Pros: I've been looking for a machine to use as a MythTV frontend in my bedroom for a long time, and this is exactly what I wanted. VDPAU support for video decoding, low power usage, low noise, HDMI, and it even includes a mount to attach it directly to the back of a LCD monitor so it's very efficient on space. Almost everything works out of the box with Mythbuntu 9.10. I did have to mess around to get audio to work over HDMI, but that's standard practice with ALSA.

Cons: Suspend-to-RAM is very flaky due to what appears to be a USB issue. If I set the machine to wake on USB activity (Power button on my remote control) it won't stay in suspend mode unless I have more than one USB device plugged in. Otherwise it just wakes up immediately after it suspends for some reason. Maybe a future BIOS update will fix this.

Overall Review: Just add an LCD monitor with built-in speakers and an HDMI port, plus a USB IR reciever and MCE remote and you have a very nice mythtv frontend. It would be nice if it had a built-in IR reciever, but I guess it wouldn't be too valuable if you're mounting it on the back of your monitor anyway.

Pros: Almost everything works well with Ubuntu 9.10 without any special configuration. on-board GeForce 8200 GPU is respectable and VDPAU support is nice for HD video.

Cons: I can't get APCI suspend to work on this board with Ubuntu. I've tried everything I can think of. It enters suspend fine without error, but will not wake up from suspend. On the other hand it boots up from a cold start in 40 seconds, so I guess it's not really necessary.

Overall Review: Good board for the money.

Pros: Form follows function. Very easy to work on.

Cons: Front access panel is too narrow for some headphone jacks to plug into. Power supply mounting plate covers too much of the heat vent on my Lian Li power supply. Hard drive mounting cage is not removable like my other Lian Li case. No blue LEDs. 120mm fans are a bit loud.

Overall Review: Even though I wrote more Cons, they are nitpicks, this is a very nice case. This is the type of case that outlives the components it contains several times over. A simple metal box just doesn't go out of style.

Pros: Install was smooth, all board components *supported in recent Linux kernel. (*see Cons).

Cons: Newegg says the LAN Chipset is Marvell, but it's not. The dual nics use the NForce chipset, only the transceivers are Marvell. Although these are supported in Linux through the reverse-engineered forcedeth driver, they are not stable. I've had them lock up once already requiring unplugging the power for a few seconds.

Overall Review: Supports cheapo AMPO DDR800. Slackware 11.0 installed without issue.