From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Mar 20 06:35:46 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9C03E16A41F for ; Mon, 20 Mar 2006 06:35:46 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from tedm@toybox.placo.com) Received: from mail.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com (mail.web-strider.com [65.75.192.90]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1D48B43D45 for ; Mon, 20 Mar 2006 06:35:45 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from tedm@toybox.placo.com) Received: from tedwin2k (nat-rtr.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com [65.75.197.130]) by mail.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com (8.11.1/8.11.1) with SMTP id k2K6ZAu18635; Sun, 19 Mar 2006 22:35:21 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from tedm@toybox.placo.com) From: "Ted Mittelstaedt" To: "Peter" , "freebsd-questions" Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2006 22:35:10 -0800 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.6604 (9.0.2911.0) In-Reply-To: <20060315015300.93955.qmail@web60016.mail.yahoo.com> Importance: Normal X-MIMEOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1506 Cc: Subject: RE: Motherboards & FreeBSD [used to be "RE: Disappointed with version 6.0"] X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 06:35:46 -0000 >-----Original Message----- >From: Peter [mailto:petermatulis@yahoo.ca] >Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 5:53 PM >To: Ted Mittelstaedt; freebsd-questions >Subject: Motherboards & FreeBSD [used to be "RE: Disappointed with >version 6.0"] > > > >--- Ted Mittelstaedt wrote: > >> >I'm setting up a new server on 6.0 I've been planning for a long >> time >> >and I am very disappointed with two critical issues. My motherboard >> is >> >the ASUS K8V-X SE that I chose because it was listed as compatible >> at >> >the FreeBSD/amd64 Project: >> > >> >http://www.freebsd.org/platforms/amd64/motherboards.html >> > >> >> Peter, >> >> That's really a poor choice as a server board. > >You get right to the point don't you? :| > I try, >> I don't know if you have a particular favorite of ASUS, but if your >> selecting a motherboard to build a server around from ASUS's product >> line you have to dig a bit. > >I don't mind digging a bit; I actually lean towards quality. And I'm >not partial towards any one maker either. My main issue is in >identifying boards that will have their components recognized by >FreeBSD. Is there a secret resource I haven't found? Please oblige. > It depends how far along the curve you want to be. Chipset manufacturers constantly change their products and new support is going into FreeBSD all the time, the problem is the newest boards probably won't be 100% supported. This is a separate issue from the reputation of the chipsets of course, SiS probably has the worst reputation, VIA is a bit better, Intel is better than that, etc. What you want to look for are chipsets that are built on older designs, for example the Intel ICH7 is a brushup of the ICH6 which is a brushup of the ICH5, etc. you get the idea. Thus it's really easy to add in support for it since the earlier variants are already supported. By contrast a brand new chipset line that has never seen FreeBSD before is going to take a lot longer to support. And of course, it's better to look for server quality hardware since more of that is going to be used for FreeBSD by the folks that are more advanced and will be supported faster. Ted