Hi all --

I regularly buy new machines for a computing cluster we
run, which we try very hard to keep both homogeneous and
stable. It's running Debian "etch" amd64 these days.

Lately, I've been having trouble with some of the
newer commodity mobos that have come with the new nodes.

I got some Intel DG33BU boards, which initially didn't
recognize their hard drives, but when booted with "pci=nommconf",
eventually did, but then needed a custom e1000 driver for the
on-board ethernet device.

I also got some Asus P5GC-MX/1333 boards, and they needed
a custom ethernet driver also, for which, fortunately, source
code was on the provided CD.

I also had some trouble with a one-off Asus P5VD2-VM SE
board, that needed a custom sata_via module before it could
see the hard drives. That one ended up not going in the
cluster after all.

But anyways, it seems to me that the bad old days of the
mid-90s, when "know your hardware" was the mantra and the LHCL
was the bible, are sort of coming back again.

Ideally, what I'd like is a list of motherboards for which
all on-board devices are known to work with the 2.6.18 kernel,
but I'd settle for a list of chipsets, or even a list of SATA
controllers and ethernet devices.

I've googled around, but I haven't found a nice, compact
source of all the info I want. Is there such a thing?

-- A.
--
Andrew Reid / reidac@bellatlantic.net


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On Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 06:34:36PM -0400, Andrew Reid wrote:
> I regularly buy new machines for a computing cluster we run, which
> we try very hard to keep both homogeneous and stable. It's running
> Debian "etch" amd64 these days.
>
> Lately, I've been having trouble with some of the newer commodity
> mobos that have come with the new nodes.
>
[snip new boxes don't run on Etch]
> But anyways, it seems to me that the bad old days of the mid-90s,
> when "know your hardware" was the mantra and the LHCL was the bible,
> are sort of coming back again.
>
> Ideally, what I'd like is a list of motherboards for which all
> on-board devices are known to work with the 2.6.18 kernel, but I'd
> settle for a list of chipsets, or even a list of SATA controllers
> and ethernet devices.
>
> I've googled around, but I haven't found a nice, compact source of
> all the info I want. Is there such a thing?

I haven't seen any list. Since most people who get new hardware also
want the lastest software, they go straight for testing or Sid.

You are not most people.

Technology seems to move pretty fast these days and hardware vendors
seem to like to change things so that new hardware needs new drivers.

Is there no way to get your hardware vendor to guarnatee availability of
hardware for a set length of time?

Do you have to buy new hardware? i.e. would a skid of one-year-old
off-lease boxes work for your cluster?

I agree that a list would be nice, but it would be a devil to keep
up-to-date.

Doug.


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On Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 06:34:36PM -0400, Andrew Reid wrote:
>
> Hi all --
>
> I regularly buy new machines for a computing cluster we
> run, which we try very hard to keep both homogeneous and
> stable. It's running Debian "etch" amd64 these days.
>
> Lately, I've been having trouble with some of the
> newer commodity mobos that have come with the new nodes.
>
> I got some Intel DG33BU boards, which initially didn't
> recognize their hard drives, but when booted with "pci=nommconf",
> eventually did, but then needed a custom e1000 driver for the
> on-board ethernet device.
>
> I also got some Asus P5GC-MX/1333 boards, and they needed
> a custom ethernet driver also, for which, fortunately, source
> code was on the provided CD.
>
> I also had some trouble with a one-off Asus P5VD2-VM SE
> board, that needed a custom sata_via module before it could
> see the hard drives. That one ended up not going in the
> cluster after all.
>
> But anyways, it seems to me that the bad old days of the
> mid-90s, when "know your hardware" was the mantra and the LHCL
> was the bible, are sort of coming back again.
>
> Ideally, what I'd like is a list of motherboards for which
> all on-board devices are known to work with the 2.6.18 kernel,
> but I'd settle for a list of chipsets, or even a list of SATA
> controllers and ethernet devices.
>
> I've googled around, but I haven't found a nice, compact
> source of all the info I want. Is there such a thing?

Not sure about an up to date list, but you could use the install images
from
http://kmuto.jp/debian/d-i/

Also check out:

http://wiki.debian.org/EtchAndAHalf

--
Chris.
======
"One, with God, is always a majority, but many a martyr has been burned
at the stake while the votes were being counted." -- Thomas B. Reed


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On Thursday 12 June 2008 21:19, Douglas A. Tutty wrote:
> On Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 06:34:36PM -0400, Andrew Reid wrote:

> > I've googled around, but I haven't found a nice, compact source of
> > all the info I want. Is there such a thing?
>
> I haven't seen any list. Since most people who get new hardware also
> want the lastest software, they go straight for testing or Sid.
>
> You are not most people.
>
> Technology seems to move pretty fast these days and hardware vendors
> seem to like to change things so that new hardware needs new drivers.
>
> Is there no way to get your hardware vendor to guarnatee availability of
> hardware for a set length of time?
>
> Do you have to buy new hardware? i.e. would a skid of one-year-old
> off-lease boxes work for your cluster?

I do try to include 2.6.18 compatibility in the spec, but
I'm part of a large organization, and our purchasing system
is focussed on low bidders.

We also have security policies that probably disqualify
newer releases -- part of why we're "allowed" to run Debian
is it's stellar security effort.

Older boxes is an interesting idea, I might pursue that.

In the meantime, I have my own list of "known-to-work" devices,
I can expand on that.

-- A.
--
Andrew Reid / reidac@bellatlantic.net


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