Re: [gentoo-user] Motherboard support?

[Dale <rdalek1967@gmail.com>]

Nilesh Govindarajan wrote:
> On Thu 29 Sep 2011 06:42:42 AM IST, Nilesh Govindarajan wrote:
>>
>> That's debian HCL, what about Gentoo? We compile the kernel ourselves man.
>> It would be better if we don't use debian/Ubuntu HCL to decide HW for
>> other distros, they're most popular ones and have lot of support from
>> hardware manufacturers, hence good support for hardware using
>> propreitary drivers which is seldom present in other distros.
>>
> I just checked that HCL:
> http://kmuto.jp/debian/hcl/Giga-byte/GA-880GM-USB3
> It seems things are supported since linux-2.6.25, we're now using 3.0.4
> and above. Should be OK right?
>

As a general rule, hardware support is in the kernel.  It shouldn't 
matter much whether it is Gentoo, Redhat, Debian or any other distro.  
It just matters that the kernel supports the hardware.  I would imagine 
that anything listed there as working is supported by Linux with a up to 
date kernel.  It all comes down to the kernel.  By the way, the kernel 
tested against is listed in the top right hand corner if I recall 
correctly.  You seem to have noticed that too.  If the mobo is a new 
design or new chipset, try to get at least that version of kernel.

If it shows things are working for the mobo you are checking on, it 
should work fine.  I think the 880 chipset has been out a while so it 
should be really stable by now.  I seem to recall it was out when I 
bought my new setup but was still getting worked on for drivers.

By the way, it is always somewhat wise to buy things that have been out 
for a while.  If you are building a spare or something to play with, 
then newer stuff is fine.  I say this because some very new hardware may 
not have all the kinks worked out.  Unless you really really need the 
latest and greatest, pick a slightly older setup.  When I picked mine, 
it was about a year old.  That is usually plenty of time to let the 
drivers stabilize.  It can also save you some money too.

Now to be nosy, how many cores and how much ram you planning to put in 
this new rig?  I have a 4 core 3.2Ghz CPU with 16Gbs of ram.  Compared 
to my older AMD 2500+ with 2Gbs of ram, the new rig is super fast.  My 
old rig was named smoker because at the time it was built, it was 
smoking.  My new rig is named fireball.  I guess lightening will be 
next.  After that, someone will just have to bury me.  Not much is 
faster than lightening.  lol

Dale

:-)  :-)

P. S.  If you get your things selected and want someone to double check, 
I'd be glad too.  I posted mine on here to make sure I hadn't missed 
anything.  The mobo, CPU and ram are the most essential things that have 
to be right.  You have some wobble room on the rest.  Also, Gigabyte has 
a list of supported ram and CPUs on their website.  That comes in handy.