Does anyone have experience of using CnQ with Linux? I want to build an Athlon 64 system and will probably install SUSE 9.1. I’ve been building quiet Windows PCs for a fair few years, but this will my first Linux install. I’m choosing SUSE as it seems particularly user friendly for a Linux newbie, with a good graphic install package amongst other things. I’ve done some basic research and I know that this combination does work; I’m just a bit intimidated by all the references to command line compiling and the like. How difficult is it to get CnQ working with Linux in general and SUSE in particular?
Is anyone using CnQ with a 64 bit install of Linux? SUSE 9.1 Pro sounds as if it has a fairly mature 64 bit support so that seems worth investigating.
The motherboard that is currently top of my list if the Asus K8V SE Deluxe which uses the VIA K8T800.
Thanks
SC
Athlon 64 with Cool ‘n’ Quiet under Linux!
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smilingcrow
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I am not currently running a K8 but I do run SuSE 9.1. The Linux forums are reporting that C'nQ is working great if the motherboard supports it. It has also been reported that the Asus K8V SE will work well under SusE 9.1 with full C'nQ support. It seems to be the top K8 board for those running Linux at this time.
The 2.6 Linux kernel has standard modules to support the K8 that were written by someone at AMD (I know because I looked at the source code) and it appears that AMD is working hard to make sure that this works well.
SuSE 9.1 pro is shipped with a K8 DVD that has all of the software (OS and about 1,000 apps) compiled and ready to install on a K8 machine. So this will work right of of the box.
Be careful about your hardware selections and make sure that good Linux 64 bit drivers are available and you should have smooth sailing.
So do not get a Matrox P series or ATI graphics card. The reports are that nVidea cards have good 64 bit drivers. Or get a card that has good open source drivers like the G series Matrox cards.
Using hardware that is not supported or has poor support accounts for 90% of the problems people have with Linux. So if you are careful with what you buy you will be fine.
Also the Epson photo printers have very good drivers. Check here for a list of supported printers http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/p_Sup ... nters.php3.
For sound hardware check on the ALSA (www.alsa-project.org) web site to see which cards/chip sets have good drivers.
You will only have to compile software if you need something that is not available in already compiled form. Out of the box with SuSE 9.1 Pro you will have several window managers, several full office suites, several web browser(s), many editors, compilers (C, C++, JAVA, FORTAN 77, Ada, Object C), a powerful graphics editing package, audio recording (several) and mixing software, several video editing packages, several email programs, hardware and UPS monitoring software, CD/DVD burning, many games (mostly 2D but some 3D) .... Like I said about 1,000 programs on the CDs/DVD. So you can go far a long time before you have to resort to compiling software.
Remember that part of the "fun" of running Linux is that it is different and that you will be learning a lot of new things. And it will be (some times more than) a little strange to you for the first few weeks and there will be times when you feel frustrated about not know how to get something to work - particularly at first. This would also be true if you were moving from Windows to the Mac. This is not a "Linux" issue but a "learning a new platform" issue. So this is very normal. Just hang in there and after a while you will start to figure out how to do things and where to find things and you will start to like Linux.
Here is a very good SuSE forum http://forums.suselinuxsupport.de/ that is very newbie friendly. When you get your box setup and you get stuck put a post up there and they will help you out.
The 2.6 Linux kernel has standard modules to support the K8 that were written by someone at AMD (I know because I looked at the source code) and it appears that AMD is working hard to make sure that this works well.
SuSE 9.1 pro is shipped with a K8 DVD that has all of the software (OS and about 1,000 apps) compiled and ready to install on a K8 machine. So this will work right of of the box.
Be careful about your hardware selections and make sure that good Linux 64 bit drivers are available and you should have smooth sailing.
So do not get a Matrox P series or ATI graphics card. The reports are that nVidea cards have good 64 bit drivers. Or get a card that has good open source drivers like the G series Matrox cards.
Using hardware that is not supported or has poor support accounts for 90% of the problems people have with Linux. So if you are careful with what you buy you will be fine.
Also the Epson photo printers have very good drivers. Check here for a list of supported printers http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/p_Sup ... nters.php3.
For sound hardware check on the ALSA (www.alsa-project.org) web site to see which cards/chip sets have good drivers.
