Linux-Hardware Digest #342, Volume #13 Wed, 2 Aug 00 11:13:08 EDT
Contents:
Re: Ultra 66 Promise cards - Ultra66.txt (Andarius)
best distro for old machine ("Guillaume")
Re: Why is Athon 650 slower than P-II/400? !!!SOLVED!!! (sideband)
Re: getting dsl, what h/w should i get? ("B. Joshua Rosen")
Re: SCSI HP Scanner: Sane works, XSane doesn't ("Alastair (LiQUiDx) Tse")
Re: SCSI HP Scanner: Sane works, XSane doesn't ("Tito")
Re: best distro for old machine (mst)
Re: slow PIII850MHz performance... ("B. Joshua Rosen")
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Andarius <Andarius>
Subject: Re: Ultra 66 Promise cards - Ultra66.txt
Date: Wed, 02 Aug 2000 09:10:21 -0500
----=_duagos4b0qts6n31jqqtm5d9pugvhv8mhh.MFSBCHJLHS
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
On Tue, 20 Jun 2000 18:42:29 GMT, Stephen Greene <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
>Hi,
>Does anyone know how to configure linux to work with promises'
>Ultra 66 pci card?
>I have downloaded drivers from the promise site, unfortunatly they
>don't come with any hints!
>Thanks
>
>- Stephen Greene
Clipped from the site that helped me!
----=_duagos4b0qts6n31jqqtm5d9pugvhv8mhh.MFSBCHJLHS
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; name=Ultra66.txt
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=Ultra66.txt
5. Offboard PCI UDMA interfaces
These are UDMA interfaces on PCI cards that can be used to add UDMA support to an
existing computer without replacing
the motherboard, or for adding support for an additional four drives to a machine
which has had its onboard interfaces filled.
They can also be found preinstalled in some computers, especially Gateway 2000 and
Dell machines.
Most of them are not supported by the old stable kernels (2.0.x), but many should work
with a 2.2.x kernel - the Red Hat
6.0 and SuSE 6.1 distributions are based on 2.2.x kernels, as are the most recent
versions of most other distros. However
some of the latest cards (the Promise Ultra66 for instance) won't work even with the
current 2.2.x kernels, if you have this or
can't get a newer distribution then you must apply a kernel patch or upgrade to a
newer kernel version. If you need to install
Linux onto a hard drive on one of these interfaces in this case, you will need to use
a few odd tricks.
5.1 Promise Ultra33
This is a PCI card that has two UDMA channels on it, supporting up to four drives
total. You can look up specifications &
pricing at http://www.promise.com. This card shipped in early model Gateway 2000
Pentium II systems.
Kernels 2.0.35 and later and all 2.2.x kernels support the Ultra33 and you should have
no trouble installing a distribution that
uses these kernels. However, the older stable kernels (2.0.34 and below) do not, and
since most older Linux distributions
include these older kernels it can be a little difficult to get Linux installed if you
can't or don't want to use a newer version (for
instance if you are standardized on a particular version of a distribution throughout
your organization).
Installing Linux with the Ultra33
Although there is a patch for the Ultra33 interface, it is not very easy to apply a
patch and recompile your kernel if you have
not installed Linux yet! So, here is a workaround which allows you to install. Thanks
to Gadi Oxman for the following
information on getting the interface settings:
If we can access the console with the installation disk, we can also
use "cat /proc/pci" to display the Promise interface settings:
RAID bus interface: Promise Technology Unknown device (rev 1).
Vendor id=105a. Device id=4d33.
Medium devsel. IRQ 12. Master Capable. Latency=32.
I/O at 0xe000. (a)
I/O at 0xd804. (b)
I/O at 0xd400. (c)
I/O at 0xd004. (d)
I/O at 0xc800. (e)
and pass "ide2=a,b+2 ide3=c,d+2" as a command line parameter to the kernel.
Note that the numbers probably are not the same as what you will have. Just as an
example, the parameters to use for the
above set of numbers would be ``ide2=0xe000,0xd806 ide3=0xd400,0xd006''. If you are
only using the first channel on
the Ultra33 (for instance, if you only have one drive, or two if they are master and
slave on the same channel), then you won't
need to specify ide3.
