FalconFly wrote:

Just wondering if someone has a definite answer.

Sorry, no, just general pointers...


[...]

I can only guess the Promise IDE Raid controller (on the GigaByte GA-7dpxdw-p Dual Board)
might screw up the Distributions, ...

Certain recent Promise IDE Raid chipsets are a problem. Look on the Mandrake site for hardware compatibility. SATA is reportedly not supported, but its still worth checking further. Its amazing what some hackers get up to...

http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/hardware.php3

Maybe the Distributions are just too old to recognize the AMD-760MPX Chipset ?

Depends whether the manufacturer has given any Linux support...

Right now I'm downloading the Mandrake 9.1 ISO, hoping that will work better *sigh*

... yet another day of 'getting to know Linux', it eats really alot of time...  :\

Yes, but its an interesting learning exercise. Try a.o.l.mandrake for advice and flames!

(If all else fails, I'll have to give it an el-cheapo WinNT4 SP6)
-----------------
Since it's only going to run as a SETI Box, I'd also be open to any other OS, but I didn't
trust that my BeOS 5 would work (does anyone know where to get a bootable Installation ISO
for that ??),  or the OS/2 Warp3 I got.

Eeerrrrrrk!

Good luck!!
Martin