# Are all motherboards compatible with Linux?



## seecheckstuff (May 29, 2009)

Hi guys. I want to build a Linux Machine, however, whenever I look at the specifications of motherboards, they always say that they support windows but never mention linux. So I wondered:

Are all motherboards compatible with linux?

Dan.


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## wmorri (May 29, 2008)

Hi,

Most all motherboards support linux, from what I have seen and tried. I am wondering what specs you want for your linux machine because you don't really need that much. If you have an old junker that ran 98 then you can probably install linux fine. The things that I have had problems with are video cards primarily, but that has greatly improved in the last few years.

Cheers!


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## shuuhen (Sep 4, 2004)

Depends on the motherboard. There could be some that don't work well with Linux, but those will probably not be very common among systems that use a BIOS (which I doubt you're looking at getting something that doesn't if you're building a machine). Bleeding-edge technology could have more issues. That said, I had a laptop with a Turion X2 processor a few months after they were available and was able to use Gentoo Linux on the laptop.

Most products that work with Linux don't advertise that they do. With Windows, you're probably used to having a "SpecificBrand someKindOfA wireless card" driver. Linux on the other hand is more about what chipset they use. Say you have a Linksys wireless card and a Dell wireless card, but both use a Prism chipset. They'd both use the prism driver. Most likely the companies will not advertise that their devices work with Linux, because then they'd get support calls that they probably can't handle.


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## seecheckstuff (May 29, 2009)

Okay, thanks a lot! What I'm looking it is an amd phenom II and a compatible AM3 motherboard. Do you think this will work?

Dan.


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## wmorri (May 29, 2008)

Hi,

I would think that they are both compatible with linux. They are both new in the world but not bleeding edge. I think that they should be fine for you to run. 

Cheers!


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