Red Hat 5.1: Boot with the boot diskette and press enter when prompted. The kernel
will load, and then you will be asked
for a language, keyboard type, and installation method. You may be prompted for
additional information about the source
media; it doesn't matter right now what you tell it as long as you can get to the next
step. Next you should see a screen titled
``Select Installation Path''; press Alt-F2 now to get to a command prompt. Run ``cat
/proc/pci'', write down the numbers
as above, and reboot from the boot disk. This time, type ``linux ide2= (this is where
you put the numbers like shown
above) ide3=(more numbers)''. It should now be able to install onto your hard disk
without difficulty, however LILO will
probably not be able to install; instead make a boot floppy and boot it with the same
parameters until you can patch LILO
and and the kernel.
Red Hat 5.0 and Slackware 3.4: These are similar, but with the wrinkle that the setup
programs ignore /dev/hde-h (the
drives on ide2 and ide3). In order to install to or from these drives it is necessary
to override one or both of the onboard
interface's channels. However be sure not to override a device that you need to
install; for instance if you are installing from a
CD-ROM drive on /dev/hdd (ide1 - onboard interface) to a hard drive on /dev/hde (ide2
- the Ultra33), you should
override the non-essential ide0 with ide2 and leave ide1 intact. Assuming the numbers
above you would boot with
``ide0=0xe000,0xd806''. Red Hat 5.0 will give you a shell prompt if you use the rescue
disk capability, and Slackware
includes a shell in the regular installation process. However Red Hat 5.0 is difficult
to boot after installation; if you have
problems you could try downloading a Slackware boot disk from
ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/linux/slackware-3.5/bootdsks.144/ and using that to boot.
With another Linux distribution you will have to improvise a bit, but the process
should be about the same as the above.
IMPORTANT: Without the patch (discussed in the section Unified IDE), the kernel needs
these boot parameters in order
to access your hard disk! Therefore it is very important that when you configure LILO,
either on the hard disk or on a boot
floppy, that you give it the exact same parameters that you gave when installing.
Otherwise your system won't boot! It
should be possible to give them to LILO when you boot (ie, press Shift, type in
``linux ide2=.....'' each time you boot),
but only if you kept the numbers! It is recommended that you patch your kernel as soon
as possible so you will not have to
worry about that anymore; once you are booting with a patched kernel, you can get rid
of the boot parameters. Also, as far
as I know there is no way to pass boot parameters to a plain kernel boot floppy (as
made with ``make zdisk''), you must
use LILO or another loader (such as LOADLIN) that lets you pass boot parameters.
However, unpatched kernels and installation programs often have a difficult time
actually using ide2 and ide3, even if the
drives are detected properly. So if you can't get Linux to install using the above
technique, try specifying ide0 or ide1 instead
of ide2 or ide3 (thanks to Martin Gaitan for this technique). This essentially
replaces the on-board interface with the Promise
Ultra33 as far as the kernel is concerned, and you can follow the directions in the
next section as if you had physically moved
it. Note that if you're using an IDE CD-ROM drive connected to your on-board interface
to install from, you will want to
make sure that you do not take over the interface that the CD is on or you will not be
able to install! If the CD is hda or hdb,
use ide1 for your hard drive, and if it is hdc or hdd, then use ide0.
Installing Linux Around the Ultra33
If you cannot get the software workaround to work, you will have to try a more brute
force approach. Here's an alternative
method that is virtually guaranteed to work, but will require you to open up your
computer and mess about in it. NOTE: If
you are not familiar with the process of connecting and disconnecting IDE drives, read
the manuals that came with your
computer, your hard drive, and/or the Promise Ultra33 before attempting this! If you
screw something up and don't know
how to put it back, you could end up being sorry!
That being said, it's all really quite simple. Most motherboards these days have
built-in EIDE interfaces. Disconnect your hard
drive from the Ultra33 and connect it to the onboard interface. If you have other IDE
devices, such as a CD-ROM, tape, or
ZIP drive, on your oboard interface, it is easiest if you either add the hard drive on
an unused channel (the secondary instead
of the primary) or temporarily displace a device that you don not need immediately
(such as ZIP or tape). Install Linux.
