Linux-Hardware Digest #290, Volume #14 Fri, 2 Feb 01 20:13:04 EST
Contents:
Re: Fibre Channel Adaptor? ("D. Stimits")
Re: Recommendations for ethernet cards and other hardware wanted... ("Joel Barnett")
Re: Please help: Linux 2.2.18 SMP Crash (Toby Haynes)
Re: USB Zip 100 - how do I mount it? (Phillip Deackes)
Re: Recommendations for ethernet cards and other hardware wanted... (Craig Orsinger)
Creative Nomad Jukebox Device Driver ("bz")
dell 300 server blows vga on 2.2.* ("Peter T. Breuer")
Re: Recommendations for ethernet cards and other hardware wanted... ("Dr. Ram
Samudrala")
Re: Where can I get the VooDoo2 Glide RPMs? (Julie Brandon)
What is this:" DriveReady SeekComplete Error" ? (Andreas Tretow)
Re: What is this:" DriveReady SeekComplete Error" ? (Ken Moffat)
cannot dial modem through ttySx (Darren Davison)
Re: USB mouse, Kernel 2.4.0 and XFree86 4.0.1 ("Peter T. Breuer")
Re: Recommendations for ethernet cards and other hardware wanted... ("Peter T.
Breuer")
Re: Linux solutions for VoIP and text editors (John Beardmore)
Toshiba 16570 cds and Crystal Sound 4281 ("V.P.")
linux printer suggestion please?? ("MSTR Newsgroup Server")
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 02 Feb 2001 13:49:05 -0700
From: "D. Stimits" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Fibre Channel Adaptor?
Cubic Meter wrote:
>
> I just bought a Seagate 9.1 GB hard drive on ebay, but it turns out it is
> fibre channel. Is there an adaptor that can be used to connect this to the
> IDE channel on my MB? Either one I can buy or build? Thanks
>
> m^3
You will need a fibre channel controller, which isn't hard to find. But
it is expensive, and I don't know which ones run under linux. Unless you
plan to do some massive expansion (which fibre is really good for),
you'll probably be better off returning or selling the drive.
------------------------------
From: "Joel Barnett" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.networking,comp.os.linux.x
Subject: Re: Recommendations for ethernet cards and other hardware wanted...
Date: Fri, 2 Feb 2001 13:00:06 -0800
"Dr. Ram Samudrala" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:95f2tm$k19$[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> I'm buying a whole bunch of machines and I would appreciate some help
> on what the current best choices are for various hardware options
> since I've been out of the Linux loop for a few months.
>
> Most of these machines will be used for heavy computing. So for these
> machines I need a cheap video card, a fast ethernet card (currently we
> use the Intel Etherexpress Pro ones which we're fairly happy with)
I've got an Ovislink 10/100 NIC (Realtek8139 chip). Cost me $17 and works
fine. OTOH, this is ahome pc. For a more critical machine, I'd probably use
the Intel.
> priced around $50-$100, large disks (what is the largest IDE disk
> supported by Linux today - can I get the Maxtor 80 GB drives?), and
> dual processors (right now I'm looking at 1 GHz PIIIs -- how reliable
> are the 1.2 GHz ones?).
>
> A few of these machines will be used for desktop work which will
> involve extensive graphics. So for these, what's a good video card
> that'll work well under Linux (up to, say $200-300)?
>
> I've gotten a lot of recommendations from people and from DejaNews,
> but I'm interested in more input.
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> --Ram
>
jbarntt
------------------------------
From: Toby Haynes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Please help: Linux 2.2.18 SMP Crash
Date: 02 Feb 2001 15:54:55 -0500
On Fri, 02 Feb 2001, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> APM and ACPI are disabled. I could not find any indication of a problem
> in /var/log/messages.
>
> the 5V range in the last 7 hours (while there was not crash) is
> +4.72 - +5.24
Thats out of spec - the 5V should not drop below 4.75v. However its not far out.
> Is it possible that it could be anything but a power supply, if so how can I
> find what cause the problem (can this be a CPU or motherboard problem). can
> linux help in detecting the problem?
