Florian Philipp wrote:
Hi list!
I'm thinking about building a new media PC and wanted to use an ASUS
M4A88T-M/USB3 mainboard (link: [1]). Any objections to this?
I'm a bit worried about the LAN chipset Realtek 8111E (which seems to be
also known as RTL-8168E). This chipset seems to be extremely common on
AM3 boards but I've found mixed results when looking for its Linux
compatibility. There seems to be a driver but it is not included into
the vanilla sources. There are also bug reports like [2].
On the other hand, there have been commits which indicate support for
some sub types (but not the "E" type) through the r8169 driver as far
back as 2.6.28 ([3-6]).
Long story short: Can anyone confirm that it works or doesn't work with
standard gentoo-sources or some other sources? Does someone have
experiences with the Realtek drivers from their website?
Somehow I find it hard to believe that nowadays Linux lacks support for
like 80% of all Micro-ATX AMD boards.
Thanks in advance!
Florian Philipp
[1] http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131660
[2] https://partner-bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=592141
[3]
http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=commit;h=197ff761dbf9fa5de9a4684a51ee5cb534cbb852
[4]
http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=commit;h=ef3386f00fcd18a40343047329ec7ed2eb98bbe8
[5]
http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=commit;h=5b538df9dedb3469b688b93ffab2a7efb64c88e3
[6]
http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=commit;h=7f3e3d3a69da262016db6eec803881603c61ddf6
I have this according to lspci:
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 03)
Mine uses the driver r8169 and it works fine. I'm not sure about the
"E" part tho. If it is not some huge change, it may work fine.
If you are not wanting or needing to stick with ASUS, why not try this
Gigabyte mobo?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128431
I just built my rig with that mobo and it works fine. If you want to
use that, I can email you my kernel config and make life easier on you.
That mobo does not have built in video but I think there is one that
does tho.
If you want to look up mobos and such for compatibility, try this site
and look on the left.
http://kmuto.jp/debian/hcl/
They are not always listed in there but if you can find one with the
same chipset and such, at least you can decide whether to try it or not.
Hope this helps.
Dale
:-) :-)
