Linux-Hardware Digest #484, Volume #9 Mon, 22 Feb 99 07:14:09 EST
Contents:
Warning: 2.2.1 with VIA 82C586 may destroy harddisk (Jens Krinke)
Re: USRobotics Modem ("feliz")
Re: looking for xircom (David Hinds)
RedHat installation success story? ("JT")
Re: awe64 PCI (Mark Tigwell)
Problems with DPT PM2044UW (Szymon Juraszczyk)
Re: Linux on Compaq Proliant 7000 (Othman Karim)
Re: Hardware to recommend? For state of the art Linux box? (Plinio Barbeito)
Re: ZIP Parallel Port Under Red Hat 5.2 (Michael Trausch)
Re: 486DX2 - BIOS - Big HD (Michael Trausch)
Intel EtherExpress 10 ISA LAN Adapter ("Ilya Kalinkin")
Re: Which HP DeskJet to buy/not to buy? - quick advice needed, (Jason Clifford)
Re: Best CD Writers ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Jens Krinke <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Warning: 2.2.1 with VIA 82C586 may destroy harddisk
Date: 22 Feb 1999 11:06:19 +0100
Hi,
maybe this is not the right newsgroup for a bug report -- I would
appreciate any suggestion where to send it.
I used the 2.2.1 kernel on my Soyo motherboard, which has a ETEQ = VIA
VPX chipset. I had generic (u)dma and the special 82C586 support
enabled and the kernel was setting my first disk (IBM) to use DMA and
the second disk (SEAGATE) not to use DMA. I was copying large files
on a vfat mounted partition and the result are destroyed blocks on the
harddisk! The destroyed blocks don't show up immediately, only if
they are read again when they are not longer cached in memory. As I
can repeat that behaviour it is for sure related to my kernel. The
harddisk has no hardware problem, other operating systems have no
problem and I was also using kernel 2.0.33 with the generic-udma
support without any problems. The lost blocks are NOT recoverable with
a format, probably requiring a LOW-LEVEL format.
If someone is interested to find the source of the problem (I am
expecting a dma timing problem) I am willing to help, as I can spare
some more destroyed sectors :-(
The motherboard is running under an AMD K6 233, but I don't know if
the bus is running synchronus or asynchronus.
Jens Krinke
--
______________________________________________________________________
Jens Krinke [EMAIL PROTECTED]
+49 531 391 7583 http://www.cs.tu-bs.de/~krinke
------------------------------
From: "feliz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: USRobotics Modem
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 23:34:19 -0800
I have the same problem with my 56K modem...its a rockwell chipset with some
cheapie company board...
how does one turn the compression on and check if setserial is working
right???
Anyone who has answers to the problem plz e-mail me at:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Bob Fahey [[EMAIL PROTECTED]] wrote in message
<7aoed3$57p$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
>Your compression is turned off, also try making sure your setserial is
>working correctly. What does your console tell you about 'connnect .....'?
>
>John E. Hagensieker wrote in message <7a53tf$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
>>Just installed Red Hat 5.2. Have an internal 56K USRobotics modem and
have
>>it installed to the "Com3" port. When I query the modem with an AT
command
>>in minicom it takes about 15 seconds to respond with the modem string. It
>>comes back at me with just a couple charachters and it takes a while.
>>
>>I can dial out and connect to my ISP but the login prompt comes in just a
>>few charachters at a time also. Normal login can take minutes instead of
>>seconds.
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (David Hinds)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.portable,linux.redhat.install
Subject: Re: looking for xircom
Date: 21 Feb 1999 04:13:21 GMT
dume ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
: Does anyone know about XIRCOM CBE 10/100 BTX configuraton or support on
: redhat 5.2 or Mandrake 5.3 (festen)??
No driver exists at this time. Unsupported.
-- Dave Hinds
------------------------------
From: "JT" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: RedHat installation success story?
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 10:27:16 GMT
I'm planning to build a low cost (under $600) RedHat system and need advise
as to all components (the entire enchilade - as we say here in Texas).
I am hopping to hear from someone who has simply followed the RH
installation instructions and finally shutdown with a smile. Is there
anyone out there with this experience or is this system as cantankerous as
most sites seem to indicate. I'm hopping to setup as many as 1000 machines
per year and that why I'm looking for simplicity. I have an opportunity to
disrupt the Microsoft tax system on a corporate level but I need help to do
it.
If you can help please document every component in detail. This system
requires the following options: sound card, CD ROM and 56k modem.
Additionally I must incorporate a touch screen which I think few of you have
experience with.
Thanks all
James
------------------------------
From: Mark Tigwell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: awe64 PCI
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1999 15:23:44 +1100
Christophe Fonteyne wrote:
> I have a PCI version of the creative labs AWE64 soundcard and I just
> can't get it to work.
> Does anybody have this type of card? and got it working in Linux?
>
> Help would be greatly appreciated.
>
> thanx
Me too and sadly I can't get mine going either! I was even willing to
pay the $20 for a commercial driver, but that didn't work. AWE PnP seems
to be ina state of flux at the moment... it seems like kernel 2.2.1 will
support it, but I can't get mine to work no matter how careful I am
about the IRQs, DMAs and so on. I've tried the old way with a kernel
loadbale module and the AWE driver. No dice. Nothing, zippo, nada. It's
not like there aren't any of these cards around - 80% of recent machines
in Aus have been shipping with them. You'd think someone would have a
nice simple solution. Can't even find any good documentation on whether
2.2.1 is supposed to support it in the kernel. If my Linux knowledge was
up to it, I'd do it myself...
Let me know if you hear anything....
Cheers,
Mark Tigwell
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
From: Szymon Juraszczyk <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Problems with DPT PM2044UW
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 11:42:07 +0100
Hi !
I've happened to configure a box with DPT PM2044UW PCI SCSI controller.
There are theorethically two suitable drivers in 2.0 kernel: EATA-DMA and
EATA ISA/EISA/PCI. Using EATA-DMA driver I've experienced unexpected machine
reboots, first after two weeks of continuous work, the next ones right after
the first one. Now I'm trying the other driver. The problem is the machine
MUST be stable. So there comes my question: is anyone using the above
controller and if so, which driver is he/she using and with what results ?
Greetings,
-- __
__ / /__ _______ ___ ___/_ Szymon Juraszczyk, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
/ // / _ \/ __/ _ / // (_-< Network systems administrator
\___/\___/_/ \_, /\_,_/___/ Student of Software Engineering
/___/ tel. +48 603 785 240
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1999 13:05:01 +0800
From: Othman Karim <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Linux on Compaq Proliant 7000
Hello,
I was successful in doing what you did but I had to remove the Smart 2 controller
first and reconnect my drives to the embedded SCSI controller instead. Then, I have
no RAID :(
Regards.
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> Hi
>
> I have done the installation of Redhat Linux 5.1 and 5.2 several time. Their
> is absolutly no problem in installing the linux.
>
> First you need to execute the System configuration utility from the Smart
> Start CD and during installation you need to select the NCRc8xx when it ask
> for "Do you have any SCSI controller in your system". this will recognise
> your hard disk connected to your embedded controller. And also ensure that
> you have made the Embedded controller as First order controller when you
> executed the System configuration utility.
>
> Send me know your feedback to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Let me know if you
> have any problem with linux on Compaq hardware.
>
> Waiting for your reply.
>
> Regards
>
> In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> Yin Tan Cui <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > David Moore wrote:
> > >
> > > I have a Compaq Proliant 7000 that I would love to migrate from NT to Linux.
> > > Unfortunately, I have never installed Linux before. I know I will need to
> > > patch things up to recognize the Smart Array II controller, as well as
> > > recompile for SMP. My problem is that I cannot finish the boot process from
> > > the diskettes (RedHat5.2). It appears that the kernel is looking for a hard
> > > drive, but doesn't recognize a disk attached to the imbedded SCSI. Just for
> > > grins, I dropped an Adaptec 2940-UW card into the machine, added a 9Gb
> drive,
> > > disabled the Smart Array controller, and the two imbedded controllers. I
> > > figured this would allow me to install on the machine and apply the patches.
> > > Unfortunately, it still won't boot. Does anybody have any suggestions?
> > > Error messages encountered during boot:
> > > VFS: cannot open root device 08:18
> > > Kernel Panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 08:18
> >
> > This error is due to that you don't have RAM disk support in the
> > instllation disk you used.
> >
> > > David Moore
> > > Summit Electric Supply
> > > [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > >
> > > -----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
> > > http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own
> >
>
> -----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
> http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own
------------------------------
From: Plinio Barbeito <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Hardware to recommend? For state of the art Linux box?
Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1999 16:22:47 -0700
JT wrote:
>
> I am wanting to set-up relatively low cost system (around $550 excluding
> monitor) and need some advise as to all components:
>
> motherboard
> CPU
> video
> memory
> sound
> modem
> hard-disk
> cd rom
> etc...
>
> If there is anyone out there with a recommended setup please let me (and
> everyone else know)
>
> Thank you
> JIM
You're thinking of buying the parts based on what USENET already knows
to work and is supported by the manufacturers. A novel idea :)
My question is slightly different -- I'm trying to figure out what is
the most *maxed-out* system for Linux I can build that will work
perfectly with available/supported drivers (I don't mind playing around
with kernels as long as I know it's going to work). Therefore, I
address this question to anyone that has tried to add fairly late model
parts to their system and succeeded.
