Marcos Dione wrote:
> I don't understand: has this "unusable" cd-rom
> have a separate module for it? if so, it's possible that this module
> couldn't get into the install floppy. if not, either then mdk guys had
> touched that part of kernel (I know they touched in other places, thats
> why exists a kener-linus pkg), or the real kernel does not support that hw
> anymore (less probable). and the last one: are there more hw in the same
> situation? is there an "official list"? will be?
I don't know about "official" but if you use a linux distro compiled for
advanced processors, or a kernel that has a special shape to accommodate a
new GUI installer, or both, here is a short list from my experience of things
to AVOID
1. Western Digital drives
The WD IDE drive blows off the CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) and corrupt data
goes unnoticed and unreported. The timing of these drives is also out of
spec for advanced instructions from PII PIII processors, and a slow WD and a
fast Maxtor on the same channel will do one of two things... (Lost Interrupt
or destroy each other with timing chatter)
2. Seagate Drives
The Seagate large IDE drives have difficulty with many chipsets on 100MHz
Front Side Buses. I haven't managed to make one work with Socket 7 in a very
long time. Of course they will work with 386 based distributiuons, so it
looks like the advanced code is revealing deficiencies in design or
production. These flaws also do not appear on 66MHz FSBs with Intel Chipsets
and Celeron processors.
3. USB Modems
They might be external but most are software driven. In other words, a new,
not so inexpensive but nevetheless cheap, "winmodem"
4. Proprietary CD drives
Beware a 34 pin connector on a sound card, or any CD hanging off of one.
5. Proprietary Brands
Aureal drivers work with RH so a few people tried them for the Montego Sound
card on Dells. It wasn't the difference in RH and Mandrake that defeated the
effort so much as the fact that ordinary drivers for the Turtle Beach Montego
don't work on the version specifically produced for Dell computers.
6. LS120/LX120 as the ONLY floppy. You cannot make boot floppies with it,
though you can make boot cartridges.
7. Older CD Drives (I have a few 4X that will not autoboot, but most 8X
will. )
8. The very newest CD drives, and especially Kenwood. Price competition has
driven down the quality. Spend the extra money on a CD-RW or CD-R or SCSI CD
where there is still some quality to be had. I have thrown away 7 drives
since July and 5 of them were brand new, in service less than 3 months. In
the three years previous, I never disposed of one.
9. Almost anything made by PCChips and its friends. Hsin-Tech, Houston
Tech, Amptron, Alton, Eurome, and perhaps 20 other brand names. The hardware
made by them is usually inexpensive but always cheap at any price, as in
flimsy, chintzy, and definitely not for mission-critical applications or
where you want to keep your data.
Civileme
There are also some sites that keep some of this info which I am sure other
list members will tell you about.
>
>
> --
> "No tire sus colillas en el mingitorio, las humedece y
> las hace dificil de encender"
> "Do not dump butts in the wc. They dampen and it makes
> them difficult to light."
> --Tom Sharpe, "Wilt on high"
