Linux-Hardware Digest #193, Volume #10 Sun, 9 May 99 04:13:28 EDT
Contents:
Re: Ultra DMA/66 hard drive problems (Andrew Comech)
Re: CD not playing audio cd's (Kenneth Pinyan)
Re: System Recommendations ("Igor Tereshchenko")
OPTi card, 82C925 based ("Gene Heskett")
Re: voodoo 3 under linux (AK)
Re: Redhat 6.0... the good, the bad, and the ugly (Dave Smith)
Re: Building a Linux System? (Hunter Thomas)
Re: New HDD 18GB will this work? ("Marin")
Re: Turtle Beach Fiji/Tahiti setup ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: Howto use 18GB HDD for DOS/windoze & Linux ??? (Greg White)
Tough Question About Linux ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Andrew Comech)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.misc
Subject: Re: Ultra DMA/66 hard drive problems
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: 9 May 1999 01:50:31 -0500
Hi Bruce --
On Sat, 08 May 1999 23:24:10 -0500, Bruce Parkin wrote:
>Hi,
>
>I was stupid enough to get a Gateway with a Promise Ultra66 controller card in
>it..... And have slackware 3.6 which has kernel 2.0.35.
>
>I kludged my way around things and got Linux installed, but then could not get
>it to boot no matter what I did. I finally found out I could only one way - by
>using LILO from a floppy with some extra kernel stuff appended.
>
>1) did you ever get this question of yours answered, and do you think it also
>applies to my system?
Nope, nobody answered me..
>2) if I upgrade my kernel to 2.2 will I be able to go back to booting LILO on
>the MBR and just select the O/S at boot time?
I do not know.. I have 2.2.5 kernel ad I boot easily, and I suspect that I
was also able to boot older kernels (2.0.36 or something).
But keep in mind that I only have UDMA/66 drive; the chipset on the
motherboard is Ultra ATA(whatever; UDMA)/33, which is supported.
/* from /proc/pci */
Bus 0, device 7, function 1:
IDE interface: VIA Technologies VT 82C586 Apollo IDE (rev 6).
Medium devsel. Fast back-to-back capable. Master Capable. Latency=64.
I/O at 0xe000 [0xe001].
About your particular case -- it would not hurt to upgrade to a newer kernel,
and you can also install LILO on a floppy. See Bootdisk-HOWTO.
Or, get Hurd's "Grub-boot" floppy with GRUB (Grand Unified Boot Manager),
which is cool: GRUB reads the kernel from the file system on the hard disk
if you only supply the kernel name (no need to rerun LILO each time you
"move" kernel). But this thing is experimental; please no false expectations
(GRUB works for me just fine, but Hurd crashes; maybe things will be
better when I get more memory). If you feel like trying this, see
http://people.ne.mediaone.net/jtobey/inst.html
...
I did not return to UDMA thing after I figured that the difference
between 5MB/s and 12MB/s disk reads accounts for at most 3% difference
in speed of kernel compiles.
I even tried to use the RAM disk, instead of a hard drive (I have had some
128MB of RAM and I copied the kernel source into memory; I am sorry if
this sounds too stupid ;-), but this only gave another 1% increase in speed.
That is, I still can not use DMA for my Quantum UDMA/66, but I do not care
much.
Best,
a.
--
Looking for a Linux-compatible V.90 modem? See
http://www.math.sunysb.edu/~comech/tools/CheapBox.html#modem
============================================================================
>
>Andrew Comech wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>> I was stupid enough to get a newer Quantum CR UDMA/66 (4.3 GB) hard drive,
>> instead of Quantum EX UDMA/33 (which I know is good), and now can not use
>> DMA support at all.
>>
>> The kernel (2.2.5) has been compiled with DMA support, and when I use
>> Quantum EX UDMA/33 drive, then, after boot-up, DMA is enabled,
>> and hdparm -t reports buffered disk reads at about 12 MB/sec
>> which is twice as much as when DMA is disabled.
>>
>> With Quantum CR UDMA/66 drive, DMA is disabled and can not be turned on.
>> See the details below.
>> hdparm -t reports buffered disk reads at about 5 MB/sec.
>>
>> I know that my motherboard was only mentioned to support UDMA/33, but
>> why would this newer drive work slower? Is not there some backwards
>> compatibility? Or should I just wait for a newer kernel?
>>
>> Please let me know if there is a way to fix this.
>>
>> Thank you,
>> Andrew
>>
>> PS. The speed difference in buffered disk reads, 12 MB/sec vs. 5 MB/sec, does
>> not seem to affect the system performance seriously.
>> But still I'd like to know why DMA fails.
>>
>> ===============================================================================
>> Here are the details:
>>
>> If I attach Quantum CR UDMA/66 and boot up:
>> ...
>> VP_IDE: IDE controller on PCI bus 00 dev 39
>> VP_IDE: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later
>> ide0: BM-DMA at 0xe000-0xe007, BIOS settings: hda:DMA, hdb:DMA
>> ide1: BM-DMA at 0xe008-0xe00f, BIOS settings: hdc:DMA, hdd:DMA
>> hda: QUANTUM FIREBALL CR4.3A, ATA DISK drive
>> ide2: ports already in use, skipping probe
>> ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14
>> hda: QUANTUM FIREBALL CR4.3A, 4110MB w/418kB Cache, CHS=14848/9/63
>> ...
>>
>> Note: _no_ UDMA word appears at the end of the above line, as it were
>> when I use Quantum EX UDMA/33 drive.
>> Now:
>>
>> Port:~# hdparm -d /dev/hda
>>
>> /dev/hda:
>> multcount = 0 (off)
>> I/O support = 0 (default 16-bit)
>> unmaskirq = 0 (off)
>> using_dma = 0 (off)
>> keepsettings = 0 (off)
>> nowerr = 0 (off)
>> readonly = 0 (off)
>> readahead = 8 (on)
>> geometry = 14848/9/63, sectors = 8418816, start = 0
>>
>> Port:~# hdparm -d1 /dev/hda
>> setting using_dma to 1 (on)
>> using_dma = 1 (on)
>> Port:~# hdparm -d /dev/hda
>>
>> /dev/hda:
>> using_dma = 0 (off)
>>
>> At the same time, the following messages appear in /var/log/messages:
>>
>> 21:31:00 kernel: hda: dma_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
>> 21:31:00 kernel: hda: dma_intr: error=0x84 { DriveStatusError BadCRC }
>> 21:31:00 kernel: hda: dma_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
>> 21:31:00 kernel: hda: dma_intr: error=0x84 { DriveStatusError BadCRC }
>> 21:31:00 kernel: hda: dma_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
>> 21:31:00 kernel: hda: dma_intr: error=0x84 { DriveStatusError BadCRC }
>> 21:31:00 kernel: hda: dma_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
>> 21:31:00 kernel: hda: dma_intr: error=0x84 { DriveStatusError BadCRC }
>> 21:31:00 kernel: hda: DMA disabled
>> 21:31:00 kernel: ide0: reset: success
>>
>> For the completeness, the relevant details about the system:
>>
>> motherboards: VA-503 (rev. 1.2a), PA-2013 (both are mentioned to support
>> UDMA/33, not UDMA/66); CPU is K6-2 300 (not overclocked).
>> Debian GNU/Linux (slink), kernel 2.2.5.
>>
------------------------------
From: Kenneth Pinyan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: CD not playing audio cd's
Date: Sat, 08 May 1999 22:51:51 -0700
Bob Austin wrote:
> Hello - I have a new mother board PCChips M590 that has on board
> audio and Video. I have the audio working and the CD is accessable for
> data. I can start the cdplayer (KSCD) and all the functions work except
> no audio. I dualboot this system with OS/2 and the CD plays through
> just fine. Any ideas ??
>
> Thanks,
>
> Bob - N4CLH
Try 'cat /dev/sndstat' to see whether your sound is set up correctly (read
the sound HOWTOs as well). Quite likely, you need to reconfigure your
kernel for whatever sound chip your mother board uses. Get ready to open
up your box and have a look.
A good place to find information on current supported sound devices is
www.linux.org.uk/OSS. As of kernel versions 2.2.X (perhaps a bit earlier,
but not 2.0.X) OSS has been implemented in the kernel source, with
substantial documentation included. Good luck.
Ken Pinyan
------------------------------
From: "Igor Tereshchenko" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: System Recommendations
Date: Sun, 09 May 1999 05:12:11 GMT
Friend of mine got AMD K6II 450 and Viper 550 (riva tnt chipset) on prev.
week
and lot of troubles along with. After 4 days of attempts to make it work he
gived up
and did change Viper on Voodoo3 -- voodoo works just fine.
Best regards,
Igor.
Matt Tyler wrote in message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
>Hello everyone,
> This might not be the best group to post this to but here goes. I
>am seeking recommendations/advice about a new computer system, on which
>I will run Linux and (ahh) Win98(to play a few games not yet available
>on Linux). I am trying to choose between an AMD K6-2(400)/Super 7
>solution and a Celeron 300a/Slot 1 solution. I was also thinking about
>a RIVA TNT card for video. I really would like to hear opinions about
>the best retailers around the net (cheapest, best value). I would like
>to say thanks in advance to everyone that responds. Any other
>suggestions/comments are welcome and greatly appreciated. Thanks again.
