Based on previous messages, this is a summery of current progress:
1. the floppy is working .. I had the cable in backwards (or rather upside-down).
2. The BIOS Setup etc. at power-on now visible with the Dell Monitor connected via DVI rather than analog through the KVM switch. The ASUS/AMI BIOS must max out the video parameters rather than doing things safely. This must have been filtered by the KVM. I can live with this. Except when I need to fool with the BIOS Setup, I may switch back to using the KVM since it is more convenient. I still consider the bad video parameters an ASUS bug.
3. The Linksys NIC (tulip driver) definitely hangs Linux in 64 bit mode although it works fine in 32 bit mode. However, the onboard 3COM 3C940 gigabit ethernet NIC also works. It completely works under 32 bit Linux and will handle the nfs install under 64 bit linux (Fedora Core 1 for the amd64). Unfortunately, under 64 bit linux I get an "kernel Oops" enabling the interface. Fortunately this is not MS Windows and things went merrily along without the interface rather than getting the blue-screen-of-death.
The 3C940 driver (sk98lin) must be manually selected rather than automatically detected.
Overall I am getting much more happy with this box, the SK8V MB, etc.
Questions -- where should I post bug reports? In bugzilla? Assigned to whom? Fedora Core but what version?