I'm busy planning a X99 build. I heard a lot about that Killer ethernet and wifi nics are not supported well in Linux. Is this still a big problem? I have seen a few forum posts where some people say that it's mostly solved with newer kernels, but I would like to be completely sure by discussing it here as well :)
I'm currently looking at the following motherboards: -MSI X99A Gaming 9 ACK -ASUS RAMPAGE V EXTREME/U3.1 -ASRock Fatal1ty X99X Killer/3.1 -ASUS X99-DELUXE/U3.1
As most of them have killer nics, if they pose difficulty in Linux then it simplifies my choices :P
Still as of today a intel NIC (both lan and wlan) is your best bet. There are binary blobs out there that "should" make the quallcom stuff work.. but its still not "there".
If you'd want to be sure I'd google the exact MB your going to get and see if there are at least a view (different) tutorials that seem legit. (or a binary blob that is available to be bolted onto the kernel)
Linux distros with kernel <= 4.3 only supports killer NICs upto E2200. Support for the E2400 has been added in kernel 4.4. Anything newer than that I bet it's not supported.
I have a MSI X99 XPOWER and I've been trying to install linux. Running off the pen drive it had 0 problems. I've been having other problems with my nvidia card so I haven't been able to go fully in yet
I see. I have tried googling the motherboard with linux support or guides, but there doesn't seem much going on for these boards. The only board that was easy to find out general linux support was the Asrock one.
It's good to see that the nics are supported. Now I know more about the killer situation. Thanks for the clarification.
I'm planning on doing Wendell's kvm pass through on the X99 build. I'm looking forward to it :D
I have an MSI x99 gaming 7. For linux itself, the killer nic is fine.
However I have having lots of trouble with steam in wine. A lot of times steam just can not connect. I know it has something to do with the network because it will eventually work if I try to connect enough times, but I never had this issue on my asus board (x99-a).
Unfortunately the asus board I had was really buggy.
If I were you, I would go with the MSI x99a Mpower board. Its really nice, it uses a really strong and simple intel nic, and its a good bit cheaper than the gaming 9.
Sorry for not replying earlier. My ISP is being difficult.
Thanks for the advice. I looked for the board locally and there where none. Around here there seems to be limited stock of X99 boards. The ones I listed where the most promising boards that I could find here.
I went with the MSI Gaming 9 as there was a special on it.
I always found it interesting that the Killer NIC designed to bypass the Windows TCP/IP stack AND runs Linux, could not be used in a Linux Environment initially.... it makes my brain hurt.