Doug Gough wrote: >On the older promise cards, you had to pass some parameters to the kernel at >boot time. If you download the FastTrak66 Red Hat Linux Driver from thier >site, and untar it, you will find some readme files that explain what these >parameters are. I don't know if it will work for you, but it's worth a try. > >Doug Gough > >-----Original Message----- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of msh >Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2002 10:16 PM >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: [expert] Is the Promise PDC20276 ATA133 RAID controller chipset >supported byMDK8.2 > > >I have a MSI Ultra-ARU motherboard, which has the Promise PDC20276 >ATA133 RAID controller chipset on the mainboard, I've checked the >Promise website and they list the controller as being supported by >RedHat Linux, > > > >http://www.linux-ide.org/chipsets.html also lists the chipset as >supported. > >When I hook up IDE drives to the onboard connectors controlled by the >PDC20276 Hardrake doesn't see them. > >Has anybody got any suggestions on what to try next? > > > > > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? >Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com > No
Promise might make available a driver for Mandrake, but that is their affair. The IDE RAID claimed to be hardware and actually a BIOS extension is unnecessary for linux to run a RAID, since the Linux Software RAID is far more robust and flexible. It is possible with the current kernel to read WinRAID partitions, and Making Windows IDE RAIDs is precisely what that board is good for. But the ATA133 driver from Promise for Linux kernel (and therefore all distros) is buggy. A revision has been released by Promise, and will be incorporated in a kernel update that will be available as the product hits the shelves, but it still won't use the RAID controller for RAID creation under linux. That is because the RAID controller is a PROM that extends the BIOS calls to make RAID0 RAID1 and RAID0+1 possible. It is software, proprietary and secret, in a hardware guise. If you want real hardware IDE RAID, look at arco or at the Promise Supertrak, which have real hardware. The Arco controller is OS independent and totally transparent--just looks like a single disk to the OS. The Supertrak has a GPLed linux driver from Promise... probably because it is real hardware and there is no IP to protect by keeping the driver secret. Civileme
Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
