>
> Does anyone know of a distribution that supports MicroChannel Architecture?
> We have an old PS/2 model 90 at work that we're considering installing Linux
> on, but neither Red Hat 6, nor Mandrake 6 appear to support MCA. BTW, this
> is an all-SCSI machine using an IBM (proprietary?) SCSI controller, which
> doesn't show up on the list of supported SCSI controllers. To me, this means
> no MCA support. :-(
> Thanks...
> John
>
John, i have no experiance with this type of machine, however the following
text excerpts are from /usr/src/linux/Documentation/Configure.help, i trust
they will be of some help.
PS/2 ESDI hard disk support
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_PS2
Say Y here if you have a PS/2 machine with a MCA bus and an ESDI
hard disk.
MCA support
CONFIG_MCA
MicroChannel Architecture is found in some IBM PS/2 machines and
laptops. It is a bus system similar to PCI or ISA. See
Documentation/mca.txt (and especially the web page given there)
before attempting to build an MCA bus kernel.
Future Domain MCS-600/700 SCSI support
CONFIG_SCSI_FD_MCS
This is support for Future Domain MCS 600/700 MCA SCSI adapters. Some
PS/2 computers are equipped with IBM Fast SCSI Adapter/A which is
identical to the MCS 700 and hence also supported by this driver.
This driver also supports the Reply SB16/SCSI card (the SCSI part).
It supports multiple adapters in the same system.
IBMMCA SCSI support
CONFIG_SCSI_IBMMCA
This is support for the IBM SCSI adapter found in many of the PS/2
series computers. These machines have an MCA bus, so you need to
answer Y to "MCA support" as well and read Documentation/mca.txt.
If the adapter isn't found during boot (a common problem for models
56, 57, 76, and 77) you'll need to use the 'ibmmcascsi=<pun>' kernel
option, where <pun> is the id of the SCSI subsystem (usually 7, but
if that doesn't work check your reference diskette). Owners of model
95 with a LED-matrix-display can in addition activate some activity
info like under OS/2, but more informative, by setting
'ibmmcascsi=display' as an additional kernel parameter. Try "man
bootparam" or see the documentation of your boot loader about how to
pass options to the kernel. The lilo procedure is also explained in
the SCSI-HOWTO, available via FTP (user: anonymous) in
ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO.
If you want to compile this driver as a module ( = code which can be
inserted in and removed from the running kernel whenever you want),
say M here and read Documentation/modules.txt. The module will be
called ibmmca.o.
CONFIG_IBMMCA_SCSI_ORDER_STANDARD
In the PC-world and in most modern SCSI-BIOS-setups, SCSI-hard disks
are assigned to the drive letters, starting with the lowest SCSI-id
(physical number -- pun) to be drive C:, as seen from DOS and
similar operating systems. When looking into papers describing the
ANSI-SCSI-standard, this assignment of drives appears to be wrong.
The SCSI-standard follows a hardware-hierarchy which says that id 7
has the highest priority and id 0 the lowest. Therefore, the host
adapters are still today everywhere placed as SCSI-id 7 by default.
In the SCSI-standard, the drive letters express the priority of the
disk. C: should be the hard disk, or a partition on it, with the
highest priority. This must therefore be the disk with the highest
SCSI-id (e.g. 6) and not the one with the lowest! IBM-BIOS kept the
original definition of the SCSI-standard as also industrial- and
process-control-machines, like VME-CPUs running under realtime-OSs
(e.g. LynxOS, OS9) do.
If you like to run Linux on your MCA-machine with the same
assignment of hard disks as seen from e.g. DOS or OS/2 on your
machine, which is in addition conformant to the SCSI-standard, you
must say Y here. This is also necessary for MCA-Linux users who want
to keep downward compatibility to older releases of the
IBM-MCA-SCSI-driver (older than driver-release 2.00 and older than
June 1997).
Reset SCSI-devices at boot time
CONFIG_IBMMCA_SCSI_DEV_RESET
By default, SCSI-devices are reset when the machine is powered on.
However, some devices exist, like special-control-devices,
SCSI-CNC-machines, SCSI-printer or scanners of older type, that do
not reset when switched on. If you say Y here, each device connected
to your SCSI-bus will be issued a reset-command after it has been
probed, while the kernel is booting. This may cause problems with
more modern devices, like hard disks, which do not appreciate these
reset commands, and can cause your system to hang. So say Y only if
you know that one of your older devices needs it; N is the safe
answer.
NCR 53C9x MCA support
CONFIG_SCSI_MCA_53C9X
Some Microchannel machines, notably the NCR 35xx line, use a SCSI
controller based on the NCR 53C94. This driver will allow use of
the controller on the 3550, and very possibly others.
If you want to compile this as a module (= code which can be
inserted and removed from the running kernel whenever you want), say
M here and read Documentation/modules.txt. The module will be called
mca_53c9x.o.
SMC Ultra MCA support
CONFIG_ULTRAMCA
If you have a network (Ethernet) card of this type and are running
an MCA based system (PS/2), say Y and read
the Ethernet-HOWTO, available via FTP (user: anonymous) in
ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO.
If you have a PCI NE2000 card however, say N here and Y to "PCI
NE2000 support", above. If you have a NE2000 card and are running on
an MCA system (a bus system used on some IBM PS/2 computers and
laptops), say N here and Y to "NE/2 (ne2000 MCA version) support",
below.
There is a another file; /usr/src/linux/Documantation/mca.txt
I dont know if all the above is relavant, at least there seems to be enought
kernel support, so why should there be any trouble installing different
distro's.
I hope some of this helps.
--
Regards Richard.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
