Quoting Dylan Beaudette ([EMAIL PROTECTED]): > in order to disable DMA you must start the 'expert' installer, and > pass ide=nodma to the IDE modules.... so far so good! However, things > got messy when some packages refused to install (exim4 and some > others...) so i gave up on debian. > > With the Yoper 2.1 CD, i was able to boot and install the system with > the boot arguments 'novesa ide=nodma'
These kernel command-line arguments to selectively disable some of the sometimes-problematic hardware autorecognition routines (plus ACPI, etc.) can be really, really useful in installing modern Linux distributions onto (in particular) older boxes. Vexingly[1], though, they _aren't standardised_. Grrr! Have a look at the famous "Knoppix cheatcodes" list: http://www.knoppix.net/docs/index.php/CheatCodes As comprehensive as the Knoppix list is, your "novesa" and "ide=nodma" appear nowhere on it: Instead of "novesa", you would say "xmodule=[SomeModuleName]". Instead of "ide=nodma", you would say "nodma". So, I have to wonder: Where are these differences between / among distributions entering into the picture? The reason this has come forcefully to my attention is that this guy wrote to me in e-mail, a couple of weeks ago: http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=15125#post15125 He's brand-new to Linux, and had found my Web page[2] concerning Linux suport for the Dell Inspiron 7000 laptop, which he also owns -- and on which I've run Debian happily for many years. He attempted to install the Debian-derived Ubuntu Linux distribution, and got this: cdrom-detect: searching for Ubuntu installation media ide-cd 0x28 timed out hdc: DMA interrupt recovery hdc: lost interupt hdc: status error 0x58 drive ready seekrequest datarequest hdc: status error 0x00 hdc: drive not ready for command As it turned out, he was able to get around the problem by swapping CD-ROM drives for one of a different BIOS rev. (as reported on the above-mentioned Ubuntu Linux thread), but one of the suggestions I was going to make was to try the installer with IDE DMA disabled. Which begs the question: How does one do that on arbitrary Linux distributions, if they all implement kernel command-line options differently? (Yes, I do know that more-conservative Linux distributions' kernels disable fancy addressing modes for IDE, by default.) [1] As opposed to "vox-ingly". [2] http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/inspiron7000.html -- Cheers, "Plus ça change...." Rick Moen http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/pictures/1861-versus-2004.jpeg [EMAIL PROTECTED] P.S.: http://www.sorryeverybody.com/gallery/1/ _______________________________________________ vox-tech mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech