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Re: [Sheflug] newbie questions
Dear Will,
>> I am using Gentus Linux, distributed by Abit, makers of my motherboard
>> (KA7-100). Why? Because the other versions I have tried (SuSE6.4, Debian2.2
>> and the latest RedHat) crash on installation, my guess is because UDMA100 and
>> in particular, the HighPoint disk controller, is not supported. Has anyone
>> had any experience with installing Linux on a hard drive with an HPT
>> controller? Currently my best option may be to ditch it and use a standard
>> IDE controller instead, but of course I'd rather not leave a potentially
>> useful bit of hardware lying idle. Or has anyone experience of Gentus who
>> could help advise me on migrating to another Linux distribution from it?
>
>The HighPoint 66 controller was always a bit of a trouble maker so I
>suppose it's big brother has some of the same problems. Support is in the
>latest kernels (2.4.0-test) but to my knowledge no distribution comes with
>one of these development kernels.
>Installing on the secondary IDE channel may well be possible
I think I know how to do that part, or can find out without too many problems.
It is the next part I'm not sure about.
>and then you
>can download a recent kernel and move the disc actoss controllers. It's a
>pain but it should work.
fine: but a) where to put the kernel and b) how to reconfigure the installation
so I can boot from it?
>Hopefully with the release of 2.4 this problem should go away.
>There may be a workaround for this issue, but I haven't found it. A search
>on the linux-kernel list archive or deja news may turn up something.
the floppy boot image at
http://sweb.uky.edu/~mabran3/linux/hpt/
supposedly provides a workaround but I haven't properly understood the problems
indicated:
This disk is used to install RedHat 6.2 onto a drive connected to a
HighPoint 366 or 34x controller. This does not fix *all* the problems
with installing on the unsupported controller. After installing, a
prebuilt kernel or a new kernel will need to be made, as the defualt
kernel doesn't support the controller and won't mount /. More detailed
instructions and problems are below.
Problems:
SCSI modules loaded on my system, but the dirves were not recognized.
The HPT 366/34x controllers are not bootable according to the Docs, my
system lies past the block limit, so to boot, a kernel must be coppied
to a floppy to boot because LILO will not do. Do NOT install LILO
till you are sure your system boots or does not boot, use a
LILO-floppy to test.
Making a supporting kernel:
Using a FRESH kernel from kernel.org (RedHat manipulates kernels, get a
new one), patch the kernel with the Andre Henrick's IDE patches. The
patches are available at
ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/hedrick/. After
patching, recompile the kernel on a different machine or by using a
floppy boot (try www.toms.com/rb) to compile it on a ramdisk or
second hard drive. Information on recompiling kernels can be found
elsewhere, try www.linuxdoc.org. After using "rdev" to set the root
mount device, cat the kernel to a fresh floppy, and reboot.
I don't have easy access to another machine nor a second hard drive but I
do have 256Mb of memory so perhaps a ramdisk compilation will work. In fact,
my system (or at least the \boot partition) should not lie past the block
limit, but even so it seems that I will have to use a floppy boot. I guess
I'll give it a go and ask again if I get stuck.
>> Secondly, mounting the 250M zip drive. I guess I can find a driver
>> somewhere e.g. from the Iomega web site, but I understand there are problems
>> with driving it from Linux and I wondered if there were any guidelines anyone
>> knew of for how to proceed. I don't need it as a boot disk, just for
transfer.
>
>I have a original Zip drive that works perfectly, so it shouldn't be an
>issue really. Not sure if any of the vendor kernels support it straight
>off, but look for it in the IDE section of the kernel configurator.
good news; seems there shouldn't be too many problems there (now if I can
manage to boot off a Zip drive....)
thanks again for the quick and direct help,
Matt.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matt Fairtlough m.fairtlough [at] dcs.shef.ac.uk
Verification and Testing Group Room 115
Department of Computer Science
University of Sheffield
Regent Court, 211 Portobello Street
Sheffield S1 4DP Tel: (0)114-22-21826
UK Fax: (0)114-22-21810
WWW: http://www.dcs.shef.ac.uk/~matt/
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