Take it from me, problem determination in this case is often a case of
suck-it-and-see. My system at home has been freezing up, crashing and being
generally wierd for about the last month. I've scanned the logs, and there are
a few strange entries, such as 'bad_slab_magic' (meaning corruption has
occurred) and 'oops' (the kernel hit something it didn't expect, like a bad
pointer). I've run memory tests and played around with the system extensively,
unplugging hardware and trying different software configs. Nothing clear
cut. The memory is good (or at least it is well behaved when the system is only
under light load).
If the system is powering off sporadically, that *often* means that the power
supply is dodgy. Memory corruption and crashes also point to a dodgy power
supply, but they can also be caused by bad memory. To test for bad memory, I
suggest you run a memory test tool for a few hours (memtest86 springs to
mind).
If you are certain that APM and ACPI really are inactive (BIOS and software
config), and the system is still powering down randomly (and that really is key
- if its not random something is doing it on schedule) then you should at least
consider the possibility of a hardware problem. If you can get a suitable power
supply from a friend to swap with your own (make sure it is at least as
powerful as the one you currently have) it is definitely worth experimenting to
find out if this makes a difference. At the end of the day, a new 300W power
supply should not set you back more than US$50 and spares are always useful.
Cheers,
Toby Haynes
--
Toby Haynes
The views and opinions expressed in this message are my own, and do
not necessarily reflect those of IBM Canada.
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Phillip Deackes)
Crossposted-To: uk.comp.os.linux
Subject: Re: USB Zip 100 - how do I mount it?
Date: Fri, 02 Feb 2001 21:10:10 GMT
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Nigel Wade wrote:
>For Zip USB you need SCSI support, SCSI disk support, USB support,
>a USB controller driver and USB mass storage.
Thanks, Nigel. I thought I had enabled all necessary items in the kernel
but I had not, in fact, enabled SCSI disk support. I mistakenly believed
that only SCSI emulation was required, as with my previous internal
ATAPI Zip Drive.
The drive is working fine now.
Take care.
--
Phillip Deackes
Using Debian Linux
------------------------------
From: Craig Orsinger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.networking,comp.os.linux.x
Subject: Re: Recommendations for ethernet cards and other hardware wanted...
Date: Fri, 02 Feb 2001 21:57:13 GMT
"Dr. Ram Samudrala" wrote:
>
> I'm buying a whole bunch of machines and I would appreciate some help
> on what the current best choices are for various hardware options
> since I've been out of the Linux loop for a few months.
>
> Most of these machines will be used for heavy computing. So for these
> machines I need a cheap video card, a fast ethernet card (currently we
> use the Intel Etherexpress Pro ones which we're fairly happy with)
> priced around $50-$100, large disks (what is the largest IDE disk
> supported by Linux today - can I get the Maxtor 80 GB drives?), and
> dual processors (right now I'm looking at 1 GHz PIIIs -- how reliable
> are the 1.2 GHz ones?).
Dunno about the 1GHz plus PIIIs. My workstation has twin
PIII/700MHz on an ASUS P2B-DS board and nary a problem. I suspect
that your choice of board and memory will have as much to do with
your satisfaction as your choice of OS. My motherboard doesn't
support 1GHz, so don't buy it ;-)
As for disk size, I don't know what, if any, barriers
Linux puts in the way, but if your BIOS is more than a year old it
may not support disks larger than 25GB or thereabouts. You might
want to check with whomever you're buying your hardware from.
> A few of these machines will be used for desktop work which will
> involve extensive graphics. So for these, what's a good video card
> that'll work well under Linux (up to, say $200-300)?
I use a Matrox G400 on my workstation. If you're running
XFree86 4.0+, this is a good choice. When it comes to ethernet
cards, I usually stick to 3Com and they've never given me reason
to regret that choice. I also like the older SMC cards for ISA
bus if you're looking for something that uses coax. 3Com is
expensive, but they do sell 5-, 10-, and 100-packs of boards.
------------------------------
From: "bz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Creative Nomad Jukebox Device Driver
Date: Fri, 02 Feb 2001 21:51:27 GMT
Hey,
I was looking around on the web for a device driver for my Creative Nomad
Jukebox for Linux but it seems one doesn't exist. I'd definately be willing
to write one (which will probably include a whole lot of reading before
hand) but Creative tells me they won't give me any specs (claiming they
"don't support the open source software movement."). Is it possible (or
even practical for that matter) for me to somehow get the information I need
through some other method?