>
>
>Matt Tyler
>
>
>
------------------------------
Date: 09 May 99 00:25:26 -0500
From: "Gene Heskett" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: OPTi card, 82C925 based
Reply to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Organisation: Only in your wildest dreams
Hi Audio Hardware folks;
We have several OPTI sound cards in the file cabinet, takeouts to free
up some IRQ's for networking in W95 machines. These cards are based on
the _82C925_ 16 bit chip, which I've not stumbled over any references to
in the 2.0.36 kernal modules soundcards src drawer.
There are a few markings on these cards, indicating a BTC-1815 REV 1.1
as being the so-called brand name/model.
These have an IDE interface at the rear edge of the card, and some
jumpers or something in the form of a 26 pin header near the top of the
card, right below the CDDA i/o pair. The rear panel contains 4 stereo
mini jacks and a joystick port.
The second large chip is an Analog Devices 'AD1845JP' SOUNDPORT.
Since it has microphone intputs, I _assume_ this thing can record with
the right software.
Has anyone managed to make this chipset work, or failing that, give some
hints as to where one might stumble over a web page with some setup etc
info on it? We have about 4-6 of these we would like to make a bit of
music with.
Cheers, Gene
--
Gene Heskett, CET, UHK |Amiga A2k Zeus040 50 megs fast/2 megs chip
Ch. Eng. @ WDTV-5 |A2091,GuruRom,1g Seagate,CDROM,Multiface III
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or |Buddha + 4 gig WDC drive, 525 meg tape
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>|Stylus Pro, EnPrint, Picasso-II, 17" vga
RC5-Moo! 22kkeys/sec isn't much, but it all helps
--
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (AK)
Subject: Re: voodoo 3 under linux
Date: Sun, 09 May 1999 05:17:15 GMT
Yes.
And No. . .
XFree86 does not include a 3dfx compatible server. I learned this the
hard way. Of course I bought the Voodoo 3 so I could play kick-ass 3D
games in Windows, and the card does kick ass. But I was mighty
dissapointed when I found no support for my cool new video card. I
found an X server for 3dfx at
http://glide.xxedgexx.com/3DfxRPMS_vb_glibc.html and it works. But it
has taken hours of tweeking to get it to work marginally well. And
there is no 3D support. And it only works with glibc.
And RE: other posts on the subject- nVidia has better image quality
but it is NOT faster than Voodoo for 3D gaming. ATI can't compare for
3D gaming in either speed or image quality, although ATI has better 2D
features. If you want to play Quake and South Park (it kicks ass!) go
for 3dfx. There is not a better gaming card for Windows.
AK
On Sat, 8 May 1999 17:39:49 +0100, "Aziem Chawdhary"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>Does Voodoo 3 run under Linux...
>
>Thanks,
>
>Aziem
>
>
------------------------------
From: Dave Smith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.networking,comp.os.linux.setup
Subject: Re: Redhat 6.0... the good, the bad, and the ugly
Date: Sat, 08 May 1999 22:37:52 -0700
James Stafford wrote:
>
> Bill Unruh wrote:
>
> > In <7go4ns$4oq$[EMAIL PROTECTED]> "Robert Brown" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> >
> > >Where is everyone getting RH6.0? I thought it wasn't available until the
> > >10th May....
> >
> > Nope been out at least a week by now.
> > www.redhat.com and all its mirrors. The pressing shops probably will not
> > be shipping for another week however.
>
> I was just at Fry's today and they had it there for$79.00 !!! That's more than I
> paid for Winblows, more worth it... but still!!!
>
> jamess
cheapbytes.com $7.14 (US) delivered in two days
------------------------------
From: Hunter Thomas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Building a Linux System?
Date: Sat, 08 May 1999 16:39:13 +0000
For well under $2000, you can build a really badass machien. Hell I rebuilt
my 486 for less than $500, and it is really kickass. Anyway, here is my
best suggestion.
CPU: AMD K6-3 450-500, or if they are out by the time you buy, a k7. I
suggest the AMD proccesors over Intel's because of the price/performance
ratio. For about half the price of Intel's cpus at the same clock speed,
you get a proccessor with maybe 10% lower performace for some apps, and
better 3d graphics, esp. with 3dfx's boards. Also, you can buy a much
cheaper, but just as good, mb for a k6-3, because it is super 7 rather than
Intel's proprietary slot 1. I plan to upgrade to a K6-3 within a year
myself (I have a k6-2 366 now).
