I have decided to build my first Linux desktop PC based on AMD APUs. My goal is not to have the latest hardware, but to buy older components (such as a Ryzen 3 3200g) that will have a good “bang for the buck” now and room for upgrading later. I plan to install both Fedora 34 and Ubuntu 21.04 on the system in a dual-boot configuration.
I have started buying my components and began to wonder whether I need to be careful to select a motherboard that has great driver support in Linux. I am leaning towards AMD B450 Mini-ITX. What is the best resource for ensuring that the components (such as the included WiFi and audio) on the motherboard are supported by kernel drivers? What other issues might I encounter with Linux compatibility (e.g. BIOS updates?)
Both Ubuntu and Fedora approach driver support (beyond the Kernel) differently so if there’s a problem try both distros to help narrow it down. Between them they offer a pretty great range of support.
Someone running a 3200G here had a problem but it turned out to be a bad USB peripheral card. There’s handful of varying results on the AMD forum, one user said it’s been no issue on 4 different distros although they did call “Gnome” a disto :).
Wish I knew some good resource for this, I just use the duckduckgo shotgun approach and go hunting model#'s with “Linux” attached.
Firmware
Updating motherboard firmware happens in 1 of 2 ways. You use software supplied by the manufacturer to do it which is almost always Windows-only or in some cases you can put the update file on a USB stick and upgrade it from within the BIOS itself.