I've been programming C for a few years, but I've never really touched many
hardware specific things. So my knowledge is lacking in this area. And
with the above information plus some LDP docs, I think I could write one, or
at least give it a try.
Thanks,
-Marc
------------------------------
From: "Peter T. Breuer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: dell 300 server blows vga on 2.2.*
Date: Fri, 2 Feb 2001 22:51:02 +0100
Having a dell powerserver 300/800 in front of me, I'm suffering
from the awful bios and other eccentricities. Console mode goes crazy
(speckled, unreadable bits of bust vga) about 0.1ms into the boot
with 2.2.15 and 2.2.18 SMP kernels. 2.4.0 SMP kernel is OK.
Surprisingly, the 2.2.10 kernel that came with SuSE 6.2 is also OK,
but that seems to disable the CPU cache. Perhaps it was being a
non-SMP kernel that did the trick. I'll try a non-SMP 2.2.15 kernel
next.
Has anyone met the dell 300/800 before, and knows what to hit it with?
vga=blah at bootup doesn't help. The suspicious bits in the log
messages are:
atyfb: 3D RAGE IIC (AGP) [0x4757 rev 0x7a] 2M SGRAM, 14.31818 MHz XTAL, 230 MHz
PLL, 83 Mhz MCLK
BUS_CNTL DAC_CNTL MEM_CNTL EXT_MEM_CNTL CRTC_GEN_CNTL DSP_CONFIG DSP_ON_OFF
Feb 2 22:22:33 nbd kernel: 73330000 8701200a 10631573 a4010001 02410200
00000000 00000000
Feb 2 22:22:33 nbd kernel: PLL ad d5 1f 64 b4 03 ff da f5 00 00 c1 a6 1b 00 00
fbcon_setup: No support for fontwidth 8
fbcon_setup: type 0 (aux 0, depth 8) not supported
Console: switching to colour frame buffer device 80x30
fb0: ATY Mach64 frame buffer device on PCI
vga16fb: initializing
vga16fb: mapped to 0xc00a0000
fb1: VGA16 VGA frame buffer device
Detected PS/2 Mouse Port.
yeah, well ... onboard video. Need I say more? But the same messages
come up under 2.4.0. And continue ...
fbcon_setup: type 0 (aux 0, depth 8) not supported
Console: switching to colour frame buffer device 80x30
fb0: ATY Mach64 frame buffer device on PCI
Detected PS/2 Mouse Port.
so maybe mapping to 0xc00a0000 is bad?
Peter
------------------------------
From: "Dr. Ram Samudrala" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.networking,comp.os.linux.x
Subject: Re: Recommendations for ethernet cards and other hardware wanted...
Date: 2 Feb 2001 22:46:34 GMT
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
I have more thoughts on this and in general this will end up in some
sort of a document on the design of large clusters for high
performance computing using Linux (others have done this also, but this
is my configuration).
Regarding the disks, it seems to me that a 60 GB IDE disk would be
slow in terms of file system checks (this would point the need to a
different kind of a file system). So right now I'm thinking of
getting a 15.8 disk for the system (which is a waste) and then a 30 GB
disk for each of the machines (for local use).
> I use a Matrox G400 on my workstation. If you're running
>XFree86 4.0+, this is a good choice.
That does sound decent. What about the ATI all-in-wonder cards? Would
that be supported under Linux? I saw some websites mentioning
"unofficial support" (by GATOS).
Thanks!
--Ram
--
email@urls || http://www.ram.org || http://www.twisted-helices.com/th
I on a big Trp
/ \
| |
\ /
__/
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Julie Brandon)
Subject: Re: Where can I get the VooDoo2 Glide RPMs?
Date: 2 Feb 2001 18:32:25 GMT
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
On Fri, 02 Feb 2001 11:37:36 +0000, Jeff Moore ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) said:
>Some linux drivers can be found at:
>
>http://www.driverguide.com/
>
>It is my last resort.
<URL:ftp://ftp.linuxgames.com/3dfx/>
& mirrors, i.e.
