Linux-Hardware Digest #261, Volume #13 Tue, 18 Jul 00 20:13:09 EDT
Contents:
Sony SDT-10000 No Good - HELP! (David Jones)
Re: Tape Drives - how do you backup? + HELP (tabascox)
Re: Tape Drives - how do you backup? + HELP (tabascox)
Re: Please help me evaluate this hardware's compatability with Linux (David C.)
RE: Trident 9750 4MB Ok? ("cræsh")
Re: Please help me evaluate this hardware's compatability with Linux (David C.)
Re: 486 Linux setup, 250 meg HD, which distro ??? (C Sanjayan Rosenmund)
Re: Promise Ultra66 Controller ("John Mazza")
Red Hat 6.2 and two SMC 8013 NIC problem (Tony Cimello)
Re: Trident 9750 4MB Ok? ("Stefan Viljoen")
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: David Jones <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Sony SDT-10000 No Good - HELP!
Date: 18 Jul 2000 23:09:22 GMT
I'd welcome any advice on how we can get the DDS-4 tape drive fitted
to our Dell PowerEdege server to work properly under Red Hat 6.2.
The drive is a Sony SDT-10000 which is attached to an on-board SCSI
interface (AIC-7860 Rev 03) alongside a NEC 466 CDROM drive. The
CDROM works fine, but the DDS-4 tape drive hangs up the SCSI bus
after transferring about 1Gb of data and resets. We've tried everything
suggested by Dell Tech. support (including changing the SCSI interface
to async. mode) and, whilst they have tried to be helpful they obviously
aren't familiar with either the tape drive or Linux (even though they
supplied both the drive and the operating system pre-installed). We also
contacted Red Hat support, but simply got the response that it sounded
like a hardware problem - and after that complete silence.
We persuaded Dell to replace the tape unit after a lot of hassle,
but unfortunately for us the new drive behaves in just the same way.
Is anyone else running an SDT-10000 drive under RH 6.2 with or without
success? Dell seem to be under the impression that if we were running
Windows 2000 we'd have no problems with the drive - but I'm not about
to start running W2000 just to get the tape drive working!
- David Jones -
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2000 19:24:31 -0500
From: tabascox <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Tape Drives - how do you backup? + HELP
thanks for the lecture !
hac wrote:
> tabascox wrote:
> >
> > With a huge buffer size (4 megs), and a block size of 32768 bytes, I was able
> > to write:
> > 4,018,284,544 bytes
> > = 3832.13 Mbytes (1MB =1024^2)
> > = 3.7423 GBytes (1GB =1024^3).
> >
> 4,018,284,544 is more than 4GB.
>
> Mega has always meant 10^6, and it still does. Giga means 10^9.
>
> Sloppy usage in the computer world equates these to similar powers of
> two, but this is technically incorrect. There is an international
> standard for prefixes for powers of two:
>
> 1KiB=2^10 bytes, or 1024 bytes.
> 1MiB=2^20 bytes, or 1048576 bytes
> 1GiB=2^30 bytes, or 1073741824 bytes
>
> http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html
>
> Note that "B" may abbreviate bytes, but bits should always be spelled
> out.
>
> As always, the SI prefixes remain:
>
> 1M=1,000,000
> 1G=1,000,000,000
>
> --
> Howard Christeller Irvine, CA [EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2000 19:26:23 -0500
From: tabascox <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Tape Drives - how do you backup? + HELP
Hi Karl,
I have solved the problem: I have big files so I moved to 32768 block size
and
big use of "buffer" program. I am near the nominal capacity of the cassette
now.
Thanks
Stefano
"Karl E. Jorgensen" wrote:
> Don't forget that tar "pads" to the tar block size, whereas files in
> your file systems will take some multiple of 512 bytes (fs block size).
> And if you set the tar block size to 8Kb, then a file will take *at
> least* 8Kb.
>
> Perhaps that can account for it?
>
> Just my 2 p's worth
>
> Karl E. Jorgensen
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> tabascox wrote:
> >
> > Hey DAT friends,
> >
> > I have a DDS 2 and I cannot store all the 4GB I want in a DDS2 tape.
> > here are my commands:
> >
> > mt -f /dev/nst0 rewind
> > mt -f /dev/nst0 setblk 8192
> > mt -f /dev/nst0 datcompression 1
> > tar cpMvl -b 16 -f /dev/nst0 /home
> > mt -f /dev/nst0 eject
> >
> > actually "du /home" gives 3.6 GB (most files are gz or bz2) but around
> > 3.2GB the tape
> > ends and I have to feed the driver with another tape.
> > Am I mistaking the block size ???
