Linux-Hardware Digest #439, Volume #12 Thu, 9 Mar 00 01:13:06 EST
Contents:
Re: VIA vs Intel chipsets - which is better? ("Dean_Kent")
Run Linux on your Laptop... (raman_narayan)
Re: VIA vs Intel chipsets - which is better? ("Ron Reaugh")
Re: VIA vs Intel chipsets - which is better? ("Ron Reaugh")
usb modem working, but... ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: Which SCSI card for Linux compatibility? (Allan M. Wind)
Re: VIA vs Intel chipsets - which is better? ("Ron Reaugh")
Re: VIA vs Intel chipsets - which is better? ("Ron Reaugh")
Network Card D-link DFE 650 not working ("umesh")
Re: CD-Writer ide-scsi irq timeout errors (Christopher Wong)
Re: Please help!Video or Monitor incompatibilty problem (Shawn Duffy)
Re: VIA vs Intel chipsets - which is better? (Karl Gibbs)
Re: Dell OptiPlex GX300/Intel 820 chipset (John Doe)
caller id solutions (matthew neil garman)
kernel oops with more ram (Greg Leblanc)
network cards (matthew neil garman)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Dean_Kent" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: VIA vs Intel chipsets - which is better?
Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2000 19:56:22 -0800
Crossposted-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.systems
Neil Davis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:8a6qbt$[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> I'm sorry to see this thread deteriorate so quickly into name-calling,
> because there are some legitimate chipset and driver questions I'd love to
> see addressed. I've put together a number of VIA-based systems, but
> recently I got fed up with them and have switched to the BX boards
instead.
> One of the problems I've suffered with the VIA chipset is IRQ sharing.
It's
> easy to end up with nicely configured systems that have more peripherals
> than available IRQ's, and my experience is that the VIA IRQ miniport
driver
> doesn't allow IRQ sharing as well as the BX boards. I've seen VIA boards
> share IRQ's, but it's not the norm, and I haven't figured out how to get
it
> to work as repeatably as the BX boards. For example, one of my machines
has
> video, TV-tuner, video capture, SCSI, MODEM, and Soundblaster Live
(requires
> 2 IRQ's), USB, two IDE's, and they are all shared sociably on a BX board
> (one IRQ actually has 4 devices, and one IRQ is still listed as free). So
> question #1: is there something in the design of the IRQ hardware in the
> Intel chipset that allows it to work better with IRQ-sharing drivers, or
is
> Intel just better at writing the IRQ-sharing driver, or is my experience
> with IRQ sharing not consistent with what others have seen?
I would also be curious about this. I've seen posts where people have
complained about such things with both Intel and VIA based boards (never
counted how many of each, however - thinking it to be irrelevant). I've
then seen followup posts from people who have claimed it is working
correctly for them. Makes one wonder just how many problems are due to
user error.
I'm not trying to point any fingers directly, as I have had situations where
I overlooked something and a fresh set of eyes discovered the problem. It
would seem to me that if some people have problems, and others do not under
the same situation that it isn't the hardware design or software that is the
problem, but rather one of the specific implementation (either by the
manufacturer or the user)...
>
> The second problem I've had with VIA boards is poor support for certain
> devices using their busmastering drivers. For example, the Nakamichi 5x16
> CD changer hangs up when you try to play audio CD's (using the drivers
from
> VIA that were available last month). I also had problems with one of the
> Creative DVD players--lots of dropouts even when busmastering enabled,
> although the Hitachi G2500 DVD player worked perfectly on the same
computer.
> So question #2: is there something unique about the VIA IDE hardware
that
> makes it difficult to get compatibility with more devices, or is this just
a
> software maturity problem, and when will VIA finally get it right?
This is one that sounds a little odd to me, but perhaps it is because I
misunderstand how busmastering works...
I would think that busmastering is a 'standard' implementation for all
devices. If it works for one, it should work for others as well. If a
specific device, however, fails to fully implement the standard, or takes
advantage of particular peculiarities of a specific implementation - then
the problem is really with that specific device, true?
As I said, I haven't really investigated busmastering much so it is likely
that I don't understand something here...
>
> My recommendation to potential motherboard buyers has been to go with the
> lower-cost VIA boards if they aren't going to have lots of devices that
> require IRQ's or if they are going to stick with IDE devices that are
known
> to work with the VIA drivers. The VIA boards are great for people who
don't
> experiment much with different peripherals--I believe this is exactly what
> Michael Dell was referring to when he recently said: "We found the AMD
> environment to be much more fragile ... than equivalent Intel systems."
I'm
> not interested in starting a flame war--I'm curious whether others had the
> same negative experiences with the VIA chipset. Even more to the point, I
> am currently interested in buying an Athlon system, but I'm gun-shy about
> going with the KX-133 chipset. Any reports on how well it supports IRQ
> sharing?