<URL:ftp://ftp.task.gda.pl/vol/d33/ftp.linuxgames.com/3dfx/>
But yes, the Linux voodoo drivers seem to be disappearing of the face of the
earth!
Ta-ra,
--
Julie Brandon, Derby, UK
<URL:http://www.computergeeks.co.uk/>
Homepage now includes a cheap 'n' cheerful pointless LIVE WebCam
------------------------------
From: Andreas Tretow <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.setup
Subject: What is this:" DriveReady SeekComplete Error" ?
Date: Fri, 02 Feb 2001 23:12:50 +0000
Hi Everybody,
I recently got this kernel message during boot up:
Jan 31 16:42:24 locutus kernel: hdc: dma_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady
SeekComplete Error }
Jan 31 16:42:24 locutus kernel: hdc: dma_intr: error=0x84 {
DriveStatusError BadCRC }
Can anyone please tell me what it means and what I can do about it. Is
this bad ? Unfortunately I have no clue.
The drive is a:
hdc: Maxtor 31536U2, ATA DISK drive
hdc: 30015216 sectors (15368 MB) w/512KiB Cache, CHS=29777/16/63, UDMA(66)
Thank you in advance, I appreciate any kind of help.
Andreas
--
Andreas Tretow
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
From: Ken Moffat <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.setup
Subject: Re: What is this:" DriveReady SeekComplete Error" ?
Date: Fri, 02 Feb 2001 16:08:21 -0800
I've been repeatedly told that my drive is going out when i get that
error. But I don't believe it. It only happens in linux, not windows,
which runs on the same drive. I think it's something to do with either
the drive being 90% full or the irq/dma setup, but haven't a clue.
Anyway, I've been getting that error for months. My computer is a
Compaq, famous for unsupported, proprietory hardware setup.
Andreas Tretow wrote:
>
> Hi Everybody,
>
> I recently got this kernel message during boot up:
>
> Jan 31 16:42:24 locutus kernel: hdc: dma_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady
> SeekComplete Error }
> Jan 31 16:42:24 locutus kernel: hdc: dma_intr: error=0x84 {
> DriveStatusError BadCRC }
>
> Can anyone please tell me what it means and what I can do about it. Is
> this bad ? Unfortunately I have no clue.
>
> The drive is a:
>
> hdc: Maxtor 31536U2, ATA DISK drive
> hdc: 30015216 sectors (15368 MB) w/512KiB Cache, CHS=29777/16/63, UDMA(66)
>
> Thank you in advance, I appreciate any kind of help.
>
> Andreas
>
> --
> Andreas Tretow
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
--
Ken Moffat
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
From: Darren Davison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: cannot dial modem through ttySx
Date: Sat, 03 Feb 2001 00:13:19 +0000
hi,
I have a modem which works (on a windoze box) connected to a serial port
that appears to be working since minicom can initialize, reset and hang
up the modem. However it can't seem to dial it. I'm using the correct
dial command (ATDT) but the modem utterly fails to acknowledge anything
and minicom times out on the dial attempt.
If I call the number the modem is on, it answers.
Any ideas how I might start to troubleshoot this, or any pointers to
software that will allow me to manually fire AT commands at the modem
and see the response (like HyperTerminal)?
Many thanks in advance,
Darren.
[TurboLinux 6.0 distro]
------------------------------
From: "Peter T. Breuer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: USB mouse, Kernel 2.4.0 and XFree86 4.0.1
Date: Sat, 3 Feb 2001 00:47:33 +0100
John <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Peter T. Breuer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>>> Neil Watson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>>>> I'm pretty sure I have the right kernel config. Yes I'm using
>> How would you be sure? Do you have the hid.o module loaded? The input.o
>> module? The usb-uhci.o module? The mousedev.o module? The usb-core.o
>> module?
>> All of those are required.
> I have no modules loaded, mine works.
??? What are you trying to say? "I compiled these drivers into the
kernel", perhaps?
> [summer@possum summer]$ ls /dev/mouse
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root 15 Jan 22 18:34 /dev/mouse -> /dev/input/mice
> [summer@possum summer]$ ls /dev/input/mice
> crw-r--r-- 1 root 13, 63 Jul 26 2000 /dev/input/mice
> [summer@possum summer]$
And so?