MB: As perviously noted, if you go with AMD, you need to get a super slot 7
mother board/main board (call it what you will). There are two things to
concider when purchasing one, though. First, is the BIOS that it comes
with. For both linux and win98, go with the MVP3 chipset by VIA, it has
more support. Second, and just as important, go with a MB that has at least
1024 bytes (1 meg) of level 2 cache. You can still find super 7s with 512k
L2 cache, but the extra cache really helps the speed. Also, try not to
get a MB with anything aside from ide/floppy and ports built in, like sound
or ethernet. If you want ethernet, many MB based ethernet devices are
supported, but check to make sure it is supported first.
Video card: You want a 3dfx card? Go with a Voodoo3, 2000 or 3000. You can
get a 3500 if you really want, but it is a bit pricey. Don't, what ever you
do, get a 1000.
Hard Drive: And hd will do, really, but just go with one of the big HD
names, like Western Digital. I have a WD, and I don't regret anything
except where I bought it.
Sound: well, for now it's a bit up in the air, but, if you are planing to
get this computer a couple of months from now, get a SB Live! value. It's
sound under windows is impecable, and as soon as they get the Linux driver
fully functional, it will really be great. Creative is serious about making
support for Linux, but they are just starting out, and they only have a
beta driver for linux right now, which basicly uses the SB16 emulation, and
little else. Which is, btw, alot better than no sound at all. But, if this
is not an imediate purchase, than just check back when you plan to buy, and
more than likely, this is the card you want.
The Rest: As for anything else, just make sure it's supported under linux,
that's all I can say. Choose wisely.
Chris Sequeira wrote:
> I currently run RedHat Linux 4.2 on a 486DX4/100, and I'm planning to
> build my own Linux system when I get the money (which probably won't be
> too far off from now). However, it's clear that there is less of a
> hardware/driver selection when it comes to Linux machines.
>
> Here's my question: can anyone mention a good list of parts to buy? I'm
> weary of buying a prebuilt machine because:
>
> 1. I might not get the stuff I want
> 2. I must run Linux and Win98 (for the family)
>
> I'm thinking of a single-CPU Pentium II or Pentium III machine using IDE
> or UDMA drives (I don't want to spend too much money... no more than
> $2000). I also want a card with 3DFX support, as well as a sound card.
> So I'd like to hear everyone's opinions on motherboards, monitors,
> drives, sound cards... everything. Also, does anyone know if Linux
> supports the ATI All-In-One video card (I think that's what it's
> called... it has support for video and audio capture), or is there a
> better solution for video and audio capture? Remember, all of this must
> run under Win98 and Linux, and I can't spend too much. Thanks.
> --
> From Chris Sequeira: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
From: "Marin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: alt.os.linux,comp.os.linux.setup
Subject: Re: New HDD 18GB will this work?
Date: Sun, 9 May 1999 04:23:31 +0200
I have abit bx6 with newest bios (few days ago upgrade it), but is thet
1024 cyl. bios or linux stuff (I think it is about linux, but I am a newbie
and maybe wrong)?
Thanks.
--
Marin :o)
dump "_removeit" for replay
Bill Unruh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:7h2l4c$p17$[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> In <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> "Marin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>
> >I will buy new WD 18gb HDD (7200 rpm), so I was thinking to do this:
> >put 18gb HDD primari, old 2,5gb slave, then instal windows on 1st 8gb,
linux
> >another 10gb, on thet 2,5 slave put linux 128mb swap and windows 500mb
swap,
> >another space to windows. May system is 333a, s3 4mb, win 98, suse 6,1,
96mb
> >ram.
>
> Don;t know if your BIOS will allow something to boot up from a program
> on a cylinder number greater than 1023. If it does not, then you will
> have to make sure that your / partition on Linux (or even just the /boot
> partotion) lies at below 1024 cyl.
>
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.setup
Subject: Re: Turtle Beach Fiji/Tahiti setup
Date: Tue, 04 May 1999 21:59:05 GMT
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> > I'm trying to put the Turtle Beach Fiji Card to work, I
>
> I'm having almost exactly the same problem with my Turtle Beach Tahiti card.
Well, thanks to a helpful e-mail from Antonio, I realized that the default
mixer settings for the Turtle Beach driver are at zero. I had my Tahiti
configured properly, I just needed to adjust the mixer. I ran the "aumix"
command line utility to set the mixer, then used the "play" command line
utility to play a .wav file. Perfect! I suspect that the Fiji/Pinnacle will
work just fine as well.
