First of all, the kernel I would use with BasicLinux has to support the SCSI and
not bomb out when I try to mount the Zip 250 or CD-ROM. I think Slackware 3.5
kernels were not stable for this.
I downloaded a Slackware package for parted 1.49 (partition editor), would that
be usable with Basic Linux? I want to see if I can again find the partitions of
the second hard disk. On June 28 I again lost access to both hard disks under
DR-DOS 7.03, and the BIOS/CMOS would no longer detect either disk. So I booted
Linux installation diskettes or images with hard disks not recognized by the
BIOS, fdisk /dev/hda could not open /dev/hda, while fdisk /dev/hdb and 'p'
showed the partitions as I last set them, but still not mountable. I suspect
something was hopelessly overwritten. First hard disk has one mounting-screw
hole blocked as if by a broken-off previous screw, so maybe the drive slipped
there since I can't make a new screw hold?
Now the Iomega external SCSI Zip 250 drive is acting strange when I change disks
under DR-DOS 7.03. DIR shows directories and disk space of the previous disk,
Zip drive doesn't know to read the newly inserted disk. Going bad? I already
had a Zip 100 go bad. In that case Zip 100 disks were always ejected shortly
after insertion, before I could do any reading or writing. Same with the SyJet,
which is orphaned by Syquest's bankruptcy.