KX133 is the same core as the 694a chipset, with an EV6 bus. If there are
IRQ (or any other) problems with the 694a, then I would assume that they
would also be present on the KX133...
------------------------------
From: raman_narayan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.misc,aus.computers.linux,alt.os.linux.caldera
Subject: Run Linux on your Laptop...
Date: Wed, 08 Mar 2000 20:14:21 -0800
Hi Everyone
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Make your Laptop a Powerful Workstation/Server!!!
Increase Productivity by Exploiting ...
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Run Linux on your Laptop ..... in less than 10 mins!!!
Without ever touching your Pre-installed System.
DO NOT worry about
- available disk space (or)
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YOU CAN DO IT: YOURSELF!!!
It's FAST!!!, It's EASY!!!, It's Cost Effective.
If this sounds interesting, send email to : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with Subject: Linux on Laptop
Please mention your Laptop Make/Model/Processor/available RAM.
********************************************************
------------------------------
From: "Ron Reaugh" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.systems
Subject: Re: VIA vs Intel chipsets - which is better?
Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2000 04:16:39 GMT
Keith R. Williams wrote in message ...
>On Wed, 8 Mar 2000 18:04:47, "Ron Reaugh"
><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>>
>> John Howland wrote in message ...
>> > Gee Ron, I use VIA based MoBo's & have no IDE problems - what am I
doing
>> wrong?
>>
>>
>> You sell em and are wearing blinders.
>
>Uh, Ron. You aren't going to make friends on this group with
>such unfounded attacks on John.
"unfounded" Come on Keith. You know and I know that VIA chipset mobos have
busmastering EIDE driver problems. Others have posted such in THIS thread.
Regardless of how he may generally behave here, he repeatedly goes around
here and other NGs denying that there are any VIA busmastering EIDE
problems. That's what this thread is about. He keeps touting how he and
all his customers have no busmastering EIDE problems. You run all/mostly
SCSI on your VIA don't you? You know what the truth is here.
------------------------------
From: "Ron Reaugh" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.systems
Subject: Re: VIA vs Intel chipsets - which is better?
Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2000 04:19:25 GMT
Keith R. Williams wrote in message ...
>
>Forget it Paul. Ron picked on the wrong person in this group.
>Deano is fair game, but he doesn't sell anymore. Hmmm.
>
>It must be lonely over on .storage for Ron to pick fights on
>chips. BTW, my favorite tommie is making an ass outof himself
>over there too. Too bad I don' thave time to chase.
>
>Anyway, I will stand 100% behind John Howland's reputation.
Do you stand 100% behind his assetions that there are no VIA busmastering
EIDE problems? Don't try and change the subject; that's what this thread
is about!
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: usb modem working, but...
Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2000 04:07:52 GMT
I have applied the 2.3.48 kernel and the 2.3.49 patch. I am able to
insmod usbcore.o, usb-uhci.o, and acm.o. I get modem lights and it
appears to be ready to go. I created a new device under /dev/usb call
ttyACM0.
Then I've tried to access this device with minicom with no luck. Can
anyone recommend a good comm.package and/or a PPP dialing package?
I've tried to compile Wvdial and it fails. My ultimate goal is to dial
out to an ISP.
Thanks,
Daniel
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Allan M. Wind)
Subject: Re: Which SCSI card for Linux compatibility?
Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2000 04:21:59 GMT
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Anthony Lawson wrote:
>lf11, at, @linuxstart.com wrote:
>
>> I suppose you get these questions all the time, but....
>>
>> I'm looking for a SCSI card for driving a Umax S-6E scanner. It is a wide port,
>> a narrow port, and a female DB25 connector on the back.
>>
>> All I want is something that'll drive one device, 10 MB/s is fine. Something
>> less than $60 preferably. Windows support would be nice (Because I don't
>> have CorelDraw for Linux yet :-), but Linux support is vital.
>>
>> Features;
>> * Linux support
>> * PCI (Can be ISA if necessary, but my computer has two ISA slots)
>> * 10 MB/s
>>
>> Thank you!
>>
>> -lf
>
>Bus Logic (Mylex) has excellent Linux support. I suggest you buy a new SCSI cable
>for the scanner with a HD50 pin connector so you don't have to buy a cheesy card
>with the DB25 connector on the back.
Those cables are not standard SCSI. Buslogic BT-958B + Umax Astra
1200s + mentioned cable causes my system to crash.
/Allan
--
Allan M. Wind Finger: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (GPG/PGP)
P.O. Box 2022 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Woburn, MA 01888-0022 ICQ: 44214251
USA Phone: 781.279.4513
------------------------------
From: "Ron Reaugh" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.systems
Subject: Re: VIA vs Intel chipsets - which is better?
Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2000 04:21:06 GMT
Keith R. Williams wrote in message ...
>On Wed, 8 Mar 2000 22:51:01, "Cyberchondri@c"
><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>> Yeah, he pretty much singlehandedly 'drove' me out of the storage
newsgroup.
>> Even if he *was* right, say, 90% of the time, his personality is still
too
>> abrasive.
>> Fortunately, I've learned about killfiles since then.. :-)
>
>And you win the prize! He was right 90% of the time (when it got
>to technical details), but insists on the last word, even if it's
>just a one phrase flame. However he's *way* off base here.
Nope. Don't change the subject. Read the whole thread. Do you stand
behind his assetions that there are no VIA busmastering EIDE problems?
------------------------------
From: "Ron Reaugh" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.systems
Subject: Re: VIA vs Intel chipsets - which is better?
Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2000 04:38:45 GMT
Keith R. Williams wrote in message ...
>On Wed, 8 Mar 2000 22:51:01, "Cyberchondri@c"
><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>> Yeah, he pretty much singlehandedly 'drove' me out of the storage
newsgroup.
>> Even if he *was* right, say, 90% of the time, his personality is still
too
>> abrasive.
>> Fortunately, I've learned about killfiles since then.. :-)
>
>And you win the prize! He was right 90% of the time (when it got
>to technical details), but insists on the last word, even if it's
>just a one phrase flame. However he's *way* off base here.
Nope. Don't change the subject. Read the whole thread. Do you stand
behind his assetions that there are no VIA busmastering EIDE problems?
------------------------------
From: "umesh" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Network Card D-link DFE 650 not working
Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2000 10:09:19 +0530
I have got a Toshiba Satellite Pro 420 CDS Laptop with a D-link DFE 650
PCMCIA card.
The network interface is detected , it can ping to it's own address and
loopback address but cannot access the
network. I have a class C network.
The kernel modules are getting loaded but we have the same problem of not
able to access the network.
I have installed Red Hat Linux 6.1 on the laptop I suspect a problem with
IRQ and IO addresses.
Can anyone suggest a way out please.
Umesh
Clover Technologies
Pune
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Christopher Wong)
Crossposted-To: alt.os.linux.mandrake,comp.os.linux.setup
Subject: Re: CD-Writer ide-scsi irq timeout errors
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2000 04:55:03 GMT
On Tue, 7 Mar 2000 16:24:44 GMT, Christopher Wong <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>I am trying to set up a HP CD-Writer Plus 7200 Series IDE drive for
>use with cdrecord. After reading the appropriate docs, I set it up to
>the point where cdrecord recognizes the drive. Unfortunately, the
>drive seems nonfunctional. I cannot mount an ordinary ISO 9660 CD (I
>tried several).
I thought I should follow up and say that that the drive seemed
nonfunctional because it IS nonfunctional. Turns out that it can record
fine, but cannot read any CDs, even under Windows.
Chris
------------------------------
From: Shawn Duffy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.setup
Subject: Re: Please help!Video or Monitor incompatibilty problem
Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2000 05:02:32 GMT
At a command line run "Xconfigurator" and play with that until you get
the right setting....
Shawn Duffy
------------------------------
From: Karl Gibbs <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.systems
Subject: Re: VIA vs Intel chipsets - which is better?
Date: Wed, 08 Mar 2000 21:13:21 -0800
"Keith R. Williams" wrote:
> Forget it Paul. Ron picked on the wrong person in this group.
> Deano is fair game, but he doesn't sell anymore. Hmmm.
>
> It must be lonely over on .storage for Ron to pick fights on
> chips. BTW, my favorite tommie is making an ass outof himself
> over there too. Too bad I don' thave time to chase.
>
> Anyway, I will stand 100% behind John Howland's reputation. I've
> never met the man, but have done business with him. I was very
> pleasantly surprised at the service I recieved (he went out of
> his way finding what I wanted). Yes, I paid a small premium
> dealing with a 7.0 on the Richter (err, pricewatch - sorry bad
> vibes for those on the left coast eh? ;-) scale.
>
> ----
> Keith
Lately I just just lurk/scan the group but I have to jump in with Keith
on this one......
A couple of years ago, just before Christmas I got two bad ABIT PN5
M/B's in a row from a mail order so I called John Howland on 12/23/98.
He didn't sell ABIT but one of his suppliers had ASUS SP97-V's in stock
(which he didn't sell). He got one and I drove over on Christmas Eve and
picked it up. By Christmas morning the gift was assembled and
working...... We were both in a hurry so I didn't get a chance to really
meet him but I will say "nice Chrismas tree and beautiful family" and
great service.