Good luck!
-Mike
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------------------------------
From: Greg White <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To:
alt.linux,alt.os.linux,alt.os.linux.slackware,comp.os.linux,comp.os.linux.setup
Subject: Re: Howto use 18GB HDD for DOS/windoze & Linux ???
Date: Sun, 09 May 1999 07:12:58 GMT
"Michael D. Schleif" wrote:
SNIP previous post
>
> root@Thor:~> fdisk /dev/sdd
> The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 2213.
> This is larger than 1024, and may cause problems with:
> 1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., LILO)
> 2) booting and partitioning software form other OSs
> (e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)
>
> Command (m for help): p
>
> Disk /dev/sdd: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 2213 cylinders
> Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes
>
> Device Boot Begin Start End Blocks Id System
> /dev/sdd1 1 1 261 2096451 6 DOS 16-bit >=32M
> /dev/sdd2 262 262 522 2096482+ 6 DOS 16-bit >=32M
> /dev/sdd3 523 523 783 2096482+ 6 DOS 16-bit >=32M
> /dev/sdd4 784 784 2213 11486475 5 Extended
> /dev/sdd5 784 784 1044 2096451 6 DOS 16-bit >=32M
> /dev/sdd6 1024 1045 1306 2104483+ 6 DOS 16-bit >=32M
>
Here is the way _I_ would do it:
Device Boot Begin Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdd1 1 1 261 2096451 6 DOS 16-bit
>=32M # For Win9x
/dev/sdd2 262 262 522 2096482+ 83 Linux Native
# For Linux
/dev/sdd3 523 523 783 2096482+ 6 DOS 16-bit
>=32M # For WinNT
/dev/sdd4 784 784 2213 11486475 5 Extended
Now, once in the extended partition, you have to be a little careful:
For Win9x fdisk (don't know about NT, never dual-booted it), the _last_
partition must be natively readable from Win9x... e.g., FAT16, FAT32,
whatever. Put your Linux swap partition here, doesn't matter where, as
long as it isn't last.
See, here's the trouble: Once Linux is booted, it doesn't care about
BIOS limitations, but LILO (or whatever boot loader you use) needs to
use the BIOS to actually read the partition. Your BIOS seems to have the
very common problem of calling everything over 8ish GB as being over the
1024 cylinder limit. No big deal, as long as you know how to work around
it.
Follow-up set to: alt.os.linux.slackware
to avoid further cross-posts.
I hope this helps you out.
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Tough Question About Linux
Date: Sun, 09 May 1999 07:08:30 GMT
From: Bill Case
President
BCConsulting
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
618.654.3650
"All's Well That Ends Well"
I have a consulting company here in Highland, IL. We are following Linux
very closely. We have a question regarding the newly released OpenLinux
2.2 which just recently hit the retail channel. StarOffice 5.0 is included
with the package. Is this the "full" StarOffice 5.0 or just a limited
"personal edition"?
We are looking for the best way to introduce this (Linux) into our
organization and our clients. We are very impressed with the reviews but
are concerned about a few things. Caldera uses KDE as the Gui and Redhat
uses GNOME. Without actually using them, it's impossible to tell which is
best and more importantly if one will become a standard. We have relied
on the reviews and they seem to be mixed as to which Gui is best and will
subsequently become the standard. Can you share your input on this?
We also have questions about Linux in general. The issues are hardware
compatibility. If your answers are what we expect, we will purchase
OpenLinux 2.2 and install it on a test system that has Win95B and use the
dual boot capability. The test system has a HP820 CES deskjet printer and
a Umax Astra 610p (parallel port connection). The system itself (CTX
233mhz Pentium II) has a Soundblaster compatible sound card, Cirrus Logic
546X AGP Video Card-4 meg video, 96 meg memory, Tatung 24x CD-Rom
and a 4.3gig Quantum Eide Hard drive. It also has a 56k V.90 modem
with the Lucent chipset (believe-not sure-this could be known as a
Winmodem).
Can we expect OpenLinux 2.2 to recognize all these peripherals so that they
will be functional? Do not believe that there is anything extraordinary in
this configuration, but feel it would be the best test system for us.
Thank You and the concept you put together with this package looks great.
We look forward to hearing from you very soon as we would like to steer
our client base (and ourselves) away from Windows 9x and NT.
Best Regards
Bill Case
This msg was sent to Caldera days ago and we have not received any response.
Any help would be appreciated. If you don't mind, please include an email to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Thanks in advance.
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------------------------------
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End of Linux-Hardware Digest
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