Dear friends,
I am planning to assemble my own linux machine with these components as I am getting these components for very cheap price:

1. Motherboard: Biostar P4M890-M7 S-775 (integrated audio,video and graphics)
2. Processor: Intel P4 3000 MHz S-775

I would request the members on the forum to comment whether its possible for me to get all relevant drivers so that I can get a functional multimedia-linux machine.

Thanks,
GnB

There is not much written about Linux in particular and this motherboard. But let me ask a couple of questions.

When you say ¨multimedia system," do you mean that all hardware will work, or you want to use the box for video and audio editing?

Any idea what flavor of Linux that you want to try?

In Linux, hopefully the drivers (modules in Linux) are included in the Linux kernel, the core of the operating system, to run your hardware. The newer the version of the Linux distro that you use, the better the chance that the modules are included in the Linux distro. Of course, the newer that your hardware is, there is a chance that the modules are not yet included. This is also true for Windows, where manufacturers make drivers to make the newer hardware run.

Some manufacturers will support Linux, some not. In a majority of the cases, there are modules (drivers) available from a number of sources, since there are a number of Linux developers working on drivers to make newer hardware run.

So, if a piece of hardware does not work in Linux, then this is the time to ask the question about where to find the drivers.

As you may suspect, there can be hundreds of different ways that folks can have there systems set up with as many different hardware configurations. For example, do you plan on using just sata drives in a normal cofiguration, or if you were planning to use a RAID array?

Live CD versions are great to try first, as you get an idea if your hardware is supported "out of the box." Most Linux distros also have a wiki page that keep a database of hardware and if that flavor of Linux runs on their systems (what does and does not).

Hopefully this is somewhat helpful, so feel free to ask any specific questions that you have as you start your journey with Linux.