Apologies if this is not the perfect group to post this to, but I think
this combination is pretty rare. Google groups search using A7N8X +
Slackware turned up 3 posts - none of which had any useful information.

I just tried to install Slackware 9.1 on this motherboard and had big
problems when I tried to install drivers.

The nvidia driver does not seem to install properly (load failures noted
on bootup) and I'm not sure if you can recover from that because it runs
the sound, one network port plus some maybe important chipset stuff.
I tried to ignore the nvidia driver problem, and get by by just installing
the Syskonnect driver to run the second network port. It behaved very
strangely - it seemed to install smoothly (no squawks) and I could connect
to the net for mail and for usenet, but starting any web browser would
cause the machine to freeze solid as a rock, requiring hitting the power
button. It seems like it didn't have a very stable platform to operate on.

Hopefully there is someone out there who has tried this combination, maybe
we can compare notes?

Absent the problems with the drivers, I had zero problem installing
slackware - suggestions that it is difficult to install are just wrong.
The distribution has a nice, well constructed and solid feel to it and I
hope I can successfully get it to run on this equipment.

John

John wrote:

> The nvidia driver does not seem to install properly (load failures
> noted on bootup) and I'm not sure if you can recover from that because
> it runs the sound, one network port plus some maybe important chipset
> stuff. I tried to ignore the nvidia driver problem, and get by by just
> installing
> the Syskonnect driver to run the second network port. It behaved very
> strangely - it seemed to install smoothly (no squawks) and I could
> connect to the net for mail and for usenet, but starting any web
> browser would cause the machine to freeze solid as a rock, requiring
> hitting the power button. It seems like it didn't have a very stable
> platform to operate on.

I don't know your motherboard and network hardware, but to me the freeze
appears to be a problem of the graphics driver.

Run your system with the vesa driver for a while, if it works with that,
then it's an NVIDIA driver problem.

> Absent the problems with the drivers, I had zero problem installing
> slackware - suggestions that it is difficult to install are just
> wrong.
> The distribution has a nice, well constructed and solid feel to
> it and I hope I can successfully get it to run on this equipment.

Welcome aboard ! :-)

Cheerz Lars

On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 01:26:59 +0000, John wrote:

> Apologies if this is not the perfect group to post this to, but I think
> this combination is pretty rare. Google groups search using A7N8X +
> Slackware turned up 3 posts - none of which had any useful information.
>
> I just tried to install Slackware 9.1 on this motherboard and had big
> problems when I tried to install drivers.
>
> The nvidia driver does not seem to install properly (load failures noted
> on bootup) and I'm not sure if you can recover from that because it runs
> the sound, one network port plus some maybe important chipset stuff.
> I tried to ignore the nvidia driver problem, and get by by just installing
> the Syskonnect driver to run the second network port. It behaved very
> strangely - it seemed to install smoothly (no squawks) and I could connect
> to the net for mail and for usenet, but starting any web browser would
> cause the machine to freeze solid as a rock, requiring hitting the power
> button. It seems like it didn't have a very stable platform to operate on.
>
> Hopefully there is someone out there who has tried this combination, maybe
> we can compare notes?
>
> Absent the problems with the drivers, I had zero problem installing
> slackware - suggestions that it is difficult to install are just wrong.
> The distribution has a nice, well constructed and solid feel to it and I
> hope I can successfully get it to run on this equipment.
>
> John

Unfortunately the nVidia binary drivers are notoriously buggy. I believe
that your motherboard, based on the nForce chipset if I am not totally
wrong, might experience some issues using the nVidia drivers. As suggested
try to use the Vesa frame buffer driver, and see how it goes.
Good luck.
R.

John wrote:
> Apologies if this is not the perfect group to post this to, but I think
> this combination is pretty rare. Google groups search using A7N8X +
> Slackware turned up 3 posts - none of which had any useful information.
>
> I just tried to install Slackware 9.1 on this motherboard and had big
> problems when I tried to install drivers.
>
> The nvidia driver does not seem to install properly (load failures noted
> on bootup) and I'm not sure if you can recover from that because it runs
> the sound, one network port plus some maybe important chipset stuff.
> I tried to ignore the nvidia driver problem, and get by by just installing
> the Syskonnect driver to run the second network port. It behaved very
> strangely - it seemed to install smoothly (no squawks) and I could connect
> to the net for mail and for usenet, but starting any web browser would
> cause the machine to freeze solid as a rock, requiring hitting the power
> button. It seems like it didn't have a very stable platform to operate on.
>
> Hopefully there is someone out there who has tried this combination, maybe
> we can compare notes?
>
> Absent the problems with the drivers, I had zero problem installing
> slackware - suggestions that it is difficult to install are just wrong.
> The distribution has a nice, well constructed and solid feel to it and I
> hope I can successfully get it to run on this equipment.
>
> John


The nVidia package installs three drivers: nvaudio, nvnet and agpgart.
They installed okay on my ASUS A7N8X-X board and my sound and ethernet
work just fine except for a lot of tainting warnings at bootup. I use
an ATI RADEON 9200SE card and I followed ATI_LINUX HOWTO. What is your
video card by the way?

