowledgeable person I know, he is positive that certain hard
drives perform better on Linux than other brands. Apparently, this has
something to do with the hard drive control circuitry. A hard drive
failure can cause the black out I was talking about earlier.
So, all this is about compatibility and it would be helpful to hear from
those of you regarding your hardware configurations and what
combinations do not seem to work well. So far I have found no
documentation on an integrated hardware set up -- just lists of devices
known to be compatible to Linux but may not be compatible with each
other when used with Linux as the OS..
I am beginning to think that one has to build a Linux computer by first
settling on the board and CPU and then incrementally testing and adding
other board functions until the entire system has proved itself stable.
It also seems that a lot of devices like hard drives and other
functions have not been properly tested on Linux by the manufacturer and
have only been tested on MS systems. This is actually easier and less
trouble in the long run than buying a computer and then trying to make
Linux work on that computer and encountering problems with the sound,
video, LAN device, and other devices. And it is this latter method
that I have always followed to my shame.
Any suggestions and further discussion are welcome.
Thanks_TED