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> <snip>
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (David C.)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.setup
Subject: Re: Please help me evaluate this hardware's compatability with Linux
Date: 18 Jul 2000 19:30:40 -0400
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (phil ossifer) writes:
>
> The system is an Athlon Slot A Barebones system put together by
> Vextrec Technologies(VTI) and is sold specially through Fry's
> electronics. The motherboard is either an Epox 7KXA or a DTK computer
> VAM-0070 (some confusion here - the bios identifier corresponds to an
> Epox 7KXA, but the documentation with the system is for a DTK VAM-0070
> board. The label on the box calls it a:
Many motherboards have the model printed on them. Usually between two
expansion slots. That might help if you're not sure.
> ATX DTK-VAM-0070 EP-7KXA VIA 133 AGP CHIPSET. FSB200 / ULTRA DMA 66 /
> ... / 1 AMR AGP SLOT 4X / AC97 AUDIO / 56 FLEX MODEM (almost certainly
> a winmodem) / 10-100 NET CARD / FLOPPY DRIVE.
lessee here....
UDMA/66 - until the Linux 2.4 kernels come out, you won't be able to use
a UDMA/66 drive. (You can use a 2.3 beta kernel or apply a patch to the
2.2 kernel, but I don't know how well this will work. You should,
however, be able to configure the drive (via a jumper or a BIOS setting)
for UDMA/33 or PIO mode-4, which will work.
What kind of video is an "AMR AGP SLOT 4X"? Text-mode will always be
available. VGA mode (640x480) will always be available with the VGA
driver. Higher resolutions will depend on whether the card has support
in XFree86.
The Winmodem is a lost cause. But you already know that.
Do you know what kind of card the Ethernet board is? A lot of different
boards are supported.
> The BIOS is:
>
> Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG
> 04/25/2000-8371-686A-6A6LKPAAA9C-00
This indicates an Epox board. Digits 6-7 of the serial number would be
"D1" and not "PA" if it was a DTK board.
> The biggest fly in the ointment so far: All configuration software
> requires W95+.
Some configuration (like the Ethernet card) is the kind of thing that
can be done once and then be forgotten. These devices store the
configuration into EPROM on the card.
> And certain features like "soft off" are documented to be available
> only through W95.
Or any other OS that supports power management. If you turn it on in
the BIOS and load the apmd daemon, it should work. APM is fairly
standardized.
> VIA had a DOS version of the Ultra 66 driver on their web site, but no
> mention of Linux to be found on Vextrec's , DTK's, Epox's or Via's.
See above for UDMA/66 info.
> Does anyone know if these manufacturers are under non-disclosure with
> MS? Do you forsee any problems (other than the winmodem) getting the
> drivers or at least the info to write drivers to use the features of
> this chipset/motherboard/BIOS?
Depends on the hardware. So far you haven't mentioned much about brands
and models.
> I hope to load Corel Linux (chosen because it is supposedly geared to
> "easy install" to "learn the ropes" then move to either Suse,
> Mandrake, or another "heavyweight" distribution later.
They're all more or less the same. The big differences are in the
printed documentation and the installer.
> The network card actually mentions Linux on the software disk! Wonder
> of wonders. The source code for the driver is there (rtl8139.c by
> Donald Becker.), but the only instalation instructions are Red Hat and
> Slackware. Is it safe to presume that with some help from here it
> will install on Corel/Suse/ or Mandrake.
This is a RealTek chipset. A fairly common card.
The driver is bundled with my RedHat distribution. I presume that it
will be bundled with most other distributions as well.
> The video cards I bought are Creative Labs Savage 4 AGP (S3 Savage 4
> 128-bit chipset) and KASER Trio-8 (S3 Trio3d/2d chipset). Neither
> manufacturer mentions Linux on their website nor would tech support
> offer any information about Linux drivers. Is the information needed
> available to the driver development team(s) or is Creative and KASER
> stonewalling them? Would you suggest returning these?
A quick visit to http://www.xfree86.org/, and we discover:
http://www.xfree86.org/3.3.6/S3V3.html
The Savage4 chipset is supported in the SVGA server as of version
3.3.5. (Most current Linux distributions include 3.3.6).
We also find that the Trio3D chipset is supported, but it is an initial
release, which is not well tested at this time. Your XF86Config file
may need some tweaking - not all of the standard modelines work. The
URL I mentioned describes this.
> Could anyone recommend a PCI video card with good Linux support _and_
> drivers for Win3.x (I need this until I get fully up to speed on
> LInux.)
For a cheap card that is well supported, I recommend the ATI XPert98.
It's a Mach64 board, so it's not a terribly new chipset, but it is
compatible with just about everything, including Linux.
> The Hard Drive is a WD Ultra 66. No biggie, but I see their "break
> the 8GB barier" software recognizes W9x/NT/OS-2 as other possible
> partitions, but no mention of Linux. Is there a possible problem
> here?
