I'm considering upgrading, and am trying to choose a modern motherboard that nevertheless fully works with Centos5/RHEL5.
Though I'm partial to AMD processors, and would like to use one in my new configuration, that's not a requirement, if the most appropriate board happens to be intel-compatible.
However, given the way ASUS is dumping LInux and crawling more firmly into bed with the Beast, I'd prefer to avoid ASUS boards.
I see that NewEgg has some combo deals at reasonable prices, but I can't tell which chipsets/boards are known to work with centos5 and which aren't.
Just at random, here's one of their offerings, a Biostar board: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138143 I've always understood Biostar boards to be cheap, not only in price, but perhaps they're serviceable?
I'm open to other suggestions, too.
Thanks in advance!
fred smith wrote:
I'm considering upgrading, and am trying to choose a modern motherboard that nevertheless fully works with Centos5/RHEL5.
What role is that system going to play?
I assume server because I'd put money down that in excess of 99% of CentOS installations are servers. (that number started at 95% and I kept jacking it up higher the more I thought about it..)
In which case..
Supermicro has a pretty large selection of Istanbul-ready boards, you don't really mention any special requirements outside of OS compatibility so it's hard to say what board is best:
http://www.supermicro.com/Istanbul/Istanbul.cfm?pg=MB
Pretty much all of them should work fine with CentOS 5, of course I would avoid the on board controllers for disks, use an external controller like a 3Ware or something mainly for performance reasons.
Tyan has plenty of good boards too.
nate
On Sat, Jul 04, 2009 at 10:18:56AM -0700, nate wrote:
fred smith wrote:
I'm considering upgrading, and am trying to choose a modern motherboard that nevertheless fully works with Centos5/RHEL5.
What role is that system going to play?
I assume server because I'd put money down that in excess of 99% of CentOS installations are servers. (that number started at 95% and I kept jacking it up higher the more I thought about it..)
Sorry, I didn't think to specify. It's my personal playground/home computer/ mail server. So in the sense that it hosts the mail server for my personal domain, then yes, it's a server. But in every other sense it's "just" my personal computer.
One board at Newegg that is inexpensive yet from the reviews looks like a good one is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128392. I've been running on a Gigabyte board for the last 5 (or so--can't recall exactly) years and it has always "just worked", so I wouldn't mind another.
But what I don't know how to tell is if chipsets have Linux support (in my preferred OS, not the latest unreleased Fedora Rawhide, or next year's still pre-alpha Ubuntu), or even with chipset support does the darn thing work or not?
Well, despite what you say about ASUS, I recently bought an M3N78-VM (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152752 - although the net card specs are wrong) because it was cheap and it supported 8gb. The only problem was the lack for forcedeth drivers in standard CentOS, which I download from somewhere else. I can't speak for graphics or sound because the machine uses neither.
It's running Xen kernel from the Gitco repositories and it's rock solid (touch wood).
________________________________ From: fred smith fredex@fcshome.stoneham.ma.us To: centos@centos.org Sent: Saturday, 4 July, 2009 15:39:26 Subject: [CentOS] modern motherboard for centos-5
I'm considering upgrading, and am trying to choose a modern motherboard that nevertheless fully works with Centos5/RHEL5.
Though I'm partial to AMD processors, and would like to use one in my new configuration, that's not a requirement, if the most appropriate board happens to be intel-compatible.
However, given the way ASUS is dumping LInux and crawling more firmly into bed with the Beast, I'd prefer to avoid ASUS boards.
I see that NewEgg has some combo deals at reasonable prices, but I can't tell which chipsets/boards are known to work with centos5 and which aren't.
Just at random, here's one of their offerings, a Biostar board: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138143 I've always understood Biostar boards to be cheap, not only in price, but perhaps they're serviceable?
I'm open to other suggestions, too.
Thanks in advance!
On Sun, Jul 05, 2009 at 05:05:30AM -0700, Ian Murray wrote:
Well, despite what you say about ASUS, I recently bought an M3N78-VM (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152752 - although the net card specs are wrong) because it was cheap and it supported 8gb. The only problem was the lack for forcedeth drivers in standard CentOS, which I download from somewhere else. I can't speak for graphics or sound because the machine uses neither.
It's running Xen kernel from the Gitco repositories and it's rock solid (touch wood).
Pardon my ignorance, but what's "forcedeth"?
From: fred smith fredex@fcshome.stoneham.ma.us To: centos@centos.org Sent: Saturday, 4 July, 2009 15:39:26 Subject: [CentOS] modern motherboard for centos-5
I'm considering upgrading, and am trying to choose a modern motherboard that nevertheless fully works with Centos5/RHEL5.
Though I'm partial to AMD processors, and would like to use one in my new configuration, that's not a requirement, if the most appropriate board happens to be intel-compatible.
However, given the way ASUS is dumping LInux and crawling more firmly into bed with the Beast, I'd prefer to avoid ASUS boards.
