Linux-Hardware Digest #845, Volume #10 Sun, 25 Jul 99 15:13:34 EDT
Contents:
Re: SuSe + Hardrive partitioning ("Davies")
Re: Soundblaster Live (Value) / S/PDIF (Marc Mutz)
trident cyber 9385 with tft-display (christian solf)
Re: Fujitsu MO ATAPI (Marc Mutz)
Re: spin down HDD (Simon Hosie)
Mic working on Ensoniq AudioPCI es1370? (Petter Reinholdtsen)
Soundblaster Live - SuSE 6.0 (chad evan peiper)
Re: XServer problems with Ati Rage 128 ("Richard S")
Re: #@$%&%( WINMODEMS are a pain in the A#$^& (Scott Marlowe)
Re: Ensoniq AudioPCI and microphone weirdness ? (cirrus)
Re: spindle count and RAID performance [was: RAID controler-RAID 5 (Scott Marlowe)
Re: is Conexant SoftK56 a winmodem?? (Matt Gullam)
cdrecord help (possible SCSI error) (Matt Garman)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Davies" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: SuSe + Hardrive partitioning
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 1999 17:27:47 +0100
One trick I found with SuSE is to disable installation of Applixware first.
Then move /opt to /usr/opt or wherever. You can then install any commercial
progs you want.
Otherwise you need a vast '/' to install anything, which is INMHO not a good
idea.
Unfortunately SuSE 6.1 installs KDE and Applix etc in the root partition
unless you
set up a seperate /opt. Caldera OL 2.2 makes a soft link /opt -> /usr/opt
which is nice.
I prefer partitioning for reliability reasons, it's easy enough to mount a
spare partition,
if you need to for something like htdig, but why oh why is it needing so
much in /tmp?
Perhaps TMPDIR=/var/tmp would move the files? If not I'd say htdig needs
some maintenance
fixes.
No point in having more than 128MB as the swap partition (it doesn't need a
directory BTW,
as it's not mounted as a normal file system.
Generally I'd have /boot under /, observing the 1024 cylinder BIOS limit.
Try to keep / relatively
small, sadly linux seems to need 100MB in root or so, with the installs I've
tried.
/tmp and /var seperate is good as it lessens chance of corruption in /. /
shouldn't be having
much writing in normal use.
I'd make /usr bigger, swallow up /usr/src and /usr/local, having them all
under /usr.
Basically I'm suggesting making /usr the vast partition, use it for /opt,
and the other sub-partitions.
You might like to think about the partitions with most activity, keep /tmp
near /var, temporaries
and spools near the disk centre, large partitions like /usr are going to
have long seeks anyway
so you shouldn't worry too much about those. Again / and swap should be
quiet, so generally
I have them in the low cylinder numbers.
Rob
Michael Borgwardt wrote in message
<7na17h$ui$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
>In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> David Reiff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>
>>> Hello group,
>>>
>>> I have a 8GB hardrive ready to install SuSe 6.1. I not sure how
>>> many or how large partitions should be. The SuSe installation guide
>>> does not recommend partition/size. I have cooked up a rough sketch
>>> as a guide.
>>>
>>> If anyone has done this before I will greatly appreciate your input(add
>>> partition, delete partition, change size, etc.)Here is what I have done
>>>
>>> partition size mount point inode partition type
>>> ----------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> hda1 120M / 2048 linux native
>>> hda2 10M /boot 1024 linux native
>>> hda3 4000M /usr/local 40960 linux native
>>> hda5 520M /usr/src 8192 linux native
>>> hda6 500M /var 8192 linux native
>>> hda7 2600M /home 4096 linux native
>>> hda8 100M /tmp 2048 linux native
>>> hda9 10M / MSDos
>>> hda10 140M /swap swap
>>>
>>> Will this suffice?
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 1999 13:30:13 +0200
From: Marc Mutz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Soundblaster Live (Value) / S/PDIF
Stefan Lewandowski wrote:
>
<snip>
> Is the S/PDIF supported yet?
<snip>
The Value edition should not have a S/PDIF, should it? A $50 card with
dig IO???
