ASUS no support for Linux?

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Post Replies Here Please wrote in message said:
Is this report true? Is this the offical ASUS policy?

http://www.mozillaquest.com/Linux04/Asus_Sucks_Story-01.html

Does it really matter?
Any info would be appreciated.
Thanks

Alan
Click to expand...
--------------------
Milage may vary with usage.... Cry me a river, a Linux Mandrake user replied
in another forum.

Here is a post I've sent to Linux Mandrake ng... Since then, It pure Love :)
If you've got a P4P800 or probably a P4C800, do yourself a favor and get
Linux. IMHO, Mandrake is one of the best distro around.
«
{title: Another HAPPY Mandraker here .. powerpack 10 ASUS bliss !}

And I thought a Win2k install was easy !.. LOL
This morning, reading this group, I decided I could not wait any longer.

I've got a nice P4 HT 3Ghz on a P4P800-E deluxe ASUS mobo
and now Mandrake PowerPack 10 rocks. The installation was flawless and fast.
And to add to the bliss I went on seeking some older files on my
FAT32 partition; Like a single DVD VOB (video) file and it played
instantly without a stutter. I'm running the SMP kernel and Linux sees
two processors for my HT CPU. The radeon 9800Pro video card
is running fine; And even if only on MESA its splendid and snappy.
Never had so much fun in

The KDE desktop and Mandrake integration is top notch... KUDOS guyz.
I've been there since Mandrake Powerpack 7.. And later Mandrake 9.
But I must say that version 10 is feeling eons better than 9.0 was.
Of course this is all so much hardware dependent; but during my long
vacation from Linux, I see it grew absolutely SOLID; and Micro$oft can
never compete with such a diversified and FREE world package.

I previously had a tiny 2Gig Fat16 C: partition; Followed by a 20Gigs
Fat32; C: installed with Win2k. I was still testing this new motherboard,
hence the initial choice for a legit win98 C partition of less than 2Gigs.
I later realised it's not a problem anymore to boot from a CD or floppy
and see FAT32 drives from later DOS. LINUX MANDRAKE did the job !
During the installation; I used the diskdrake tools to delete the original
C: and D: drives; Then created a 5Gigs C: followed by a 2Gig Swap,
and the rest for Mandrake. Advanced mode allowed me to format the
partitions, and kept everything intact on the rest of the hard disk.
That alone should make a happy custommer. :)

Of course I intend to re-install win2k to support my previous work and tools.
A dual-boot is still required for my work.
But since Mandrake 10 is working so well; Even though I expect some hassle
installing HW 3D gfx drivers followed by some 'newbie' questions here and there.
Mandrake 10 already surpasses all my expectations.

Aside from all the excellent online documentation, MDK 10 comes with two
booklets (books). Starter guide, and Reference manual. I shall make good
use of these, since I plan on using the Starter Guide chapter by chapter
to study the incredible amount of features of this OS and latest tools.

That's the sure part where a Linux distro beats hands down any Micro$oft OS.
Of course I did not get to the hard part yet; and my hardware was rather simple
to detect and enable; No SATA nor RAID setup here. But bliss nontheless.

Honestly; The KDE improvements since MDK 9.0 is breath taking to me.
Even if I've seen it all happening since version 7.

I have some seriously interesting projects for Linux, and cross platforms.
I look forward to get to the level where I can contribute to this distro and
I feel it won't take long.

I must spread the word to some friends in the ASUS forum.
It's been a great experience; One of the most gratifying OS installation ever.
Best regards to all; Especially others, newbies discovering Mandrake
for the first time.

P.S. If this sounds too enthusiastic, bare with me.. It's been a long time
since I left the Linux scene for personnal matters. Can't thank mandrake
community enough.

Last word about 3D and Linux in general.
I had recently been 'shopping' for a 3D modeler that would work under Win2k.
I found 3DS MAX 6 priced at about 3500$, and since I read so many use it;
I can only conclude so many are using pirate versions, and that's a shame
considering the Linux alternative. Not only I found that 'Blender' can do
so much more than 3DS MAX, but it's FREE and version 2.33a runs perfectly
under an OpenGL capable Windows OS. and it's all under 3MB binaries.
I can't wait to see it run under Mandrake, and a TRUE Linux Kernel...
The only itch for me now, is making the 3D radeon 9800Pro hardware do its job,
hopefully to support OpenGL 1.5 specs.