Linux has no problem with hard drives of any size.
The boot loader, LILO, however, requires that the partition containing
/boot be contained entirely within the first 1024 cylinders of the
disk. Your installer should force you to adhere to this.
Fortunately, only /boot must be contained there. When I install on
systems with large drives, I allocate 2-3 cylinders (usually about
12-15M) as a separate partition for /boot, make a swap partition, and
then make the rest of the drive one huge root partition.
> The CDROM is a PINE PT-948A. Seems kind of standard, thing comes
> right up under DOS ( and "old" DOS is supported! good sign, no?).
> But of course no mention of Linux to be found in the documentation.
ATAPI CD-ROM drives are well supported. You shouldn't have to do
anythng special. The installer should set this up for you.
> Anyone have good experiences with VTI/DTK/EPOX/AWARD/VIA regarding
> information disclosure to the Linux development community? Anyone
> have any BAD experience?
I don't know anything about your motherboard, unfortunately.
As for the BIOS, it doesn't matter. Once LILO gets the boot image off
of your hard drive, it isn't used for anything.
Regarding the chipset, I think all Athlon boards currently made use VIA
chipsets. I don't think it will cause a problem.
> I know none of you can make the decision for me. Can any of you offer
> guidence to help me make it?
See above.
-- David
------------------------------
From: "cræsh" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: RE: Trident 9750 4MB Ok?
Date: Wed, 19 Jul 2000 01:20:35 +0200
Please drop me a line if it works.
Thanks
cræsh
Christopher R. Carlen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> escribió en el mensaje de
noticias [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Hi:
>
> I have checked Xfree86.org's site, and it seems this video card is good
> with 3.3.6
>
> I am wondering if anyone has any comments about it. Can you run 16bpp?
> Performance Ok?
>
> Thanks.
> --
> _______________________
> Christopher R. Carlen
> Sr. Laser/Optical Tech.
> Sandia National Labs
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (David C.)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.setup
Subject: Re: Please help me evaluate this hardware's compatability with Linux
Date: 18 Jul 2000 19:36:27 -0400
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (phil ossifer) writes:
>
> Perhaps to clarify the preceeding message a tad: I just learned friday
> what a "win modem" was by reading these groups, as well as the NDA and
> "afraid to cross MS syndrome" of the makers of such. I was disgusted,
> then panic set in: Is there such a thing as a "winmotherboard, a
> winchipset, a winbios", and if there is did I just buy one?
Not that I know of.
It's been a running joke about a WinVideo card, where softwre would have
to generate the video signal, but it ain't never gonna happen. How many
people would be willing to sacrifice 90% of their CPU performance in
order to save $30 on a video card? (Video signal generation is pretty
complicated stuff.)
As for the BIOS and chipset, absolutely not. How could you have one
that requires an OS. These parts must be active and working before the
OS loads. That's how your computer boots.
> Do I have a winharddrive, a wincdrom, a wimvideo board? These are the
> questions I need answered. Not too much dinero tied up on the CDROM,
> video card, winmodem (ugh why tie up a $200 processor with such
> mundane chores?) so these can be written off to experience, but the
> processor, ram, and 30GB hard drive are another matter....
Aside from modems, the only common "windows only" devices out there are
printers.
There are some sound cards/chipsets that are designed for Winodws, but
most of them have a SoundBlaster 16-compatibility mode as well. At the
very least, that will work with Linux.
> I am willing to work. To write drivers after I learn Linux
> programming even. But only if I can get specs. My days of blind
> hacking are long gone -- I've played all the "adventure" that I wish
> to in this lifetime.
I don't think you'll have to do this.
-- David
------------------------------
From: C Sanjayan Rosenmund <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.setup
Subject: Re: 486 Linux setup, 250 meg HD, which distro ???
Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2000 23:40:38 GMT
Steve Martin wrote:
>
> Jim Cameron wrote:
>
> > >hacked every 5 minutes your on the internet. Choose Slack, Choose sleepless
> > >nights tearing your hair out, Choose Debian, Choose never being able to use
> >
> > I use Slack, and I have LOTS of hair. 8-)
>
> I started out with Slackware, and I have *no* hair! ('Course,
> I'm 45 years old, too... <g>)
I also started with Slackware, now I use Debian. Both work well for
me. On that small system, I would use Debian. Install just the base
package and add only the applications you *actually* use. . . ends up
with a VERY small install footprint, which gives you more room for
data.
--
Sanjay
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Windows has detected that a gnat has farted near your computer.
Press any key to reboot.