Marc
--
Marc Mutz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://marc.mutz.com/
University of Bielefeld, Dep. of Mathematics / Dep. of Physics
PGP-keyID's: 0xd46ce9ab (RSA), 0x7ae55b9e (DSS/DH)
------------------------------
From: christian solf <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: trident cyber 9385 with tft-display
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 1999 17:53:29 +0200
hi there,
im using linux on a laptop (fujutsi liteline) with a tft-display and a
trident cyber 9385 graphic chip. i was able to start x-windows, but the
display looked weird and there are some serious bugs reported about
damaged tft-displays when using xfree86 on this hardware. i'd like to
know if there is a bugfix for this problem available. i also would
appreciate hints about where i could find more informations about this
problem.
thanks a lot, christian
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 1999 13:23:05 +0200
From: Marc Mutz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Fujitsu MO ATAPI
Mike Westall wrote:
>
> I have the SCSI version and it works OK. I do seem to remember some
> strange stuff though regarding whether it should be addressed as /dev/sda
> or /dev/sda1. I normally use FAT formatted media and /dev/sda works OK.
> I have used ext2 and possibly it was in that case that I had to call it
> /dev/sda1
> when mounting and/or building the file system.
>
The difference is:
- use /dev/sda if you want to use (or used) the so-called superfloppy
format, ie. a medium that is _not_ partitioned.
- use /dev/sda1 if you want to use (or used) partitioned a medium.
Marc
--
Marc Mutz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://marc.mutz.com/
University of Bielefeld, Dep. of Mathematics / Dep. of Physics
PGP-keyID's: 0xd46ce9ab (RSA), 0x7ae55b9e (DSS/DH)
------------------------------
From: Simon Hosie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To:
comp.os.linux.misc,alt.os.linux,alt.os.linux.slackware,comp.os.linux.setup
Subject: Re: spin down HDD
Date: 26 Jul 1999 02:32:44 +1200
Lindoze 2000:
> I use hdparm to spin down my HDD after 1/2 hr or so.
> the problem is, it spins up again after 1/2 hr. then it spins back down.
> has anyone had that problem?
> why wont it stay asleep?
> the system seems idle. no hdd activity detected.
Look at /usr/doc/Linux-mini-HOWTOs/Battery-Powered.
I used hdparm to power down one of my hard drives... later that night I
thought my other hard drive had gone mental because I could hear it seeking
every five seconds. I looked at the above document to see if I could shut
it up and found why it was doing what it was doing. It turns out that
/sbin/update was flushing the file buffers every five seconds, regardless of
whether they needed it, and in response my hard drive was unparking and
parking again.
Anyway, the document suggested changing the delay to an hour, but I would
have thought that that would cause the problem you're experiencing.
It shouldn't be swap, anyway. My swap drive powers down, and I only hear
from it again when I recompile a kernel or suchlike.
I'd like to find a real solution to the problem so that both my hard drives
can power down. I was thinking perhaps a couple of scripts that get called
when the system becomes idle or non-idle, basically to do the job my BIOS
would be doing if it worked properly (stupid $*(%^(#$)($&% AMI - never
again!).
--
# Please try to quote no more than you need to show the context of your post.
# If you also quote my .Sig then I hate you and I hope you get hiccups.
#
# email: Gumboot, at an ISP named Clear.Net, in New Zealand.
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Petter Reinholdtsen)
Subject: Mic working on Ensoniq AudioPCI es1370?
Date: 25 Jul 1999 16:48:52 GMT
I'm trying to get the microphone working on my Ensoniq AudioPCI card.
Audio output works mostly fine. I'm unable to get the MBone tools vat and
rat working, but I think that is an unrelated problem.
Audio input on the other hand gives me nothing but silence. I am using
kernel 2.2.10, and have compiled es1370 as a module. I've tried the
module option micbias=1 with no change in behaviour.
Is there anyone using a microphone with this card? Can you tell me
how you managed to get it to work?
--
##> Petter Reinholdtsen <## | [EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (chad evan peiper)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.setup,comp.os.linux.x
Subject: Soundblaster Live - SuSE 6.0
Date: 25 Jul 1999 16:54:41 GMT
HI there. I am running SuSE 6.0 and I have been struggling with getting my
Soundblaster live to work. Could anyone, (if at all possible) send me the
procedure to get drivers working.
I recompile the kernel with modular sound
i copy the sblive.2.0xxxx to the /lib/modules/2.x.y/misc/sbliv.o
and then i do the insmod -f sblive and it does not work.
i get the following:
/lib/modules/2.0.36/misc/sblive.o: unresolved symbol unregister_sound_dsp
/lib/modules/2.0.36/misc/sblive.o: unresolved symbol unregister_sound_midi
/lib/modules/2.0.36/misc/sblive.o: unresolved symbol register_sound_dsp
/lib/modules/2.0.36/misc/sblive.o: unresolved symbol register_sound_mixer
/lib/modules/2.0.36/misc/sblive.o: unresolved symbol
unregister_sound_mixer
/lib/modules/2.0.36/misc/sblive.o: unresolved symbol
unregister_sound_special
/lib/modules/2.0.36/misc/sblive.o: unresolved symbol
register_sound_special
/lib/modules/2.0.36/misc/sblive.o: unresolved symbol register_sound_midi
any help would be GREATLY appreciated. I have been trying for months.
thanks
Chad
--
||____________|O___I____,.::"|____}___I___Chad Evan Peiper__K9NOR_______
||_o___|%.____|____I___|"____|___{____I____Violinist-of-all-trades___________
||_o___|______|____I___|____O|.___}[EMAIL PROTECTED]
||____O|___________I__O|______________I______University of Illinois, UC____
------------------------------
From: "Richard S" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: XServer problems with Ati Rage 128
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 1999 12:16:59 -0500
Since installation of my ATI AIW 128 PCI I have been unable to boot X in =
my Linux-Mandrake 5.3 distribution. You noted that the Rage 128 (which I =
understand is the same chipset on my board) is supported by the =
"Accelerated X" with which I am not familiar. Where can I learn more =
about this server? It may be quite some time before XFree adds a driver =
for my card and I was just getting "comfortable" with Linux.=20
I have found some information which pertains to ATI TV boards (can't =
tell if it applies to my AIW 128) but in any event it is beyond my =
experience level to work with. I'm also concerned that I do not damage =
my card. Here is the URL: =
http://www.core.binghamton.edu/~insomnia/gatos/ which describes this: =
"GATOS (General ATI TV and Overlay Software): ATI-TV for GNU/Linux."
--=20
E-Mail is Anti-Spam Enabled
Do not use your "Reply" Button
Click: [EMAIL PROTECTED]=20
Paul 'Tok' Kiela <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message =
news:7ndim0$1sa$[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> > An ATI card is about the single WORST thing you could try
> > and use under Linux...
> >
>=20
> Thats a pretty large generalization. I disagree. I've been using
> ATI cards under Linux for years now, and have not had a single =
problem, with
> the exception of the Rage128. The ATI line of cards is well supported =
under
> XFree, and Accelerated X (which does support the Rage128), and =
continues to
> be a cheap, well supported, reliable solution for lower end servers, =
etc.
>=20
> Regards,
> Paul.
>=20
>=20
> --=20
> -- Paul Kiela - Linux, IRIX, Solaris, NextStep
> -- mailto: echo tokvgeminifphysicsfmcmasterfca | sed s/v/@/ | tr f .
>=20
> "My title isn't Public Relations. If it was, I would have said =
something nice"
------------------------------
From: Scott Marlowe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To:
alt.os.linux,at.linux,comp.os.linux.setup,comp.os.linux.x,linux.redhat.announce
Subject: Re: #@$%&%( WINMODEMS are a pain in the A#$^&
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 1999 11:08:20 -0600
First, an apology to recross posting this across groups, but Little Fish, you
need to take some responsibility here too. If I went down to my Local Chevy
Dealer and ordered a 10 Ton moving truck and told him, yeah, but I'm gonna be
using it to haul "Bananas in Brazil", I'm not sure he'd know the exact way to
setup that truck for that, and would likely tell me so. I'd have to explain to
him all the intricacies of hauling "Bananas in Brazil" (A musical group, by the
way) he might have a better understand of what I need.
It's your job to know which modems are and are not winmodems right now. Why?
Because no sales people know, they don't care, and you and I are still a tiny
blip on the Radar screen of their sales pie chart.
If you go back and calmly explain why a Winmodem won't work for you, show him a
list of the major modems that are compatible, and tell him, hey, no big deal,
we all screw up every now and again, when the next Linux user walks through the
door, he'll know the right answer, and will be happy to see him.
If you go back belching flame and screaming of retribution, he's gonna cringe
everytime someone running Linux walks in, and you will be doing a disservice to
your fellow Linux users.
It's an easy problem, with an easy fix, stop looking for a war.
Little Fish wrote:
> There should be a separte HELL for Salespeople who sell Winmodems. I asked
> for a REAL MODEM FOR LINUX!!! When I setup my Redhat 5.2 I couldn't get my
> modem to work! When I purchased the computer, a PC100, with the
> Instructions" THIS IS TO BE A LINUX MACHINE." I already had the software,
> all that I needed was my new Celeron 300a/36X cdrom/1.44 Floppy/ Zip 100 and
> a MODEM. This modem (?) wouldn't work so I decided to setup a duel OS just
> to try out another familiar environment "WIND-CRASH-DOZE" . The modem(?)
> worked! Now this was interesting indeed. I was now confronted with having to
> open my tower too inspect the modem(?). The Answer, a WEB EXEL 52pt-3511
> #$^&^%&^) )*(&&*(*(& WINMODEM. On Monday I am going to give this Sales
> person a Technical lesson with a SIZE 9 boot. And boy-o-boy am I pissed.
>
------------------------------
From: cirrus <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Ensoniq AudioPCI and microphone weirdness ?
Date: 25 Jul 1999 17:13:58 GMT
Gabriel L. Somlo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
: Hi.
: I recently got an Ensoniq AudioPCI ES1371. When I tried to record stuff
: with a regular
: microphone from BestBuy, it didn't work. I mean I used sox to record a
: wav of me speaking
: into the mike, and it only recorded some garbled noise with a hint of my
: voice in the
: background.
: Then, I used a SUN amplified mike (one that came with the old sparc IPC
: workstations - it
: even has a little battery inside it), and connected it to the LINE jack
: instead of the
: MICROPHONE jack. It _only_ records this way.
: Why do I have to use a _weird_ microphone to record stuff ? Am I doing
: something wrong ?
well, I have a Ensoniq Soundscape VIVO, and I can not for the life of me get the thing
to be detected by my kernel...
but, I will offer you this much..
I know on the Soundscape Card I have, different jumpers are to be set depending on
which type of mic you are recording through..
Here is an excerpt from the manual: "Pins 1 and 2 when connected by a jumper are used
to connect 5 volt bias power through a 3.3 K OHM resistor to the MIC/Line input jack
(for example , when using an electret condenser microphone without a built in
battery.) Leave this jumper off when using a dynamic microphone or a
battery powered electret condenser microphone."
This might be your problem. And if anyone can help me with my card, drop me a
line please.
------------------------------
From: Scott Marlowe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: spindle count and RAID performance [was: RAID controler-RAID 5
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 1999 11:34:25 -0600
Joe CADdude wrote:
> This works like this. you have 4 drives say, named A,B.,C,D. It will write
> the first block of data between A, and B with parity writen to C. The next
> sector will be written to D and A, with parity writen to B. etc..
This isn't how I've learned RAID 5 theory. What I learned goes like this:
Each write, you create a data stripe for all but one drive, create a parity
stripe by XORing all the data stripes, and place the parity stripe and data
stripes on the drives. The parity stripe round robins across all the drives,
so that it looks like this for each write:
A B C D
D D D P
P D D D
D P D D
D D P D
And so on adinifinitum.
The rest is all pretty much right.
Some insight on performance limitations. The RAID array will get faster as the
drive count climbs, until you either saturate the parity generation engine
(CPU, Hardware RAID, whatever generates parity) or you saturate the SCSI busses
the or whatever buss the drive is connected to.
Parity Generation is best left to small fast RISC engines really good at it
that can offload the overhead from the CPU. Many of the <$1000 cards don't do
very well, like the Adaptec AHA 133 series. ugh, abysmal performance on any
size array we tried. The MegaRAID by AMI and the newer DAC 960s seem to be
good controllers, with high numbers and good hardware parity gen, and several
options of multiple cards / channels all being combined into one
RAID subsystem.
Another thing that can kill you on a large drive number raid array is small
writes. If you have a database that does changes in the range of hundreds of
bytes at a time, and you've got say, 20 drives with a stripe size of 4k, you've
got to retreive the 20x4k of data, change 1 or 100 bytes, recalculate the
parity strip, and write out the 20x4k. Reads are fast, but all writes require
this type of operation. If you're building a FTP server where the average file
size is 100k and above, then the 20x4k is no big deal, and you would likely see
good performance there.
In hardware controllers you'd use mirrored strip sets (RAID 0+1) to get best
database performance. In Linux, you can do almost as well with software if you
make a 3 or 4 drive mirror set.
Reads are spread across the multiple drives, so things like databases are
likely to have three or so heads available at a time to read data. Writes are
gonna be slower than RAID 0, but not terribly slow since the algorhythm for
mirrors is : make a bunch of copies and write them out. I don't if other Oses
support >2 drives in a mirror, but it is a wonderfully fast setup under Linux
for small data access.
So, here's my short recap, in table format:
============================
| Application | RAID type I use |
|---------------------------|
| Database | RAID-1 x 4 |
| Web Server | RAID 1 x 2 |
| File & Print | RAID 5 x [6-10] |
============================
------------------------------
From: Matt Gullam <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: is Conexant SoftK56 a winmodem??
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 1999 18:50:32 +0000
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Prasanth Kumar wrote:
> =
> The "Soft" is a dead giveaway that it is a winmodem. Safest bet is to g=
et an
> external modem.