Download and apply the Promise UDMA patch (see next section).
Now you are ready to move the drive back onto the Promise... almost. To be safe, make
a kernel-image boot floppy (cd
/usr/src/linux ; make zdisk), which you will be able to use to boot your system in
case LILO doesn't work.
Actually, to be very safe, make two and put one away for now.
Okay, now it is time to think a little... if you have just one hard drive and it is
going to be on the Promise, then it will most
likely be /dev/hde (a and b are for the primary onboard interface, c and d for the
secondary onboard interface). If you are
going to put any other drives on it, then the slave of the Promise's first channel
will be /dev/hdf, the master of the second
will be /dev/hdg, and the slave of the second will be /dev/hdh.
Edit /etc/fstab, and change all the partitions of the hard drives you are moving from
the onboard drives (/dev/hda, hdb,
etc) to their new locations on the Promise (/dev/hde, hdf, etc). If you had to
displace any devices (such as a CD-ROM or
ZIP drive) that you want to leave on the onboard interface, then change them to their
new locations as well. For instance, if
your CD-ROM was originally the master on the primary channel (/dev/hda), but you put
your hard disk there and had to
bump the CD to the slave (/dev/hdb) or to the secondary channel (/dev/hdc), and now
you want to put it back, then
change it to /dev/hda.
If you are using LILO, reconfigure LILO to use the new location of the drive (LILO
configuration is beyond the scope of this
document, if you do not know how, read the LILO mini-HOWTO), or else it probably will
not be able to boot unless you
use that boot floppy I had you make, which you will also want to configure to boot off
the new partition. This is done using
the rdev command. Put the floppy in the drive and type ``rdev /dev/fd0 /dev/hde1''. Of
course that's assuming your
root partition is the first on your first UDMA drive. If not (mine is /dev/hde7, for
instance), then obviously use the
appropriate partition number!
Reboot. Your system should now work fine.
Patching for the Ultra33
Kernels 2.0.35 and later support the Promise Ultra33 natively; download an upgrade
from your Linux distribution or from
http://www.kernel.org.
For instructions on how to compile the kernel, read the Kernel HOWTO.
Using two Ultra33 cards in one machine
This is currently not working correctly... don't do it right now unless you're willing
to fiddle with the kernel to try to get things
to work.
5.2 Promise Ultra66
This is essentially the same as the Ultra33 with support for the new UDMA mode 4 66
MB/sec transfer speed. Unfortunately
it is not yet supported by 2.2.x kernels.
There is a patch for 2.0.x and 2.2.x kernels availabe at
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/hedrick, and support is
included in the 2.3.x development kernel series at least as of 2.3.3.
However to get far enough to patch or upgrade the kernel you'll have to pull the same
dirty tricks as for the Ultra33 as in the
section above, or else use a boot disk image provided by Promise
5.3 Artop ATP850UF
This card is supported by the unified IDE code. Installation of Linux onto a system
with one of these as the interface for the
target disk may be similar to the workarounds for the Promise Ultra33.
5.4 Adding device files
The tertiary and quaternary IDE interfaces (ide2 and ide3) use device files of the
form /dev/hde* through /dev/hdh*. On
older kernels these devices were not automatically created, so you may need to add
them manually for things to work
properly.
This can be done easily if you have a current copy of the Linux kernel source
installed; simply run
/usr/src/linux/scripts/MAKEDEV.ide and it will create all relevant device files.
----=_duagos4b0qts6n31jqqtm5d9pugvhv8mhh.MFSBCHJLHS--
------------------------------
From: "Guillaume" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: best distro for old machine
Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2000 16:28:03 +0200
Hi,
i have a 486 DX (33MHz) with 8Mo RAM 230Mo HD and two 3com 3c509b cards in.
I plane to configure it as a router (maybe firewalled), so i'm looking for a
the good linux (or BSD) distribution.
I think the potential problem are:
3com 3c509b driver
203 Mo of HD
my knowledge about linux is limited to Redhat like distribution...