John charges a little extra on the purchase but provides better value by
working with you on the order and answering your questions after the
sale..
I've always respected Dean in the N/G's (one of the few that has a grip
on the market... both from a consumer and supplier view) but haven't
had the opportunity to meet or do biz with him. Give him a few years and
he will be posting from [EMAIL PROTECTED] ;-)
Seen Ron in alot of the N/G's. He gets the same respect here as he gets
elsewhere.... Give him a few years and he will be posting from
[EMAIL PROTECTED] ;-)
regards,
karl
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (John Doe)
Subject: Re: Dell OptiPlex GX300/Intel 820 chipset
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: 9 Mar 2000 00:21:10 -0500
Hooray!
Intel web site has an rpm for the chipset. I have it
up and running nicely. One evening down the drain, though
On 5 Mar 2000 22:59:04 -0500, John Doe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>Don't know about 820. I just got myself gx100 with 810
>chipset. It doesn't work. Yikes.
>
>
>On 03 Mar 2000 21:01:24 +0100, Konrad Hinsen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>Does anyone know if the new Dell OptiPlex GX300 works under Linux?
>>It uses the Intel 820 chipset, which is rather new. I couldn't find
>>any information about Linux/Intel 820 compatibility, and the OptiPlex GX300
>>is suspiciously absent from RedHat's list of Dell machines certified
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (matthew neil garman)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.misc
Subject: caller id solutions
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2000 05:32:30 GMT
Hello:
My roommates and I recently got caller id for our apartment. I'd like to
have caller id functionality on my computer.
I checked freshmeat for available caller id software, and couldn't really
find anything I particularly liked.
Right now I simply have minicom running, and any messages from the modem
are echoed to the screen (in particular, caller id information). The
problem with this "solution" though is that minicom locks the modem. So
to use ppp, I have to quit minicom, then restart minicom after ending ppp.
I was wondering if there is a simple way to use built-in Linux
functionality to monitor caller id. What I would like is to have
something (e.g. syslog) log caller id information from the modem, without
locking the device. Ideally, I would have a log such as
/var/log/caller_id.log, then open up a small xterm and run "tail" on
/var/log/caller_id.log. This way, the most recent caller is always
displayed in the xterm, and I have scrollback history.
Does anyone know if I can implement such a thing relatively simply?
Thanks,
Matt
------------------------------
From: Greg Leblanc <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: kernel oops with more ram
Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2000 05:47:06 GMT
AMD k6-2 300, 2x64MB dimms, 1x128MB dimm. MSI-5169 rev 2 motherboard.
I just snagged that 128dimm today, and put it in my computer. When I
change the boot command line from 'linux mem=128M' to 'linux mem=256M',
the machine crashed hard with a kernel oops.
Here is the output from that crash:
PCI: Probing PCI hardware
kmem_alloc: Bad slab magic (corrupt) (name=size-32)
pci: out of memory range for bridge.
kmem_alloc: Bad slab magic (corrupt) (name=size-32)
Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address
00000028
current->tss.cr3 = 00101000, %cr3 = 00101000
*pde = 00000000
Oops: 0000
CPU: 0
EIP: 0010:[<c01403eb>]
EFLAGS: 00010202
eax: 00000000 ebx: c021d080 ecx: 00000001 edx: 00000001
esi: 00000000 edi: c024b2a0 ebp: 000007be esp: cfffbfbc
ds: 0018 es: 0018 ss: 0018
Process swapper (pid: 1, process nr: 1, stackpage=cfffb000)
Stack: c022b966 00000000 c021d080 c01fb52e 00004000 cfffe4a0 c022b865
c024b280
c0106000 c0222c1c c0106093 00000f00 c0221fd8 c010890f 00000000
00000000
00098800
Call Trade: [<c01fb52e>] [<c0106000>] [<c0106093>] [<c010890f>]
Code: 8b 46 28 89 43 20 89 73 24 89 5e 28 66 8b 43 08 25 00 f0 ff
Can anybody read that? Anybody have suggestions on what to do about
it? Thanks!
Greg
--
It's pronounced "sexy" not "scuzzy"!
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (matthew neil garman)
Subject: network cards
Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2000 06:03:47 GMT
I need to get two PCI network cards and one ISA network card for some home
networking.
I checked pricewatch's listing of PCI 10/100 mb/s cards. Am I "linux
safe" just getting one of the el-cheapos, such as RealTek?
What about ISA ethernet cards? My roommate's computer is an old 486sx
with only ISA slots. I haven't dealt with ISA in years, so I'm not sure
what I should get. Do 100mb/s ISA NICs exist, or is the ISA bus too slow
to make that practical? I just want a card that works under Linux and is
cheap.
Thanks,
Matt
------------------------------
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End of Linux-Hardware Digest
******************************
