Re: current status of alpha in squeeze - Storage Question - we will need to store the code some where - Fwd: Disk drives

[Geoff Martin <geoffmartin@gmail.com>]

I do use a 1TB disk on my 164LX using a pci SATA card. However I was never able to boot from it. Maybe by pure lack of knowledge, or maybe because it's not possible at all. If anyone know the magic, please share the magic words : )

 

Also, I can put myself and my machine (Microway AlphaPC 164LX 533mhz) available to help in the effort to make debian alpha come back to life.

 

Regards,

Geoff Martin

2011/3/28 Witold Baryluk <baryluk@smp.if.uj.edu.pl>

On 03-28 12:43, Robert Garron wrote:
> Joel,
>
> Can your group do what Bill is asking below?
> Similar to the change of 36 gig to 300 gig...
>
> Regards,
> Robert
>
> ----------  Forwarded Message  ----------
>
> Subject: Disk drives
> Date: Mon March 28 2011
> From: Bill Parke <Bill.Parke@access3000.net>
> To: Robert Garron <Robert.Garron@access3000.net>, Ken Ballou
> <thecryptoboy@gmail.com>
>
> Ask Joel if SATA drives, with 4KB block size drives can be supported.
> Anything
> over 2.7TB disk drives are not addressable in 512 byte blocks.
>
> Also, I believe the general Grub 2 (We need to get to it) supports GPT drives
> so
> there may or may not need to be microcode changes needed.   Or the Grub folks
> may have already doen this (I would expect).

AFAIK no Alpha machine uses Grub for booting.
MILO or aboot is used in most cases. Maybe Sometimes directly SRM, or AlphaBIOS
as a hack, but not a grub.

> We will need Debian's test harnesses and test modules used for old Alpha and
> new
> AMD (to adapt).

Alpha have 8k memory pages, but it works for example with smaller block-size,
in example when using ext3 it will use normal to ext3 a 4K (as using 8K,
will make such this unreadable under IA-32, which have upper limit of 4K
file system blocks under Linux, as it is a size of page).

As of disks, I have a one disk (Western Digital Caviar Green 1.5TB),
which I can attach for a brief period of time into my Alpha,
using PCI SATA controler. But I think other people is already using
such disks in their machines. Can anybody confirm?

Anyway 4k blocks SATA devices are still adressed using 512 byte unites,
or maybe something changed in SATA-3 ?


Regards,
Witek

--
Witold Baryluk

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