Mobos for Linux? software, too

[Lumeria]

I'm looking to build a box or two and want to use a Linux distribution on it. (That's why I'm asking here instead of in the motherboard forum.) I'll probably make it dual boot just because some applications are M$-only and WINE isn't fully robust yet, at least AFAIK. I know a lot of people are going for the XP board, but since I don't have much interest in XP (let alone in having the majority of a new HD gobbled away by the OS) I figure that board's probably not for me. Or am I wrong?

I'm want to install some sort of voice-recognition software that can be used instead of the mouse. (I'm building the box for someone that has serious dexterity issues, and for whom mousing can be excruciatingly difficult. ) So I will need at least moderate processing speed, I'd imagine. OTOH price is also an issue. I can wait and hunt for sales if need be. I suppose whether I even need to install Windows at all would depend on what software is available for Linux (or a BSD, for that matter). I'll also need to put on music composition software, but I imagine that might be more readily available for Linux.

So I'm looking for both mobo/processor recommendations and software recommendations. The software doesn't have to be freeware, though of course that makes things a lot easier for me.

Many thanks...

[Telexen]

All motherboards/processors will work the same...none are "meant" for Windows XP

AMD's AthlonXP gets the name AthlonXP because AMD worked with MS to optimize it for Windows XP over other versions of Windows.

[Scott Tiger]

Well any decient motherboard will make a good choice for linux. You could go with one of the Nvidia based boards but you'll likely have to install the drivers for the chipset manually (and that shouldn't be too difficult) or just about anything else and be fine. I've heard that if you get a just-released chipset you might have troubles with the kernel detecting the chipset correctly but I can't say since I always buy my hardware after it's been on the market for a good while.

As for voice recognition for Linux, I think I'm going to have to point you to the Gnome Accessablity project. A lot of the emphasis of the Gnome2 rewrite was on making the desktop easy for people with various impediments to use. I honestly don't know to much about it's resource requirements or even how developed it is but you can read about it here:

http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gap/

You can run Gnome2 in either Linux or BSD so it's your choice as far as that one goes.

I'll leave the music composition software to a better man. I can hardly dress myself so getting the creative urge to compose music is totatly beyond me.

[CMonster]

If you are looking for an integrated solution with onboard sound and video, I would recommned one of the nForce2 boards because you can install the Nvidia drivers for 3d support

[Lumeria]

Hmm... I'm not sure. Should I be looking for an integrated solution? What are the pros and cons? (and again, do I need to worry about drivers that play nicely with Linux?)

[Scott Tiger]

Not with NVidia stuff. They're not a flawless company but they do support Linux really well. You may have to install the drivers manually after you install the OS however.

As to whether or not you should be looking at an Intergrated solution is really just a matter of cost IMO. The integrated stuff should save you a few bucks.

[storm2k]

intergrated solutions have some plusses and minuses:

plusses:
+everything you need is right on board. that means you have video, sound, ethernet, modem, etc, right on the mobo.
+ because of this, it's cheap. you don't have to go and buy seperate hardware (like a videocard or sound card)
+ support and drivers come from one place (the mobo manufacturer). no more going to various people to get information.

minuses:
- the intergrated equipment isn't always the best. this is almost always true with intergrated video.
- those intergrated parts need to usually leech off of your system ram to operate (i.e., for video buffer ram that's usually on the card itself)
- if the intergrated part goes bust, you're usually out of luck. you'll either have to take the whole mobo for service, or buy a seperate part.
- driver support outside of windows might be shaky. especially with modems, since many of those intergrated mobos use softmodems (aka winmodems) which need windows specific drivers to work and wont' always work in linux.

overall, they're a good choice for economny, if you can deal with the minusues.

[wackoguy]

another plus: saves pci space