Installed an ASRock X58 Extreme3 motherboard, so far the following results:

Linux Kernel 2.6.34

• basic function works out of the box (as expected!)
• hibernate (suspend to disk) breaks
  • should work if you unload xhci_hcd (USB3)
• suspend to ram (mem) suspends, but does not resume
  • caps lock & scroll lock LEDs flash on resume
  • diagnostic LED shows 24
  • pm_tests pass
  • pm_trace hash matches drivers/base/power/main.c:564
• sensors shows some coretemp temperatures
  • W83677HG-I has no driver (would be needed to read fan speed, vcore, etc.)
• couldn’t find any controllable fan (BIOS can control 2 pwm fans and 2 voltage fans, but only manually except CPU fan)
• system clock is way too slow! It lags 10 minutes just after 2 hours of operating. hardware clock seems to be fine though(?)

maybe not related to the board

• Sony photo camera is not recognized as mass storage unless rmmod -f usb_storage && modprobe usb-storage after connecting; somewhat annoying.

not used yet:

• USB3
• SATA3 (6Gb/s)

overclocking experiments

• can easily adjust QPI / core speed in BIOS.

random thoughts

• I feared most the northbridge cooler fan; but it is perfectly silent (to my ears).
• ECC ram works as advertised
• remember to turn on virtualization features and turbo boost stuff in BIOS (everyone would check that, I guess)
• direct BIOS flash from USB is very convenient
• use amidmi or amidedos to edit dmi data

Result:

Useful if you have a huge resolution and having trouble making out which line the “failed” belongs to :-)

--- /etc/rc.status      2010-05-19 16:05:42.561038358 +0200
+++ /etc/rc.status      2010-05-19 10:09:18.287053928 +0200
@@ -70,14 +70,15 @@
         attn="${esc}[1;33m"
         norm=`echo -en "${esc}[m\017"`
         stat=`echo -en "\015${esc}[${COLUMNS}C${esc}[10D"`
+        stat=`echo -en "\015${esc}[G${esc}[14@${esc}[10C...${esc}[11D"`
 
-     rc_done="${stat}${done}done${norm}"
+     rc_done="${stat}   ${done}done${norm}"
   rc_running="${stat}${done}running${norm}"
-   rc_failed="${stat}${warn}failed${norm}"
+   rc_failed="${stat} ${warn}failed${norm}"
    rc_missed="${stat}${warn}missing${norm}"
   rc_skipped="${stat}${attn}skipped${norm}"
-     rc_dead="${stat}${warn}dead${norm}"
-   rc_unused="${stat}${extd}unused${norm}"
+     rc_dead="${stat}   ${warn}dead${norm}"
+   rc_unused="${stat} ${extd}unused${norm}"
   rc_unknown="${stat}${attn}unknown${norm}"
   rc_done_up="${esc}[1A${rc_done}"
 rc_failed_up="${esc}[1A${rc_failed}"

More refinement with xtty=$(stty -g); stty -echo; echo -en "\033[6n"; read -d R curpos; stty $xtty, then see if cursor is at beginning of line and go up one line.

To install perl modules without root permission, this seems to work for me within cpan:

o conf mbuildpl_arg "\
--lib=~/myperl/lib \
--installman1dir=~/myperl/man/man1 \
--installman3dir=~/myperl/man/man3 \
--installscript=~/myperl/bin \
--installbin=~/myperl/bin \
--install_base=~/myperl"

o conf makepl_arg "\
LIB=~/myperl/lib \
INSTALLMAN1DIR=~/myperl/man/man1 \
INSTALLMAN3DIR=~/myperl/man/man3 \
INSTALLSCRIPT=~/myperl/bin \
INSTALLBIN=~/myperl/bin \
INSTALL_BASE=~/myperl"

o conf commit

Then add something like

export PERL5LIB=~/myperl/lib:~/myperl/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.10.0${PERL5LIB:+:}$PERL5LIB

to your .zshenv or environment profile. I had to add the site_perl dir because Sub::Uplevel installed there, yes, I’m too lazy to investigate. So beware of strange makefiles.

Now you can restart cpan with the PERL5LIB environment set and should be able to install modules.

I had to switch INSTALL_BASE for PREFIX in the past, ymmv.