Does anyone have some advice?
Excuse my poor english!
Guillaume.
--
------------------------------
From: sideband <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.setup
Subject: Re: Why is Athon 650 slower than P-II/400? !!!SOLVED!!!
Date: Wed, 02 Aug 2000 10:28:54 -0400
Heh...
Sorry, I just had to... Usually, barring bad hardware, the BIOS is at fault...
I still think the dual processor setup would be faster than a single processor,
provided all apps and the OS itself is optimized for those dual processors....
But that's just my two cents...
-SSB
James Knowles wrote:
> > <grin> Don't take this the wrong way... but I TOLD you it was in the BIOS!
> > </grin>
>
> <g> I can't argue. It *was*... after a manner of speaking. <g>
>
> --
> An adventure is the deliberate, volitional movement out of the comfort
> zone.
> - James W. Newman
------------------------------
From: "B. Joshua Rosen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: getting dsl, what h/w should i get?
Date: Wed, 02 Aug 2000 10:33:54 -0400
No No No you don't want any kind of internal modem, you need an external
ethernet modem, I've got a Cisco 675 works great. Also when picking a
DSL provider, assuming that you have any choice, try to find one that
will give you a fixed IP address and uses plain TCP/IP rather than
PPPOE. PPPOE does work on Linux but I gather it's still a little flaky.
Go to http://www.dslreports.com to check out providers and to see who is
available to you. I'm using phoenixdsl and I'm very happy. They are a
Linux friendly ISP. I expect that most of the independents will support
Linux, the baby bells don't.
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] says...
> > On Mon, 31 Jul 2000 23:47:54 -0700, Ray Tayek <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > >In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> > >[EMAIL PROTECTED] says...
> > >> On Mon, 31 Jul 2000 20:42:39 -0700, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > >> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > >> >
> > >> >hi, hope to get dsl rsn. ...
> > >
> > >.... i was more concerned with linux problems. my understanding was
> > >that there was a limited set of device drivers available ...
>
> > The only gotcha is the DSL modem. Do not wind up with a PCI or USB,...
>
> ok, i will make sure i use a isa modem.
>
> thanks for the tip!
> --
> Ray (will hack java for food) http://home.pacbell.net/rtayek/
> vice chair orange county java users group http://www.ocjug.org/
> want privacy? http://www.freedom.net/
> hate spam? http://samspade.org/ssw/
------------------------------
From: "Alastair (LiQUiDx) Tse" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: alt.os.linux,alt.uu.comp.os.linux.questions
Subject: Re: SCSI HP Scanner: Sane works, XSane doesn't
Date: Wed, 02 Aug 2000 14:38:22 GMT
Tito wrote:
>
> Hey all I finally got Linux to recognize my SCSI HP ScanJet (this involved
> painfully getting another card) and sane and xscanimage run fine. The thing
> is, when I run xsane, it gives me an error, saying "no devices available."
> On bootup the scsi host and scanner are detected, and my advansys module and
> sg modules are loaded (even though it says they are used by 0). Does anyone
> have any ideas on how to get xsane to work? Any help would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks in advance.
I've got a HP Scanner 5P - I've only recently (2 days ago) got it to
work.
Emm, 2 things i found caused me alot of distress :
1. Sane 1.0.2 didn't see mto fit well for me - it would comsume 100% CPU
and randomly hardlock my computer if i tried to use
scanimage/xscanimage/xsane. Maybe something to do with th new XF4.0.1 or
something ?? So I'm using Sane 1.0.1
2. Run XSane in root.
I know it gives you a warning, but thats the only way i got it to work,
because basically it needs accesss to /dev/sg2 (in my case, may be
sg0~5). Unless u wanna change the permissions on the scsi device, your
user won't be able to detect it .
hope it helps,
alastair.
------------------------------
From: "Tito" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: alt.os.linux,alt.uu.comp.os.linux.questions
Subject: Re: SCSI HP Scanner: Sane works, XSane doesn't
Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2000 10:45:11 -0400
Thanks for your help, but even running as root won't solve the problem. I
think I'm gonna give up and just wait for another version of xsane to come
out or something....oh well. Thanks anyway
"Alastair (LiQUiDx) Tse" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> I've got a HP Scanner 5P - I've only recently (2 days ago) got it to
> work.
