apparently vt8251 was not a well supported chipset even in windows.

http://forums.viaarena.com/messageview.aspx?catid=28&threadid=71754&enterthread=y

provides following:

----- Original Message -----  This topic serves to inform you of the status 
of real support for the VIA VT8251. In short, full support for the chipset 
and all features will be in Linux-2.6.18. But if you'd like to use it now, 
read on for details..


PATA | Driver name: blk_dev_via82cxxx:

a.. fully supported in Linux-2.6.15 and onwards.

SATA | Driver name: scsi_ahci_sata:

a.. will be fully* supported in Linux-2.6.18 and onwards.

a.. and patches are available for Linux-2.6.15, 2.6.16 and 2.6.17

*: There is no support for NCQ, unfortunately, as the VT8251 does not 
implement the AHCI specification correctly. Until VIA tells us how exactly 
they screwed up (so we may work around the issue), this situation is not 
likely to change.

Audio: AC'97 | Driver name: snd_via82xx:

a.. fully supported in Linux-2.6.17 (and ALSA 1.0.12rc1) and onwards.

a.. For older kernels this patch is available.

Audio: Intel HDA | Driver name: snd_hda_intel:

a.. fully supported in Linux-2.6.15 (and ALSA-1.0.8) and onwards.

When using the drivers listed above, you will not need to install any 
packages, proprietary or otherwise, provided by VIA or your motherboard 
manufacturer. In fact, I would recommend against doing so.

A couple of credits:

a.. PATA DMA support was sent to the libata maintainer independently by VIA 
and Daniel Drake. These patches utilise the 82Cxxx driver written by Vojtech 
Pavlik(SUSE), based upon the work of Michel Aubry, Jeff Garzik (Red Hat) and 
Andre Hedrick.

a.. SATA support was initially provided by VIA. The patch has been modified 
by Geoff Rivell for 2.6.15.1, by Cristian Olar for 2.6.16, and reworked for 
inclusion in the mainline kernel by yours truly (Bastiaan Jacques).

a.. AC'97 support has been added by yours truly. This is based upon the work 
by Jaroslav Kysela (SUSE) and Tjeerd Mulder (Fujitsu-Siemens).

a.. Intel HDA support was written by Takashi Iwai (SUSE).

I'll try to keep this post updated. Please send me a private message if 
you'd like something changed or added.


Edited: Wed Jun 28, 2006 at 00:42 by bjacques

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