------------------------------
From: "John Mazza" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Promise Ultra66 Controller
Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2000 23:42:36 GMT
At this stage we should try to get the most basic setup possible going
first. I would start by removing the modem and sound cards from the
machine, connecting one drive to the onboard IDE and another to the Promise,
then see if we can get DOS to boot. While we're at it, let's also disable
the serial ports (COM1 and COM2) in BIOS.
Al
Timothy Moll <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> John Mazza wrote:
>
> > Sometimes the Promise (and other) controllers support different LBA
> > translations for the drives. I ran into a situation where I had to
> > completely repartition and reformat a drive to make it work with one.
That
> > may well be the case with your setup.
>
> There should be nothing on the partiton table: it's a new disk, though I
tried
> adding partions using it on the onboard ide controller, but deleted them.
>
> >
> >
> > You may have a problem with the ISA modem. Make sure to go into your
BIOS
> > and under PCI/PNP (or similar) be sure to reserve whatever IRQ it is
using
> > to ISA or Legacy ISA. Make sure to do the same for all Non-PnP cards in
the
> > system.
>
> I have 3 ISA slots and 4 PCI slots, but I do not know which one is
controlled
> by which IRQ, and the manual does not help a great deal. Also whn I remove
the
> modem from the computer, the problems persist.
>
> >
> >
> > Also, some BIOSes let you manually set the IRQ by PCI slot number. You
may
> > want to give this a try.
> >
> > In a setup like this I would initially use:
> >
> > IRQ Device
> > 4 Modem (Assuming it is set as COM1 or COM3)
> > 5 Sound Card (Some old SoundBlasters are not PNP - see above)
> > 10 Ultra66 Adapter
> > 11 Network Card (if installed)
> >
>
> The setting the bios gives me are:
>
> IRQ-3 Legacy ISA
> IRQ-4 Legacy ISA
> IRQ-5 Legacy ISA
> IRQ-7 Legacy ISA
> IRQ-9 PCI/ISA PnP
> IRQ-10 PCI/ISA PnP
> IRQ-11 PCI/ISA PnP
> IRQ-12 PCI/ISA PnP
> IRQ-14 Legacy ISA
> IRQ-15 Legacy ISA
> DMA-0 PCI/ISA PnP
> DMA-1 PCI/ISA PnP
> DMA-3 PCI/ISA PnP
> DMA-5 PCI/ISA PnP
> DMA-6 PCI/ISA PnP
> DMA-7 PCI/ISA PnP
>
> The options for changing are; PCI/ISA PnP and Legacy ISA.
>
> > The Primary onbord IDE will be IRQ 14, and the Secondary will go to 15.
> > Both of these are defaults that should not be messed around with.
> >
> > If you want to try a repartition, first obtain a copy of Norton Ghost
and
> > put it on a DOS boot disk, along with FDISK, FORMAT, and SYS.COM.
>
> When the controller has a disk conected to it I can't use a dos boot disk
(I
> can use a Linux one, though). When I do use a boot disk, not having the
second
> disk (Quantum LM) conected at all, I can't use fdisk, as it just crashes
on me.
>
> I would really appreciate any help,
>
> Thanks,
>
> --
> Timothy Moll
> t . moll @ usa . net
>
>
>
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Tony Cimello)
Subject: Red Hat 6.2 and two SMC 8013 NIC problem
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2000 23:51:03 GMT
I am trying to setup a proxy using Red Hat 6.2 and two SMC 8013 NICs.
One NIC is on a cable connection with DHCP - this one required me to
manually enter into the conf.modules:
alias eth0 wd
alias eth1 wd
options eth0 io=280 irq=3
options eth1 io=300 irq=10
These are the correct settings for the driver. The eth1 adaptor uses
a fixed ip, 192 class, but won't initialize. The eth0 will with the
DHCP.
Anyhow, I have decided to use the SMC driver for this card in order to
see if that is the problem (which I doubt since one works), but I
don't know what to do with it. It is a file called smc-ultra.c. Any
ideas what the heck I do with this thing?? I am sure I must have to
compile it - but I have no idea how. I tried a gcc command, but I
don't seem to have one.
Any ideas?
------------------------------
From: "Stefan Viljoen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Trident 9750 4MB Ok?
Date: Wed, 19 Jul 2000 01:51:21 +0200
Christopher R. Carlen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> Hi:
>
> I have checked Xfree86.org's site, and it seems this video card is good
> with 3.3.6
>
> I am wondering if anyone has any comments about it. Can you run 16bpp?
> Performance Ok?
Nope - it definitely does not work "plain vanilla" - apparently requires
LOTS of tweaking in config files. Mine refuses to do 640x480 with ANY window
manager I have been able to find - it does load X (just the desktop where
you have to exit with CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE, but a WM? Nope!
I have a 3DImage 975 AGP with 4 meg of RAM.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://home.intekom.com/rylan/
------------------------------
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