Regards,
Art (alias)
 
Post said:
Is this report true? Is this the offical ASUS policy?

http://www.mozillaquest.com/Linux04/Asus_Sucks_Story-01.html

Does it really matter?

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks

Alan
Click to expand...
I found this very interesting, but not cause for alarm. If you really
wanted to run Linux on that board, you could purchase a $9 network card
that would run perfectly well on Linux and the Asus board in question.
You will also note in the report that he found a workaround. There is a
huge community of Linux users on Linux forums that can help with
situations like this. The issue of the onboard sound was solved the same
way as the network interface problem. They substituted a sound card for
the non-functional onboard device.

Depends upon what you want to do with the system and what the problem
is. I run Linux and WinXP on different boards including my Asus
A7N8X-DLX and I have no problems.

My favorite Linux distro is Fedora. I have also used Knoppix.
 
Sounds to me like a bit of puffed up confrontation.

Asus makes and sells motherboards. I don't think they care what OS the user
has and would prefer to see the widest degree of compatability. At the same
time they can't afford to pander to unqualified demands from a "reporter"
from an "online magazine" (use you own terms there please - the terms are
unimportant, the message is) to provide support for one of many versions of
an OS. Huh? Well, how many such web sites and reporter type people would
they have to interface to? Any Joe Bloe that decides to make a pro Linux web
site and stir? Proper representation and communication is important.

If the linux community wants best support from EG motherboard manufacturers,
then surely they should get organised, funded, research, write proposals,
meet with and sell the notion that supporting Linux is the way to go. Now, I
am sure this is happening to varying degrees - Linux is not the only
consumer of such techinology there are many many other freeware / GPL /
commercial software authors out there that would like access to design
information and input to the process. There are forums for interfacing at
the design phase...

I don't think ringing the Help Desk is the way to get a response.

Back to the issue. Was the fault actually with Asus? Or was it the Bios? Or
was it the onboard NIC chip manufacturer - 3com? nvidia? marvell? Asus just
(major understatement) puts the chips on the boards, where is the real
problem? Surely if the claim is accurate, then the Vital information is
Vital to all.

It would be interesting to know how many Linux PC's there are at Asus, 3com,
marvell, award etc. and how much inherent support there already is within
these companies.

- Tim
 
stanmc> I found this very interesting, but not cause for alarm. If
stanmc> you really wanted to run Linux on that board, you could
stanmc> purchase a $9 network card that would run perfectly well on
stanmc> Linux and the Asus board in question. You will also note in
stanmc> the report that he found a workaround. There is a huge
stanmc> community of Linux users on Linux forums that can help with
stanmc> situations like this. The issue of the onboard sound was
stanmc> solved the same way as the network interface problem. They
stanmc> substituted a sound card for the non-functional onboard
stanmc> device.

I think these folks were crazy. Someone else pointed me this link, and
a solution. To be frank even for windows I use google before calling
anyone.


http://www.ussg.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0404.3/0090.html

That would have fixed there problem, and they could have continued.
There is also a fix on the internet for the soundcard. Sounds like
these folks need to learn how to use a search engine.

Whatever.
 
I think these folks were crazy. Someone else pointed me this link, and
a solution. To be frank even for windows I use google before calling
anyone.

http://www.ussg.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0404.3/0090.html

That would have fixed there problem, and they could have continued.
There is also a fix on the internet for the soundcard. Sounds like
these folks need to learn how to use a search engine.
Click to expand...
This is not the point: VPD on that asus board is surely buggy and Asus
HAVE TO FIX IT, becouse customer money is good money, not buggy money :-(((
 
Last word about 3D and Linux in general.
I had recently been 'shopping' for a 3D modeler that would work under Win2k.
I found 3DS MAX 6 priced at about 3500$, and since I read so many use it;
I can only conclude so many are using pirate versions, and that's a shame
considering the Linux alternative. Not only I found that 'Blender' can do
so much more than 3DS MAX, but it's FREE and version 2.33a runs perfectly
under an OpenGL capable Windows OS. and it's all under 3MB binaries.
I can't wait to see it run under Mandrake, and a TRUE Linux Kernel...
The only itch for me now, is making the 3D radeon 9800Pro hardware do its job,
hopefully to support OpenGL 1.5 specs.

Regards,
Art (alias)
Click to expand...


I always go with Nvidia video cards for linux. Better support for linux,
even if the driver is not open source.
 