I'd also like to know if the manufacturer has a good record of linux
support and which version worked with the part in question. Even *with*
slightly older hardware I know a linux system is still going to blow
away some of the OSes bloating out of control out there...
Motherboard: BX; Have you been able to get a 133Mhz bus clock board with
heat alarms, sleep mode clock speed reduction, AGP (2x AGP?) to work?
CPU: Has anyone gotten a Celeron to work up to 700Mhz or is this a smoke
generator :) ?
Hard disk: What is the largest overall size or partition that can be
used?
(The 18G's are out now and the 50G's will follow soon, and I know linux
is probably my best hope for using all of the capacity without resorting
to 1M sector sizes or something...)
SCSI host adaptor: Looks like Mylex and Advansys might have the best
linux support up to now, but does anyone have a multichannel 80
Mbyte/sec card working? Or one that will allow adding a slower device
(CD) to it without throwing a wrench into the transfer rates? I've been
told that it's better not to mix and match with IDE, is this true?
Anyone have RAID working?
CD: I don't expect a compatibility problem as long as it speaks SCSI
(even with 40x, TrueX, what have you) but let me know of any exceptions.
Monitor: Hopefully the brand doesn't matter with late-model monitors and
I just have to worry about whether it supports the video card's DAC
clock speed, right?
Video card: Based on the discussion in another linux group, it would
seem like no one has the just-out 16M NVIDIA RIVA TNT based cards
working yet -- but have any 8M card drivers succeeded? If not, how
about any card with AGP (lessening the need for gobs of on board video
memory)?
Memory: PC100 SRAM DIMMS ought to be transparent, but let me know if
they're not. Max size is not the biggest concern, but if you've
populated your board to 1G and can use all of it I wouldn't mind hearing
about it.
Sound: Have the PCI sound cards reached "supported" status yet (they're
supposed to be less interrupt intensive than the ISA cards and therefore
more conducive to performance)?
Modem: I don't expect any problems with whatever the latest 56k modem
is, but let me know if I should be wary. Anyone using a cable modem
with linux?
Network: 100Mbit cards are mainstream by now, right?
Thanks for any help with any of these decisions...
--PB
------------------------------
From: Michael Trausch <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.setup,comp.os.linux.questions
Subject: Re: ZIP Parallel Port Under Red Hat 5.2
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1999 00:02:29 -0500
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Ya know, though... what if you're using ext2 formatted ZIPs? That won't
work.
Use the same line, except change the vfat to ext2.
- Mike
=====================================================================
Michael B. Trausch [EMAIL PROTECTED]
V: (419) 838-8104 F: (815) 846-9374
"Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that
curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly."
- Arnold Edinborough
If you do not have my public PGP key, you are encouraged to obtain it
from my website at http://www.wcnet.org/~mtrausch/mykey.zip. You need
to have PGP 5.0i or newer to use the key.
=====================================================================
On Sun, 21 Feb 1999, Wolfgang Viechtbauer wrote:
> > # insmod ppa
>
> That one will probably do the trick. And then add an entry for your zip
> drive to your /etc/fstab file ... like:
>
> /dev/sda4 /mnt/zip vfat user,exec,dev,nosuid,rw,noauto 0 0
>
> Then you can mount your zip drive as a user just with "mount /mnt/zip".
> Or you can even write a little script for it.
>
> --
> Wolfgang Viechtbauer
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
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------------------------------
From: Michael Trausch <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: 486DX2 - BIOS - Big HD
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1999 00:10:13 -0500
=====BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE=====
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Here's all you have to do ;)
Install the drive. If it's IDE, configure it via BIOS for the largest
drive it supports (if you have a 540mb, it seems that you have LBA,
therefore not requiring the BIOS update, and that would mean it'd know an
8gb). If it's SCSI, you don't tell the BIOS about it, just throw it on
the SCSI bus as SCSI id 0 or SCSI id 1.
Next, use Linux fdisk to partition it.
Install Linux and any other OS's you want on it. Make sure that the Linux
boot partition is entirely within the first 1,024 cyl. of the disk, or you
won't boot.
If you have other OS's to install, do it this way: Make a 10mb /boot
partition for Linux, then make the partition for your other OS, and then
make the Linux partition. The /boot partition _MUST_ be within the 1024
cyl. limit, where as the / (root) Linux partition does not.
The other operating system should preferably be entirely within the 1024
cyl. limit, although, technically, just the kernel files for it need to be
there so the BIOS (or LILO, or whatever) can get to it.
Then, install your other OS.
Then, install Linux.
