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Re: 2.2r4 CD not recognising Ultra100 TX2 controller



Thanks for the First Monday link Adam. It was lucky I was aware of it
and had printed it out (well most of it, some of the larger tables are
still too large in landscape).

On Wed, 2001-12-19 at 03:24, Adam Bogacki wrote:
> Adam, I'm sorry if my last message was a bit unfocused: a wisdom 
> tooth extraction had just ended up with the top spectacularly
> breaking off leaving the roots in the gum. Antibiotics and painkillers
> aside, maxillo-facial surgeons are a bit thin on the ground 
> at this time of year ... 
> 
> > > > hdc might be using a different controller unsupported by the install
> > > > disk? (unlikely)
> ...<snip>...
> > > The controller is the Ultra 100TX2 by Promise Technology, Inc., 
> > > http://www.promise.com
> > > 
> > > Is there a problem with Deb install support ? (surely unlikely)
> > 
> > Surely unlikely?!? I don't even think ATA-100 controllers even existed
> > at the time the Debian install disks were created.
> 
> Hold on, 2.2r4 is the latest version and ATA-100 support has surely been
> included in the kernel ... (?)

Once you understand how Debian works Adam you will not be a surprise at
all.

2.2r4 is a point release (fourth revision) for the current stable Debian
release. This point release is based upon the 2.2 kernel. The 2.2 kernel
doesn't include ATA-100 support. A backport of the 2.4 kernel drivers
might be possible but it is highly unlikely the Debian team would
include them in a kernel that must be as stable as possible.

Even the next release of Debian will be based on the 2.2 kernel with the
ability to upgrade later. So your ATA-100 controller is unlikely to work
again.

That is why you may want to be on the lookout for custom install disks
that include support for your ATA-100 controller (like I can use the
ReiserFS UDMA66 install disks at DigitalTux.com).

However, it may be possible to get an older kernel to recognise your
controller in a compatibility mode. This is what I used to have to do
with my HPT366 controller (see the section "Enabling HPT366 without
UDMA/66 support"):

http://www.csie.ntu.edu.tw/~b6506063/hpt366/

Then I would later upgrade my kernel. This procedure may be directly
applicable to your controller.

Another way is to install onto another controller. Then move the disk to
the other controller after you upgraded the kernel and changed lilo.conf
and ran lilo.

You might also be happier investigating another distribution like RedHat
who have a tendency to use the latest available kernels in their more
frequent releases.

> P.S. I'm having problems with my ISP: the number of local calls charged
> for seems to have blown out by a factor of 10 and I'm fairly sure I did not
> make them.

Per unit residential calling charges are typically zero in NZ. Fixed
monthly rental.

If you're having trouble with your modem dialing set the volume of the
dial loud so you can hear it happening and just unplug it while you try
and diagnose the problem.

Regards,
Adam




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