Re: Linux distribution for Intel DG33TL MB, E8400, 64bit, 8 GB mem?

"John S" <john _ shaeffer at Earthlink dot net> wrote:

Just purchased an Intel MB DG33TL, and the new 3 GHz E8400 core 2 duo and
8 GB of memory. Want to install Linux 64 bit.

I just assumed, wrongly apparently, that SuSE 10.3 64bit or FC 8 would
install as they have on other Intel MB's. But this was a wrong
assumption. However, Windows XP Pro EMT-64 installs OK.

I don't do Windows, but XP Pro has been out quite some time already, and I
do know that Microsoft only ships Windows with the drivers that are at hand
at the time of the Windows release (or shortly before that).

In other words, "Windows XP Pro EMT-64" won't have any special drivers for
this motherboard built-in that any fairly recent Linux kernel would not be
featuring as well.

SuSE 10.3 would not intall at all.

Please elaborate on that. What happens? What do you see appearing on the
screen?

FC 8 would only install with one stick of memory (2GB) and when the rest
of memory was installed, it would not boot.

Likewise here. Please elaborate on that. Error messages, etc. Don't
guess; write them down on a *** of paper if you have to. Without correct
error messages, there is very little that we can do. ;-)

Seemed agonizingly slow.

Considering that it boots with one memory stick but not with all four of
them - I take it they are all 2 GB modules, right? - the problem is most
likely hardware-related and not OS-related.

The Intel web site says that this MB does not support Linux which I wish I
had read before purchase.

This is to be taken with a grain of salt. I've checked this mobo on Intel's
website in order to find information that would corroborate that it does
not support GNU/Linux, but in fact, the way I interpret that table with
motherboards and operating systems, it only means that *Intel* will not
support this motherboard for use with GNU/Linux - in terms of drivers,
knowledgebase support etc. - _*not*_ that you can't run GNU/Linux on it.

Am I stuck with making this a Windows 64 bit machine or is there a Linux
distribution which would work 'out of the box' ?

There are literally hundreds of GNU/Linux distributions out there, the
majority of which are intended to be used on desktop systems of the x86
platform - both 32-bit and 64-bit. ;-)

Given the boot problem with the memory sticks and pending your feedback on
erroneous behavior and error messages, I am inclined to believe there is a
hardware failure at play here.

However, just to be on the safe side, you *are* aware of the fact that you
must *always* check the /md5sums/ on the downloaded /.iso/ files before you
burn them to a CD/DVD, _and_ that you must use quality media and burn at
(very) low speed for the best data integrity, right? :-)

Am a not a Linux guru, so building a kernel may be beyond my reach.

Building a kernel is not so hard, actually. All it takes is to get started
on the configuration without too much fear on your mind. Virtually every
step of the configuration procedure offers (at least some) help on what an
option does and what the recommended setting is.

On the other hand, I do acknowledge that some insight and understanding of
operating system technology and hardware details is required, so nobody
here is going to try to talk you into rolling your own. ;-)

As for what distro to try next, you could try Mandriva 2008.0, PCLinuxOS or
any of the *buntus. ;-)

--
Aragorn
(registered GNU/Linux user #223157)
.