>
> Emm, 2 things i found caused me alot of distress :
>
> 1. Sane 1.0.2 didn't see mto fit well for me - it would comsume 100% CPU
> and randomly hardlock my computer if i tried to use
> scanimage/xscanimage/xsane. Maybe something to do with th new XF4.0.1 or
> something ?? So I'm using Sane 1.0.1
>
> 2. Run XSane in root.
>
> I know it gives you a warning, but thats the only way i got it to work,
> because basically it needs accesss to /dev/sg2 (in my case, may be
> sg0~5). Unless u wanna change the permissions on the scsi device, your
> user won't be able to detect it .
>
> hope it helps,
>
> alastair.
------------------------------
From: mst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: best distro for old machine
Date: Wed, 02 Aug 2000 10:45:57 -0400
Guillaume wrote:
>
> Hi,
> i have a 486 DX (33MHz) with 8Mo RAM 230Mo HD and two 3com 3c509b cards in.
> I plane to configure it as a router (maybe firewalled), so i'm looking for a
> the good linux (or BSD) distribution.
>
> I think the potential problem are:
> 3com 3c509b driver
> 203 Mo of HD
> my knowledge about linux is limited to Redhat like distribution...
>
I've had very good luck with Slackware (http://slackware.com,
ftp://ftp.freesoftware.com/pub/slackware) on older machines. I've been
running Slack 7.0 for almost a year on a 486dx2/50 with 32M RAM, 500M
disk, using SMC 8416T and 3c509 NICs, never had a problem. Even X is not
too slow :)
However, you should try to put a *little* more RAM in there, say at
least another 8M, since you're very close to the absolute minimum.
MST
------------------------------
From: "B. Joshua Rosen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: slow PIII850MHz performance...
Date: Wed, 02 Aug 2000 10:56:35 -0400
Is linux recognizing all of your memory?, if Linux is only seeing 64M
that could be your problem. Also check to see if dma is enabled on your
disk,
hdparm /dev/hda
if dma is off then do
hdparm -d1 /dev/hda
EKK wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> We recently bought a dual PIII machine with this motherboard
> and hard drive, CPU, etc.:
>
> TYAN TIGER 133 (VIA APOLLO PRO 133A) (Slot 1)
> (VT82C596B)
> WINBOND W83977ATF Super I/O CHIP
>
> IBM DTLA 307045 (45GB IDE UDMA66)
>
> 2 x PIII-850MHz
>
> 1GB RAM
>
> Redhat 6.1
>
> Now, this runs at 100Mhz, got PC100 memory.
> I run the same analysis code, compiled with g77,
> as a benchmark. I have two other machines:
>
> PII450MHz and PIII650MHz.
>
> The 650 is approx. 1.4 times faster than 450.
>
> BUT
>
> The 850 is approx. 1.1 times faster than 450.
>
> !!!!!!
>
> No matter what I do to the bios settings, I still
> get this problem.
>
> I compiled the kernel for SMP, and included the
> VT82***** IDE chipset option, since that's the
> chip on this motherboard.
>
> I cannot figure out why this is SOOO SLOW!!!!!!
>
> Anybody had a similar experience???? Is it the
> mboard?
>
> Thank you,
>
> AG
> --
>
> Alessandro Giachino, Software Engineer
>
> EKK Inc.
> 2065 West Maple C309 tel. 248-624-9957
> Walled Lake MI 48390 fax. 248-624-7158
> _____________________________________________
> http://www.ekkinc.com
------------------------------
** FOR YOUR REFERENCE **
The service address, to which questions about the list itself and requests
to be added to or deleted from it should be directed, is:
Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
You can send mail to the entire list (and comp.os.linux.hardware) via:
Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Linux may be obtained via one of these FTP sites:
ftp.funet.fi pub/Linux
tsx-11.mit.edu pub/linux
sunsite.unc.edu pub/Linux
End of Linux-Hardware Digest
******************************
