Thank you, I will take a look at Super-micro. I have now found an Intel board distributor locally too, so that may be my first choice.

Look here:
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8H61M_LX_R20/#specifications
http://il.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4143#sp

They will tell you that the board uses an "Atheros GbE LAN chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)" but they don't mention which driver it uses. Specifically, they won't mention "does not support legacy drivers".

Wouldn't surprise me. Here is the piece of garbage, if you're interested:
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8H61M_LX_R20/

Note that there isn't even a PCI slot to plug a different network card into!

The motherboard that was purchased had no PCI slot, why deride me for that fact:
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8H61M_LX_R20/

Deride Asus instead. In fact, that is the whole point of this thread: If Asus can no longer be trusted, which motherboard manufacturers can?

Pretty much for KDE and X mouse pasting. There are some mouse pasting solutions for Windows, but none are as good as X. Furthermore, I rely very heavily on many of KDE's small but useful features, such as Keep on Top functionality, the wonderful panel configuration, and some other small features. They add up.

Not at all. Everyone already has a Windows computer and now that a new office is opening some people want to use the features that they see me using. This is a case of people wanting to use specific features that they cannot get on Windows, not of some fosstard pushing his ideology on others. Its not even about the cost or security of Windows.

Thank you. I will be buying the processor that fits whatever motherboard is worthy, not the other way around this time.

I wish that I could order from Newegg, but due to thieves in customs I must purchase locally.

I wish that I could order from Newegg, but due to thieves in customs I must purchase locally. On my last trip to the US I did stock up on hardware!

That is the case probably due to my efforts with this board several months ago. At the time, this was not the case.

The motherboard didn't even have a PCI slot (ASUS P8H61-M LX) and not a single local vendor had a PCI-E network card. I could have ordered one for more money than the motherboard cost.

I know how unusual it is to even imagine that the NIC would not be supported at least in some legacy 10 MBit mode, alas it was not. For some reason the driver is still not in the mainline kernel, see here:
http://www.linuxfoundation.org/collaborate/workgroups/networking/alx

Thanks. My last install was with an Asus P8H61-M LX, and the onboard NIC required a driver that is not in the mainline kernel. Worse, it was self-reporting as a NIC that is supported, so finding the problem was very difficult. I had completely discounted Asus but I will take another look at the board that you mention.

Thank you! I specifically asked Asus support for such a list and they could not furbish one. Terrific!

The problem is not the chipset, but rather the peripherals. Specifically, the NIC. Also, UEFI may be problematic.

Thank you. I haven't come across an Intel branded board, ever, but I will try to shop around and see if they are available.

I have tried. Nobody here knows what Linux is, probably because they will pirate Windows for you right in the store.