[wellylug] x86_64 and via8251 chipset

[Nic Cave-Lynch]

Hi all

I've just spent a frustrating 3 days installing linux on a new machine, and, 
with an installfest coming up, I thought I'd pass on the hard-won experience in 
the hope someone may benefit.


I just bought for a client a machine with a new motherboard: Asus P5VDC-MX. 
There are two important things about this: it's 64-bit (well, I got a 64-bit P4 
on it, so it was 64-bit) and it has a VIA8251 chips for the south bridge.

It turns out that the obvious distros don't properly support the chipset yet so 
you can't see connected SATA drives. I tried OpenSuse 10.1, Ubuntu 6.06, and 
Fedora Core 5 (which is supposed to have built-in support for the chipset).

And the things you might find useful if you come against one of these:

1) there is a version of kubuntu 6.06 live CD which has been modified so it can 
see the drives, but you can't do software RAID from the setup (or I couldn't 
find how). I needed software RAID on this machine, and while I might have been 
able to make it work with much $%#@-ing around post-install, life is far too 
short for that. It doesn't help that Ubuntu is totally unfamiliar. YMMV, of course.

2) there is a really good set of instructions and a supplementary driver to make 
it all work with FC5 at http://rajibchy.tripod.com/. It's convoluted, but 
_it_worked_: software RAID and all.

As I said, I thought I'd share these discoveries, since I think the chipset is 
becoming quite popular, and  I found it a major pain to sift through the crap to 
find something that worked. And if you need either of the Kubuntu or FC5 (DVD 
only) then let me know and I can send you a copy.

Have a day

Nic