I see that NewEgg has some combo deals at reasonable prices, but I can't tell which chipsets/boards are known to work with centos5 and which aren't.
Just at random, here's one of their offerings, a Biostar board: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138143 I've always understood Biostar boards to be cheap, not only in price, but perhaps they're serviceable?
I'm open to other suggestions, too.
Thanks in advance!
-- ---- Fred Smith -- fredex@fcshome.stoneham.ma.us ----------------------------- The Lord detests the way of the wicked but he loves those who pursue righteousness. ----------------------------- Proverbs 15:9 (niv) -----------------------------
At Sun, 5 Jul 2009 21:35:31 -0400 CentOS mailing list centos@centos.org wrote:
On Sun, Jul 05, 2009 at 05:05:30AM -0700, Ian Murray wrote:
Well, despite what you say about ASUS, I recently bought an M3N78-VM (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152752 - although the net card specs are wrong) because it was cheap and it supported 8gb. The only problem was the lack for forcedeth drivers in standard CentOS, which I download from somewhere else. I can't speak for graphics or sound because the machine uses neither.
It's running Xen kernel from the Gitco repositories and it's rock solid (touch wood).
Pardon my ignorance, but what's "forcedeth"?
On board Ethernet, part of the nVidia GForce chipset.
From: fred smith fredex@fcshome.stoneham.ma.us To: centos@centos.org Sent: Saturday, 4 July, 2009 15:39:26 Subject: [CentOS] modern motherboard for centos-5
I'm considering upgrading, and am trying to choose a modern motherboard that nevertheless fully works with Centos5/RHEL5.
Though I'm partial to AMD processors, and would like to use one in my new configuration, that's not a requirement, if the most appropriate board happens to be intel-compatible.
However, given the way ASUS is dumping LInux and crawling more firmly into bed with the Beast, I'd prefer to avoid ASUS boards.
I see that NewEgg has some combo deals at reasonable prices, but I can't tell which chipsets/boards are known to work with centos5 and which aren't.
Just at random, here's one of their offerings, a Biostar board: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138143 I've always understood Biostar boards to be cheap, not only in price, but perhaps they're serviceable?
I'm open to other suggestions, too.
Thanks in advance!
-- ---- Fred Smith -- fredex@fcshome.stoneham.ma.us ----------------------------- The Lord detests the way of the wicked but he loves those who pursue righteousness. ----------------------------- Proverbs 15:9 (niv) -----------------------------
I think these drivers were merged into a the kernel a bit later in the kernel than CentOS uses, although am a bit surprised upstream didn't backport. Before I set the machine up for proper, I tried a live Ubuntu disk which recognised the ethernet no problem, which lead me to figuring out what to do next for CentOS.
Before I bought this board, I must admit I tried to find a suitable modern board myself and didn't come up with much in the way of resources... I thought it ought to be documented in a wiki or something. I ended up doing some guesswork and taking pot-luck...
________________________________ From: Robert Heller heller@deepsoft.com To: CentOS mailing list centos@centos.org Cc: CentOS mailing list centos@centos.org Sent: Monday, 6 July, 2009 2:46:10 Subject: Re: [CentOS] modern motherboard for centos-5
Pardon my ignorance, but what's "forcedeth"?
On board Ethernet, part of the nVidia GForce chipset.
on 7-6-2009 2:50 AM Ian Murray spake the following:
I think these drivers were merged into a the kernel a bit later in the kernel than CentOS uses, although am a bit surprised upstream didn't backport.
Upstream usually only backports additions like this at point releases. Between point releases is usually security updates and other broken parts. So if the driver isn't in 5.3, it won't be added until 5.4 (or later).
Scott Silva wrote:
on 7-6-2009 2:50 AM Ian Murray spake the following:
I think these drivers were merged into a the kernel a bit later in the kernel than CentOS uses, although am a bit surprised upstream didn't backport.
Upstream usually only backports additions like this at point releases. Between point releases is usually security updates and other broken parts. So if the driver isn't in 5.3, it won't be added until 5.4 (or later).
ELRepo.org has drivers for forcedeth (amongst others) for el5:
I think this is where I got a working version. To correct my earlier statement, I think CentOS may have forcedeth but not new enough support my particular NIC. I think I did read somewhere that 5.4 will support my chipset. Either way, to get back to the original topic, it's a modern board and it's working fine for what I wanted.
________________________________ From: Ned Slider ned@unixmail.co.uk To: CentOS mailing list centos@centos.org Sent: Tuesday, 14 July, 2009 23:54:15 Subject: Re: [CentOS] modern motherboard for centos-5
Scott Silva wrote:
on 7-6-2009 2:50 AM Ian Murray spake the following:
I think these drivers were merged into a the kernel a bit later in the kernel than CentOS uses, although am a bit surprised upstream didn't backport.
Upstream usually only backports additions like this at point releases. Between point releases is usually security updates and other broken parts. So if the driver isn't in 5.3, it won't be added until 5.4 (or later).