Post said:
---snip---

stanmc> The issue of the onboard sound was
stanmc> solved the same way as the network interface problem. They
stanmc> substituted a sound card for the non-functional onboard
stanmc> device.

I think these folks were crazy. Someone else pointed me this link, and
a solution. To be frank even for windows I use google before calling
anyone.


http://www.ussg.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0404.3/0090.html

That would have fixed there problem, and they could have continued.
There is also a fix on the internet for the soundcard. Sounds like
these folks need to learn how to use a search engine.

Whatever.
Click to expand...
Until Linux becomes a lot larger community, things like this will
probably continue. Asus will solve this if they find it a necessity. The
Linux community has been working around things like this from the
beginning. It is not the way it SHOULD be, but it is the way it probably
will be until the economic forces alter the way board manufacturers look
at Linux.
 
stanmc> ---snip---

stanmc> The issue of the onboard sound was solved the same way as the
stanmc> network interface problem. They substituted a sound card for
stanmc> the non-functional onboard device.stanmc> Until Linux becomes a lot larger community, things like this
stanmc> will probably continue. Asus will solve this if they find it
stanmc> a necessity. The Linux community has been working around
stanmc> things like this from the beginning. It is not the way it
stanmc> SHOULD be, but it is the way it probably will be until the
stanmc> economic forces alter the way board manufacturers look at
stanmc> Linux.

Hold on you missed the article. ASUS refused to address the problem
weather it was windows or linux. Anyway there will always be buggy
motherboard and chipsets, and that is why you have software to work
around them.

Later,

Alan
 
Post said:
Is this report true? Is this the offical ASUS policy?

http://www.mozillaquest.com/Linux04/Asus_Sucks_Story-01.html

Does it really matter?

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks

Alan
Click to expand...


I dont know if the report is true as I have only just become an Asus m/b
user and have no need of technical support from Asus.

However I can give you a report on the Asus P4P800-E deluxe and linux.

For a start the Asus website provides linux drivers for the Marvell onboard
LAN and the ALC850 chipset ( which will probably not be needed on a modern
linux distro anyway).

My hardware includes a Sparkle Geforce 5700 Ultra graphics card and P4 2.8G
with 512M dual DDR400 RAM.

Im using a multiboot system, so far have only setup Mandrake and Suse linux.
Mandrake 9.2 and Suse 8.2 linux versions install straight from the box, both
recognising the sound hardware.

Mandrake with kernel 2.4.22 requires a few keystrokes to set up the network,
all that is required is to load the kernel module sk98lin and then provide
your LAN details in the normal way.

With SuSe having a 2.4.20 kernel, the module sk98lin is not included so you
need to either patch the kernel to 2.4.22 or create a new one. I built a
new 2.4.26 kernel to use with suse. Under suse, the yast tool is used to
configure the network, steering eth0 to use the sk98lin module, its as easy
as that.

3D acceleration for the graphics card. Due to licensing this has to be
downloaded separately from nvidia.com but once set up I get around
7000fps using glxgears .

SATA - my new hard drive is Ultra DMA133 so im not using the SATA ports on
the motherboard, but again performance with a Maxtor 160G drive is
impressive.
hdparm reports 57Mbps throughput (sustained)

under windows using hdtach 2.61 I get 67M in burst mode and 57M sustained,
so theres hardly any difference.

For the moment SATA support maybe a little weak but the rest of the m/b
hardware lan, sound works fine under linux.
I have yet to set up lm sensors so cannot report on hardware monitoring.
HTH
 
Art said:
The only itch for me now, is making the 3D radeon 9800Pro hardware do its
job, hopefully to support OpenGL 1.5 specs.

Regards,
Art (alias)
Click to expand...


The linux ATI Radeo howto should help:

http://www.rage3d.com/content/articles/atilinuxhowto/

and remember that the Mandrake newsgroup is extremely active. I've gone for
an Nvidia 5700Ultra card, not as fast as yours, but an impressive 3D Mark
2001SE score of 13880 (no tweaking). Under linux 3D acceleration from
nvidia is as easy as running one shell command.
 
Post said:
Is this report true? Is this the offical ASUS policy?

http://www.mozillaquest.com/Linux04/Asus_Sucks_Story-01.html

Does it really matter?

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks

Alan
Click to expand...

