[newbie] Classic Newbie Questions!

[G. Eric Morgan]

Here are a couple classic newbie questions I hope someone can help with.

I have completed the install of the Mandrake 7.0 without problems. I noticed
the source for the kernel was not installed by default (nor was I asked for
it...)

1. How can I tell what the default config for the kernel that is currently
installed (even if I did not do the compile)?

2. When configuring the kernel for compile, need I only configure the couple
items I am interested in (ie lp, scsi) and the rest will be correct or must
I step thru every single choice when using make xconfig?

3. Almost everytime I try to compile anything, I get piles of warnings and
errors and no docs on what paths, variable etc I have to change in order for
the compile to run.  Where can I get a good overview of the compilation
process including what where and how headers, libs etc are?

[newbie] Important Info for ZIP Parallel Users (PPA)

[G. Eric Morgan]

All,

I have been having trouble with ZIP parallel. The 
ppa driver would detect the drive fine but could never see the partition table. 

dmesg:

parport0: PC-style at 0x378 [SPP,PS2,EPP]ppa: 
Version 2.03 (for Linux 2.2.x)ppa: Found device at ID 6, Attempting to use 
EPP 32 bitppa: Communication established with ID 6 using EPP 32 bitscsi1 
: Iomega VPI0 (ppa) interfacescsi : 2 hosts. Vendor: 
IOMEGA Model: ZIP 
100 Rev: 
D.09 Type: 
Direct-Access 
ANSI SCSI revision: 02Detected scsi removable disk sda at scsi1, channel 0, 
id 6, lun 0SCSI device sda: hdwr sector= 512 bytes. Sectors= 196608 [96 MB] 
[0.1 GB]sda: Write Protect is offsda:SCSI disk error : host 1 
channel 0 id 6 lun 0 return code = 2701scsidisk I/O error: dev 08:00, 
sector 0unable to read partition table 
problem!

Trying to mount I would get this 
message.
"sda4 is not a valid block device"

I changed my BIOS settings from EPP 1.7 to 1.9 and 
it works. I changed back and it doesnt work. And back to 1.9 once again 
and it works once again. I hope this information helps some users and 
developers out there!

Long live Linux!
Eric

Re: [newbie] zip drive problem

[G. Eric Morgan]

I too have the exact same problem with BOTH Redhat 6.1 and Mandrake 7.0.
sda4 is not a valid block device.  Here is my dmesg file where the
parport_pc and ppa is loaded at the end. btw the other SCSI I have is the
emulation for the CDburner which I have not yet wrestled with...

Linux version 2.2.14-15mdk ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) (gcc version
2.95.2 19991024 (release)) #1 Tue Jan 4 22:24:20
snip

parport0: PC-style at 0x378 [SPP,PS2,EPP]
ppa: Version 2.03 (for Linux 2.2.x)
ppa: Found device at ID 6, Attempting to use EPP 32 bit
ppa: Communication established with ID 6 using EPP 32 bit
scsi1 : Iomega VPI0 (ppa) interface
scsi : 2 hosts.
  Vendor: IOMEGAModel: ZIP 100   Rev: D.09
  Type:   Direct-Access  ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Detected scsi removable disk sda at scsi1, channel 0, id 6, lun 0
SCSI device sda: hdwr sector= 512 bytes. Sectors= 196608 [96 MB] [0.1 GB]
sda: Write Protect is off
 sda:SCSI disk error : host 1 channel 0 id 6 lun 0 return code = 2701
scsidisk I/O error: dev 08:00, sector 0
 unable to read partition table




- Original Message -
From: "Jon" [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Sunday, April 02, 2000 1:46 PM
Subject: Re: [newbie] zip drive problem


 Mani Abreu wrote:

  Nope. Just tried that, here's the result:
  mount: the kernel does not recognize /dev/sda4 as a block device
  (maybe 'insmod driver'?)
 
  I read that the problem may be that the kernel is loading the drivers
for
  the line printer first, before parport/ppa driver. How do I change the
  order around?
 
  Mani
 
  forstfed wrote:
 
   On Sun, 02 Apr 2000, you wrote:
  
   Well, try just doing the mount now.  See if that does anything.
  
Well, I tried that. Here's what I got after typing "insmod ppa":
/lib/modules/2.2.14-15mdk/scsi/ppa.o: init_module: Device or
resource
   busy
   
Any ideas? I really want to get this thing resolved.
   
Mani
   
   
forstfed wrote:
   
 On Fri, 31 Mar 2000, you wrote:

 This is what worked for me:

 As su in a terminal window:

 mkdir /mnt/zip

 insmod parport

 insmod ppa

 mount -t msdos /dev/sda4 /mnt/zip

 make sure there is a disk in.  You have to umount -t msdos
/dev/sda4
   /mnt/zip
 to eject the disk, then  mount -t msdos /dev/sda4 /mnt/zip again
when you
 insert another disk.

 Ed

 Geez, You guys made me dig my old zip drive out of the closet to test this
problem
 and you know, it didn't work either.  Tried it on a RedHat 6.1 and a
Mandrake
 7.0-2 machine.  Hardware works as I made a DOS boot disk with guest.exe on
it.
 Worked fine with Redhat 5.2 and Slackware 3.6 some time ago with the
commands
 listed above.  I also looked at modules loaded and tried it without any
modules
 and in init 1 hand loading modules.  Since the kernel for Mandrake 7.0
came from
 Redhat 6.1 (Recompiled) I wonder if perhaps lp (or another parallel port
using
 service)  support was built into the kernel instead of as a mod.

 Question!  Does anyone out there have a parallel port ZIP working on
Mandrake
 7.0-2 or RedHat 6.1?  If so, can you please tell us how you did it?  Give
out with
 the port setting in the BIOS, Kernel you used and anything else you think
might
 help.  I am going to try recompiling a kernel to see if I can get it
working.