You will only have to compile software if you need something that is not available in already compiled form. Out of the box with SuSE 9.1 Pro you will have several window managers, several full office suites, several web browser(s), many editors, compilers (C, C++, JAVA, FORTAN 77, Ada, Object C), a powerful graphics editing package, audio recording (several) and mixing software, several video editing packages, several email programs, hardware and UPS monitoring software, CD/DVD burning, many games (mostly 2D but some 3D) .... Like I said about 1,000 programs on the CDs/DVD. So you can go far a long time before you have to resort to compiling software.
Remember that part of the "fun" of running Linux is that it is different and that you will be learning a lot of new things. And it will be (some times more than) a little strange to you for the first few weeks and there will be times when you feel frustrated about not know how to get something to work - particularly at first. This would also be true if you were moving from Windows to the Mac. This is not a "Linux" issue but a "learning a new platform" issue. So this is very normal. Just hang in there and after a while you will start to figure out how to do things and where to find things and you will start to like Linux.
Here is a very good SuSE forum http://forums.suselinuxsupport.de/ that is very newbie friendly. When you get your box setup and you get stuck put a post up there and they will help you out.
I should have also said that SATA is supported by the 2.6 kernel but that many of the software based RAID controllers (like the Promise controllers) that are on many motherboards are not. These can be used in IDE mode. So if you want RAID you will either have to get a true hardware RAID card (one that does not need drivers in Windows) or use the software RAID that is built into the Linux kernel.
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smilingcrow
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Thank you for the very detailed reply.
It's good to see that the source code for the C 'n' Q driver is available, although it has probably been written in C (++) which will melt my brain. I'm much more familiar with Pascal. I wonder if that could be amended to change the various Power States that the A64 utilises? It’s probably already been done no doubt.
I don’t mind getting my hands dirty when I need to, but don’t want to get lost in long web trawling tech sessions just to do basic things. I wrote myself an MP3 player for Windows using Delphi, which I can port to Linux with Borland’s free version of Kylix, their cross platform tool which supports Pascal and C++. There’s nothing like a custom piece of software that does exactly what you want to. Well almost
I look at hardware manufactures sites for Linux drivers, see no reference and then discover that support is built into the kernel which amazes me. I’m referring to the ATI Remote Wonder which is a RF USB remote. I’d be lost without that controlling my MP3 player.
I’ve cooled on the Asus board as it seems to only offer control of one fan. That’s a shame as apart from that it sounds an excellent choice, unless you’re after a strong overclocking board.
I’ve been using Windows NT since 3.51 onwards, so I remember the bad old days of checking for software and hardware compatibility. I guess I’ll have to get used to that again. It is extending the decision making process though, as trawling multiple web sites checking for compatibility is a lot more time consuming than just checking a manufacturers site. I’m not clear yet on how compatible various Linux software items are with particular distributions? I need to learn my ABC again, or should that be KDE!
SC
It's good to see that the source code for the C 'n' Q driver is available, although it has probably been written in C (++) which will melt my brain. I'm much more familiar with Pascal. I wonder if that could be amended to change the various Power States that the A64 utilises? It’s probably already been done no doubt.
I don’t mind getting my hands dirty when I need to, but don’t want to get lost in long web trawling tech sessions just to do basic things. I wrote myself an MP3 player for Windows using Delphi, which I can port to Linux with Borland’s free version of Kylix, their cross platform tool which supports Pascal and C++. There’s nothing like a custom piece of software that does exactly what you want to. Well almost
I look at hardware manufactures sites for Linux drivers, see no reference and then discover that support is built into the kernel which amazes me. I’m referring to the ATI Remote Wonder which is a RF USB remote. I’d be lost without that controlling my MP3 player.
I’ve cooled on the Asus board as it seems to only offer control of one fan. That’s a shame as apart from that it sounds an excellent choice, unless you’re after a strong overclocking board.
I’ve been using Windows NT since 3.51 onwards, so I remember the bad old days of checking for software and hardware compatibility. I guess I’ll have to get used to that again. It is extending the decision making process though, as trawling multiple web sites checking for compatibility is a lot more time consuming than just checking a manufacturers site. I’m not clear yet on how compatible various Linux software items are with particular distributions? I need to learn my ABC again, or should that be KDE!
SC
Asus & opes source
I was looking at using an Asus board, but having have problems with Linux and my current hardware (my Canon scanner has never worked right) I thought I'd look around... and found among other things this http://www.mozillaquest.com/Linux04/Asu ... ry-01.html page detailing why Asus and Linux don't necessarily mix. Of course this is the web so you should take everything you read with a pinch of salt, but it kind of put me off. If you follow the link make sure you use your own style sheet (or Author mode in Opera) as their page design sucks.