I have a K8V SE Deluxe and it runs purrrfectly with Suse 9.1Pro, Debian
Unstable (Sarge), and Win2k - triple boot system :)

I installed the OS'es onto a WD 200GB SATA drive on the VIA controller, as I
have the Promise controller disabled. I only have the one drive in this
system ATM.

The ONLY problems I had installing Linux were:
Suse 9.1Pro - sound card didn't work after installation, but came up fine
after the first reboot.

Debian - needed to use a driver disk to get it to see the VIA controller and
therefore the boot/install drive (same deal as Win2k). This was largely
due to the 2.4 kernel the installation run with. I upgraded to a
backported 2.6 kernel after the installation and everything just worked ;)

Both linux distro's are running 2.6 kernels that are packaged by the distro
maintainers (not "vanilla" kernels from kernel.org etc). I DON'T recommend
a 2.4 kernel with these boards as the driver support is really basic (if at
all) - besides, the 2.6 kernels are significantly faster with this board.

In short, the K8V rocks with Linux - everything on the board works,
including the (many!) USB2.0 ports and the Firewire, the SATA controller,
the NIC, the sound card, the sensors.....everything. Best board I've ever
had with Linux (yes, even better than the nForce2 system!).

FWIW here's the specs;
Athlon64 3000+
Asus K8V SE Deluxe
1GB PC3200 RAM (2x512)
nVidia FX5700 256mb
200GB SATA
Antec full tower with 400W PSU.

Just my $0.02

James
 
Post said:
stanmc> ---snip---

stanmc> The issue of the onboard sound was solved the same way as the
stanmc> network interface problem. They substituted a sound card for
stanmc> the non-functional onboard device.
stanmc> Until Linux becomes a lot larger community, things like this
stanmc> will probably continue. Asus will solve this if they find it
stanmc> a necessity. The Linux community has been working around
stanmc> things like this from the beginning. It is not the way it
stanmc> SHOULD be, but it is the way it probably will be until the
stanmc> economic forces alter the way board manufacturers look at
stanmc> Linux.

Hold on you missed the article. ASUS refused to address the problem
weather it was windows or linux. Anyway there will always be buggy
motherboard and chipsets, and that is why you have software to work
around them.

Later,

Alan
Click to expand...
No, I didn't miss the article. :-) It didn't create a problem in
Windows. The VPD was still missing, but Windows didn't have a problem
with that. Therefore, ASUS didn't address the problem, because only the
"small" Linux community had a problem. Until Linux becomes a big enough
economic force, problems the manufacturers regard as inconsequential or
trivial will be pushed way back in their minds. Before any Linux
fan/fanatic goes off the deep end, I use Linux, support Linux and wish
it well. I just believe I see this clearly from both sides. We, linux
users, wish mfgs. would not ignore problems caused by their bugs, and
they have to expend their resources on the most "important" problems as
they perceive them.
 
Until Linux becomes a lot larger community, things like this will
probably continue. Asus will solve this if they find it a necessity. The
Linux community has been working around things like this from the
beginning. It is not the way it SHOULD be, but it is the way it probably
will be until the economic forces alter the way board manufacturers look
at Linux.
Click to expand...

I used to buy asus and sony.
My last purchases were Aopen and Nec/Mitsubishi.
Times change.
 
yada said:
I used to buy asus and sony.
My last purchases were Aopen and Nec/Mitsubishi.
Times change.
Click to expand...

I haven't bought Sony's crappy quality for years, now. They just
don't give a shit about quality. The last Sony turd I bought was
their $1500 "Elite" 9000 DVD player and it had the chroma-upsampling
bug and Sony refused to even acknowledge that it was a problem!!

However, I've always waited and bought the last revision of an ASUS
board that I've wanted and have never been sorry. That strategy also
has the advantage that Linux supports it by then.
 
Ronald> I haven't bought Sony's crappy quality for years, now. They
Ronald> just don't give a shit about quality. The last Sony turd I
Ronald> bought was their $1500 "Elite" 9000 DVD player and it had the
Ronald> chroma-upsampling bug and Sony refused to even acknowledge
Ronald> that it was a problem!!

Ronald> However, I've always waited and bought the last revision of
Ronald> an ASUS board that I've wanted and have never been sorry.
Ronald> That strategy also has the advantage that Linux supports it
Ronald> by then.

I have a sony DVD and that was a mistake. Anyway that is how it goes.

Later
 
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