> =
> Toby Mintz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> > I've had no luck getting my Conexant SoftK56 PCI modem to work under
> > Linux 2.2. I've tried manually configuring using `setserial' with no=
> > success.
> > Does anyone know if this is a winmodem, or how I would find out?
> > (It uses Rockwell chipset, which made me think it was a real modem.)
> >
> > Thanks in advance,
> >
> > Toby Mintz
> >
> >
Externals are so expensive though. Basically, a cheap ISA should do the
trick, although be careful buying one (or buy from a guy you can take it
back to) If it says it requires a pentium processor, forget it, it's a
winmodem. Check out what drivers it uses under 98 or whatever. If it is
any more than comm.drv (sometimes vcomm.drv) then again forget it.
My internal is a 56k dynamode ACF2 modem, again with a rockwell chipset.
Works lovely under linux after setting it up as com2, and it only cost
me =A325.00 (uk)
Matt Gullam
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Matt Garman)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.misc
Subject: cdrecord help (possible SCSI error)
Date: 25 Jul 1999 17:51:59 GMT
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Recently I have been getting errors when burning CDs. These errors
occur in both "dummy" mode and during an actual burn. I have a
Plextor PlexWriter 4/12 internal SCSI burner.
Here is a typical error:
Cdrecord release 1.6 Copyright (C) 1995-1998 Jörg Schilling
TOC Type: 0 = CD-DA
scsidev: '0,4,0'
scsibus: 0 target: 4 lun: 0
Device type : Removable CD-ROM
Version : 2
Response Format: 2
Capabilities : SYNC LINKED
Vendor_info : 'PLEXTOR '
Identifikation : 'CD-R PX-R412C '
Revision : '1.04'
Device seems to be: Generic mmc CD-R.
Using generic SCSI-3/mmc CD-R driver (mmc_cdr).
Driver flags : SWABAUDIO
Track 01: audio 53 MB (05:18.02) no preemp
Track 02: audio 38 MB (03:49.20) no preemp
Track 03: audio 80 MB (07:56.21) no preemp
Track 04: audio 47 MB (04:43.72) no preemp
Track 05: audio 54 MB (05:21.96) no preemp
Total size: 275 MB (27:17.12) = 122784 sectors
Lout start: 275 MB (27:19/09) = 122784 sectors
ATIP info from disk:
Indicated writing power: 4
Is unrestricted
Is not erasable
ATIP start of lead in: -11580 (97:27/45)
ATIP start of lead out: 333226 (74:05/01)
Disk type: Phthalocyanine or similar
Manufacturer: Kodak Japan Limited
Blocks total: 333226 Blocks remaining: 21988
cdrecord: WARNING: Data may not fit on current disk.
Starting to write CD at speed 4 in dummy mode for single session.
Last chance to quit, starting dummy write in 9 seconds.
Waiting for reader process to fill input-buffer ... input-buffer ready.
Starting new track at sector: 311238
Track 01: 1 of 53 MB written (fifo 99%).
...
cdrecord: Success. write_g1: scsi sendcmd: retryable error
CDB: 2A 00 00 05 15 A5 00 00 0D 00
status: 0x2 (CHECK CONDITION)
Sense Bytes: 70 00 09 00 00 00 00 0A 00 00 00 00 80 0A 00 00
Sense Key: 0x9 Vendor Unique, Segment 0
Sense Code: 0x80 Qual 0x0A (limited laser life) [No matching qualifier] Fru 0x0
Sense flags: Blk 0 (not valid)
cmd finished after 0.002s timeout 40s
write track data: error after 51704016 bytes
Sense Bytes: 70 00 00 00 00 00 00 0A 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
Writing time: 80.402s
Fixating...
WARNING: Some drives don't like fixation in dummy mode.
cdrecord: Success. close track/session: scsi sendcmd: retryable error
CDB: 5B 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
status: 0x2 (CHECK CONDITION)
Sense Bytes: 70 00 09 00 00 00 00 0A 00 00 00 00 80 01 00 00
Sense Key: 0x9 Vendor Unique, Segment 0
Sense Code: 0x80 Qual 0x01 (limited laser life) [No matching qualifier] Fru 0x0
Sense flags: Blk 0 (not valid)
cmd finished after 0.001s timeout 480s
Fixating time: 0.003s
cdrecord: fifo had 1819 puts and 1692 gets.
cdrecord: fifo was 0 times empty and 1094 times full, min fill was 96%.
Any help on this is very appreciated!
Thanks,
Matt
--
Matt Garman, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"And through the window in the wall
Come streaming in on sunlight wings
A million bright ambassadors of morning."
--Pink Floyd, "Echoes"
------------------------------
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End of Linux-Hardware Digest
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