ELRepo.org has drivers for forcedeth (amongst others) for el5:
http://elrepo.org/tiki/kmod-forcedeth
_______________________________________________ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
fred smith wrote:
I'm considering upgrading, and am trying to choose a modern motherboard that nevertheless fully works with Centos5/RHEL5.
Though I'm partial to AMD processors, and would like to use one in my new configuration, that's not a requirement, if the most appropriate board happens to be intel-compatible.
Personally, for consumer grade motherboard, I prefer to use Gigabyte or MSI. Between those two, MSI is more USB boot friendly. I boot many implementations with USB SysLinux without problem with MSI, but problematic with Gigabyte.
For AMD, I recommend to get any with AMD 780G chipset, the reasons are : a. already has built in low entry 3D capable graphic unit, and has DVI output in case you want to use them with large LCD screen b. the SATA chipset brought by the AMD SB700 or SB750 is compatible with VMWare ESX 4.0i, thus can be made as local VMFS storage. My CentOs is always above VMware ESX now.
However, given the way ASUS is dumping LInux and crawling more firmly into bed with the Beast, I'd prefer to avoid ASUS boards.
Long time never used the Asus board anymore, thus cannot comment.
I see that NewEgg has some combo deals at reasonable prices, but I can't tell which chipsets/boards are known to work with centos5 and which aren't.
Just at random, here's one of their offerings, a Biostar board: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138143 I've always understood Biostar boards to be cheap, not only in price, but perhaps they're serviceable?
I have some cheap BioStar motherboards. Works well, and suitable for lower price desktop built for my friends. All of the running Ubuntu Linux. However none of them running 24x7 thus cannot recommend whether it is suitable for your email server requirements. The oldest possibly about 2 years old. If I recall, I never had any motherboard problem since 2001 and I only used Gigabyte-MSI-Biostar-Palit. Yes, there are some old motherboards who were dead after never been used, but usually they are > 4 years old and becoming rusty after I put them in the store room (very humid here in Singapore).
On Sun, Jul 05, 2009 at 09:03:59PM +0800, The Eye In The Sky wrote:
fred smith wrote:
I'm considering upgrading, and am trying to choose a modern motherboard that nevertheless fully works with Centos5/RHEL5.
Though I'm partial to AMD processors, and would like to use one in my new configuration, that's not a requirement, if the most appropriate board happens to be intel-compatible.
Personally, for consumer grade motherboard, I prefer to use Gigabyte or MSI. Between those two, MSI is more USB boot friendly. I boot many implementations with USB SysLinux without problem with MSI, but problematic with Gigabyte.
For AMD, I recommend to get any with AMD 780G chipset, the reasons are : a. already has built in low entry 3D capable graphic unit, and has DVI output in case you want to use them with large LCD screen b. the SATA chipset brought by the AMD SB700 or SB750 is compatible with VMWare ESX 4.0i, thus can be made as local VMFS storage. My CentOs is always above VMware ESX now.
However, given the way ASUS is dumping LInux and crawling more firmly into bed with the Beast, I'd prefer to avoid ASUS boards.
Long time never used the Asus board anymore, thus cannot comment.
Thanks for your thoughts.
My current system is a Gigabyte and I've been quite happy with it. Looking around at Newegg, I see this board:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128392
that while inexpensive appears to be full-featured, at least for anything I'd do with it. But I can't find anything online relating to Linux compatibility. It uses AMD chips for north- and south-bridges, AMD770 and AMD SB710.
I suppose I could just buy it and find out, but that could get expensive, what with re-stocking fees, and all.
Phoronix tends to review higher-end boards than this, mostly, and they also consider it to be "linux compatible" if it works with the latest/greatest as-yet-unreleased Ubuntu.
But I like to stick with Centos beecause I hate getting caught up in the "update every six-to-twelve months" whether I like it or not treadmill. I like to build a system and have it run for 2 or 3 years before I need to do a major OS upgrade, and Fedora and Ubuntu do not lend themselves well to that way of living.
I see that NewEgg has some combo deals at reasonable prices, but I can't tell which chipsets/boards are known to work with centos5 and which aren't.
Just at random, here's one of their offerings, a Biostar board: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138143 I've always understood Biostar boards to be cheap, not only in price, but perhaps they're serviceable?
I have some cheap BioStar motherboards. Works well, and suitable for lower price desktop built for my friends. All of the running Ubuntu Linux. However none of them running 24x7 thus cannot recommend whether it is suitable for your email server requirements. The oldest possibly about 2 years old. If I recall, I never had any motherboard problem since 2001 and I only used Gigabyte-MSI-Biostar-Palit. Yes, there are some old motherboards who were dead after never been used, but usually they are > 4 years old and becoming rusty after I put them in the store room (very humid here in Singapore).
-
fred smith -
Ian Murray -
nate -
Ned Slider -
Robert Heller -
Scott Silva -
The Eye In The Sky