- Mike
=====================================================================
Michael B. Trausch [EMAIL PROTECTED]
V: (419) 838-8104 F: (815) 846-9374
"Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that
curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly."
- Arnold Edinborough
If you do not have my public PGP key, you are encouraged to obtain it
from my website at http://www.wcnet.org/~mtrausch/mykey.zip. You need
to have PGP 5.0i or newer to use the key.
=====================================================================
On 21 Feb 1999, Frank Hahn wrote:
> On Fri, 19 Feb 1999 21:07:40 -0600, Internet Real Estate
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >Newbie here ... trying to get a box ready to install Red Hat on. Got a 486
> >DX2 66mhz, and am junking the 540 megHD and adding a Western Digital 8.4
> >gig. I know the BIOS will have to be updated.
> >
> >So my questions are:
> >
> >1) What is the best place to find the new BIOS file? I have heard too many
> >stories of chips being fried by running the wrong update file.
> >
> I would think you should go back to whoever built either your computer
> or your motherboard. If the bios on the motherboard can be updated, I
> would think that would be the cheapest.
>
> If it can't, then I think you could buy one of the add-on IDE controller
> cards (I'm assuming that is the type of hard drive you are talking about
> since I don't see anything mentioned). If you look around, some of them
> have a BIOS built in which must overlay your existing machines bios.
>
> You could either hook your drives to this card and disable your onboard
> IDE controllers or just leave the drives hooked up to your motherboard
> and just take advantage of the BIOS on the controller card. A friend
> of mind just purchased a card with an upgradeable bios for US$50.00 or so.
>
> I also think there are some companies which sell bioses for machines
> but I am not really familiar with this.
>
> If these are SCSI drives, I'm not sure where the drives get their
> information.
>
> >2) After the BIOS update, will I have to still run one of those separate
> >programs that enable the system to see the full 8 gigs, or will Linux when
> >I install it, handle all of it.
> >
> Linux may be able to handle the entire drive without an updated bios.
> It may be MSDOS that has the problems with large drives and not Linux.
> If you only plan to run Linux, you may not need to do anything.
>
> The reason I say this is that several years ago I purchased an 850MB
> disk drive. I was not able to upgrade the bios on the 486-33 I have.
> At the time, I partitioned the drive three ways. One 540MB partition
> for MSDOS, one 16MB partion for Linux swap, and the balance for Linux.
>
> In the bios, I told the computer that it was a 540MB drive. MSDOS was
> happy. I then booted Linux from Loadlin off the MSDOS partition.
> Everything still works to this day.
>
> >As you can see, I really want to understand all this BEFORE I jump in and
> >mess it all up. Especially with the BIOS. Can't afford to buy a new system
> >board if I screw it up.
> >
> There are probably other ways to do the same thing. Hopefully others
> will share their experiences.
>
> --
> Frank Hahn
>
>
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------------------------------
From: "Ilya Kalinkin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Intel EtherExpress 10 ISA LAN Adapter
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 15:12:23 +0300
Can anyone give me driver for this card?
Ilya Kalinkin, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
From: Jason Clifford <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.setup
Subject: Re: Which HP DeskJet to buy/not to buy? - quick advice needed,
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 11:26:42 +0000
On Mon, 22 Feb 1999, A.G. wrote:
> I really need an advice which of the HP's DeskJets are known to work well or
> poorly under Linux.
The Deskjet 6xx and 8xx pretty much all work with Ghostscript.
Jason Clifford
Definite Linux Systems
http://definite.ukpost.com/
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Best CD Writers
Date: 21 Feb 1999 06:06:48 GMT
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
In <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Jim Zubb <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>Jim Zubb wrote:
>>
>> Eric Lee Green wrote:
>> >
>> > On Sat, 20 Feb 1999 09:04:59 -0800, Robert Brown
>> > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> > >Can anybody tell me the of some good CDROM writers for Redhat 5.0?
The YAMAHA 4416S (SCSI) works fine with Redhat 5.1.
Dan
>> > I've had good luck with the Teac 4x12 CD writer. That's what we use to
>> > make our updates disks with never a coaster. Sorry, I don't have the model
>> > number handy :-(.
>> >
>> > One hint: SCSI works MUCH better than IDE here. We got plenty of coasters
>> > with IDE. Even reading the image off of an IDE hard drive resulted in the
>>
>> I have found that IDE 2x writers work nearly flawlessly,
>> with some load to the system even (I usually read newgroups
>> while burning a CD). 4x writers suck on IDE unless you have
>> the system dedicated to burning only. They work fine if you
>> put no other load on the system.
>
>Oh yeah, I use a HP 7200+ 2x/2x/6x rewritable. i haven't
>made any coasters yet.
>
>--
>Jim Zubb
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Dan Critchlow
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