[olug] request for motherboard recommendations

[Ryan O'Rourke]

On Thu, 2002-11-07 at 09:20, Adam Haeder wrote:
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> Hello all
> I need to lean on the vast hardware knowledge of the group. I'm building a 
> new system for a friend, and he has a few requirements that I've never 
> dealt with before:
> - - must boot off a USB drive
> - - Connector for front-side case audio/usb
> - - Support suspend-to-ram
> - - Support wake-on-keypress from a usb keyboard
>

Generally for the front-side case usb port, you have to buy a case that
has a port already built in. You also need a motherboard that will
support it because the case will have some wires for the front ports
that need to be connected to the mobo. In my experience, that's all it
takes for front USB to work.
 
> I see the new 
> PhoenixBIOS supports booting off a USB drive, but few motherboard specs on 
> the sales sites list that as a feature.
>

If you know for a fact that PhoenixBIOS supports this, then it would be
a good idea to make sure you get a mobo with that PhoenixBIOS installed.
Most sales sites will tell you what the installed BIOS is for the
motherboard.
I'm not sure if the BIOS can be changed / uninstalled / reinstalled.
Never tried it.
Is there a problem finding BIOSes these days that have support for
booting from a USB device? This is pure speculation on my part, but I
would think that with the popularity of USB this wouldn't be such a
problem with new hardware.

 
What do you mean by "wake-on-keypress" from USB keyboard? Do you mean
just brining it out a "sleeping" or screensaver state?
Again, this is speculation but I would assume that since most machines
can be brought out of such a state with a normal PS/2 style keyboard
that a USB keyboard should be no different. 

Sorry, I have no experience with front-side audio or suspend-to-ram
features....
Hope this helps.

Ryan