> fwiw I can unplug mine, and plug it into the other port. It continues to work.
> No need to as much as logout.
That's nothing ... I can unplug it into another computer and it still
works.
Now how can I get this webcam go+ camera going .. the usb driver
(ov511) sees it fine, but darned if I can make much of the
isnstructions on getting applications up and running ... the usb
page says to get vctrl and so on from the v4l page. But their
applications seem to want v4l2, not the v4l in the kernel! I
compile their videodevX driver and it says it cannot get device 81
for itself (no .. I'm not holding it with anything else). etc.
Peter
> --
--
=====================================================================
Peter T. Breuer MA CASM PhD. Ing., Asoc. Prof.
Area de Ingenieria Telematica E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Dpto. Ingenieria Tel: +34 91 624 91 80
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid Fax: +34 91 624 94 30/65
Butarque 15, E-28911 Leganes URL: http://www.it.uc3m.es/~ptb
Spain
------------------------------
From: "Peter T. Breuer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.networking,comp.os.linux.x
Subject: Re: Recommendations for ethernet cards and other hardware wanted...
Date: Sat, 3 Feb 2001 00:52:45 +0100
In comp.os.linux.hardware Dr. Ram Samudrala <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Most of these machines will be used for heavy computing. So for these
> machines I need a cheap video card, a fast ethernet card (currently we
> use the Intel Etherexpress Pro ones which we're fairly happy with)
Agreed. But the rtl8139 cards seem to be even faster and more
reliable (when they are, I daresay).
> priced around $50-$100, large disks (what is the largest IDE disk
> supported by Linux today - can I get the Maxtor 80 GB drives?), and
> dual processors (right now I'm looking at 1 GHz PIIIs -- how reliable
> are the 1.2 GHz ones?).
Go for a plain dual asus or abit BX board.
I would normally tell you to use SCSI if you touch disk at all, but if
your 1GB memory is to stop you ever hitting it, it doesn't matter.
Be aware that you can't swap to and read from the same ide disk
at the same time, so if you run out of ram your performance will die on
IDE.
> A few of these machines will be used for desktop work which will
> involve extensive graphics. So for these, what's a good video card
> that'll work well under Linux (up to, say $200-300)?
Depends what kind of graphics. I like $20 matrox g200s myself!
Peter
------------------------------
From: John Beardmore <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To:
comp.os.linux.development.apps,comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.os.linux.setup,comp.os.linux.networking,comp.os.linux.x
Subject: Re: Linux solutions for VoIP and text editors
Date: Sat, 3 Feb 2001 00:10:40 +0000
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, V.G.Guhan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
writes
>Also there are many VoIP clients ( Hearme.com) for Windows and I havent
>come accross any for the Linux environment.
>Anybody know of any stuff related to these things let me know about
>where to find them.
>If there isnt a solution then I think Ill get working on one.
>Sincerely
If there isn't any VOIP stuff out there I might be interested in joining
in writing some.
Cheers, J/.
--
John Beardmore
------------------------------
From: "V.P." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Toshiba 16570 cds and Crystal Sound 4281
Date: Sat, 03 Feb 2001 00:34:24 GMT
I have a laptop Toshiba Satelite 1670 CDs and I don 't know why the
onboard Sound card Crystal Sound 4281 doesn't work with my Laptop
Kernel-2.4.1
The message dmesg is
cs4281: version v1.01.32 time XXXXXXXXXXX
cs4281_hw_init() failed. Skipping part
Any help is apreciated
V.P.
------------------------------
From: "MSTR Newsgroup Server" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: linux printer suggestion please??
Date: Fri, 2 Feb 2001 16:59:02 -0800
Hi,
I've been using a linux machine at work and like the funtionality I get with
our PostScript capable printer we have. I like to use such utilities such
as a2ps that output in PostScript.
Now, I want the same functionality in a home Linux printer. Can anyone
please point me to a Linux printer that can support this. Also, I was
wondering if there was one out there that supports duplex printing.
So, in Summmary, looking for a linux printer that at least supports:
1) PostScript
2) Duplex Pinting
3) Anything else anyone think is a must? I'm new to this.
Thanks,
Sammy
------------------------------
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