I have a number of the EPIA boards, and tried installing OpenStep 4.2 on it yesterday. After going through the install process, I finally got to the first OpenStep GUI screen that says "initializing system" and it hung. Any ideas?
Read through some of the posts on booting options, especially the sections about IDE controller options, drivers, and the order you load them in.
You may need to load an Adaptec SCSI driver - as a dummy driver, depending on the compatibility of the chipset.
You may find luck with a driver that will work, but transfer slowly.
Another option would be to get the latest beta versions of the ATAPI drivers, and load them from separate media during the initial install, especially any VIA drivers you find.