I am a newbie as well but if you have any specific questions that I
could answer by doing some research on my machine, I would be more than
glad to help you.

Vikram

John wrote:
> Apologies if this is not the perfect group to post this to, but I think
> this combination is pretty rare. Google groups search using A7N8X +
> Slackware turned up 3 posts - none of which had any useful information.
>
> I just tried to install Slackware 9.1 on this motherboard and had big
> problems when I tried to install drivers.
>
> The nvidia driver does not seem to install properly (load failures noted
> on bootup) and I'm not sure if you can recover from that because it runs
> the sound, one network port plus some maybe important chipset stuff.
> I tried to ignore the nvidia driver problem, and get by by just installing
> the Syskonnect driver to run the second network port. It behaved very
> strangely - it seemed to install smoothly (no squawks) and I could connect
> to the net for mail and for usenet, but starting any web browser would
> cause the machine to freeze solid as a rock, requiring hitting the power
> button. It seems like it didn't have a very stable platform to operate on.
>
> Hopefully there is someone out there who has tried this combination, maybe
> we can compare notes?
>
> Absent the problems with the drivers, I had zero problem installing
> slackware - suggestions that it is difficult to install are just wrong.
> The distribution has a nice, well constructed and solid feel to it and I
> hope I can successfully get it to run on this equipment.
>
> John

I Just installed slackware on my A7N8X-X and i have no problems.
I don't use the soundcard and nic, but i believe that nic drivers are
also included in the kernel (reversed engineerd). With debian I did have
some problems because thats old crap. And had lots of lockups with it.
Slackware is nice :> On my server and desktop same hardware config.
On my server own kernel (don't forget AMD and nVidia @ ide chip menu).
and on my desktop the default slackware ide kernel.

John <John@somewhere.com> wrote in message news:<pan.2004.04.22.01.32.21.636918@somewhere.com >...
> Apologies if this is not the perfect group to post this to, but I think
> this combination is pretty rare. Google groups search using A7N8X +
> Slackware turned up 3 posts - none of which had any useful information.
>
> I just tried to install Slackware 9.1 on this motherboard and had big
> problems when I tried to install drivers.
>
> The nvidia driver does not seem to install properly (load failures noted
> on bootup) and I'm not sure if you can recover from that because it runs
> the sound, one network port plus some maybe important chipset stuff.
> I tried to ignore the nvidia driver problem, and get by by just installing
> the Syskonnect driver to run the second network port. It behaved very
> strangely - it seemed to install smoothly (no squawks) and I could connect
> to the net for mail and for usenet, but starting any web browser would
> cause the machine to freeze solid as a rock, requiring hitting the power
> button. It seems like it didn't have a very stable platform to operate on.
>
> Hopefully there is someone out there who has tried this combination, maybe
> we can compare notes?
>
> Absent the problems with the drivers, I had zero problem installing
> slackware - suggestions that it is difficult to install are just wrong.
> The distribution has a nice, well constructed and solid feel to it and I
> hope I can successfully get it to run on this equipment.
>
> John


John,

Congrats on joining the intelligent mob...

I have that mobo too, and use the nvidia driver, (version 4465 I
believe), and it works fine. There are more recent versions and you're
free to try them as well but perhaps you'd be better off staying a bit
behind the curve; leave the bleeding to the users of other distros.

The nvidia nforce package mentioned elsewhere for the ethernet and
sound worked better for me if I ran the script in each directory
rather than the script that calls those scripts (in the nforce
download.) To be honest, for ethernet I just used the 3c59x module in
the 2.4.22 source on the generic eth port. The other, "nvidia port,"
uses the driver in that nforce package. I don't need two network ports
so I ducked the issue. I also use the i810 module for sound with the
onboard chipset. Works fine. My video is a 128MB geforce440 4x card.

Be aware that if you re-compile your kernel to a different version
you'll have to re-apply at least the video driver.


Good luck, welcome and don't forget your asbestos underwear

r

Thanks for the replies, fellow slackers. I am (ahem) writing this from
pan (running on Slackware 9.1).

I re-installed and did not install the Nvidia driver, instead I just
installed the syskonnect driver to run the gigabit network port.

*Success*

The machine boots and runs just fine now. I will look for nvidia
references when I (carefully) re compile the kernel. There are some load
failures in the log relating to sound to try and resolve but sound is not
a high priority.

Everything important seems to run. Thanks again.

John.