I'm a newbie to linux, and want to try Red Hat Linux.
I  have P4, 3GHz with HT, processor, two 80 GB Seagate SATA Drive,
Intel 915 Motherboard, with 256 MB DDR. When I tried to install Red
Hat Linux 9 ( 3 CD pack) the installer was not able to detect the hard
drive.
I heard that it is impossible to install red hat linux on SATA drives.
Is that true? if not can any one help me the way out?

Hasan Babu H

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

The following messages culled from various discussion forum may thro
some light and help u to solve yr prob

111111111111111111
kb8 <kb8NOSPAM@tiscali.it> wrote:
> Hola...
> ...how I install slackware 9.1 on a PC with a HD Serial ATA?
> My Motherboard is: Intel D865PERL!!!
> The boot firm whit this message:
> 'hde: attached ide-disk driver'
> Thanks and sorry for my English!!!!

From google. These instructions are for RH, but should be applicable
to
slack:

D865PERL SATA and Gig notes

Installing Redhat 9 >> please note I now recommend dropping Redhat for
Debian
ans we have tested several distributions and found Debian to be the
heart of
the Linux world. see Linux for more details.

Set the bios in legacy mode as the RedHat 9 install disk won't
recognize the Enhanced setting and will fail to see the drives.
Under
the legacy setting choose the last option. It will install seeing
the
drives as normal IDE drives with a slow transfer rate.

Download the latest Kernel RPM on a different machine (as your LAN
won't work as of yet) and transfer over via CD ROM. Build a new
Kernel
being sure to turn on the PIXII and Intel gig a bit options in
menuconfig. See( How-to-make-a-redhat-kernel )

Once the Kernel is made you will want to add a new stanza to
grub.conf
as below --
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.20-20.9kps1 hdc)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.20-20.9kps1 ro root=/dev/md2 hdc=ide-scsi
initrd /initrd-2.4.20-20.9kps1.img

Note on the line that starts kernel -- you will now point to hdc
(don't ask me why??)

You will also need to edit /etc/raidtab or fstab to change to the
new
drive letters which are hde and hdg

Reboot and in the BIOS setup change to 'enhanced' mode. Go to the
boot
selection and delete the hard drives for boot -save and reset the
computer with the reset button enter the boot section and reselect
the
drives (this gets around a bug in the BIOS).

Once the machine boots up you need to delete /boot/grub/device.map
and
run grub --devicemap=device.map

Check /proc/mdstat - you may need to raidhotadd and rebuild your
raid
courtecy: http://groups.google.com/groups? q=...&rnum=
4

22222222222222222222
From: John Willis (john.willis@cox-internet.com)
Subject: Installing RedHat 9 on D875PBZ using an ICH5 attached Serial
ATA drive
This is the only article in this thread
View: Original Format
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.questions
Date: 2003-07-30 21:31:27 PST


Just a quick note for anyone searching for help.

1. Yes it can be done using only the original RedHat 9 install CDROMS.
2. UDMA2 is supported in Legacy mode using a RedHat 9 RPM update
kernel.
3. Throughput experienced was 556 MB/s 56 MB/s using hdparm -Tt
/dev/hda

Key items to note:

A. This was using off the shelf OEM built whitebox and parts,
Intel boxed parts and Intel Bios.

B. I've heard some Dell systems that use the ICH5 chipset do not
provide a Bios option to put the motherboard into Legacy IDE mode..
hence they will not work like an OEM Intel Motherboard with the
Legacy option... keep checking Dell support site.. perhaps someday
they will release a Bios with this feature (no guarantees.. I
don't work for Dell ;-)

C. After installing RedHat 9 my thoughputs were 556 MB/s and 3 MB/s
the DMA feature was disabled. Had to download the RedHat 9 RPM update
for the kernel to 2.4.20-19 this kicked it into 556 MB/s and 56 MB/s
with UDMA2 mode enabled.. no kernel recompiles.. just rpm -Uvh
and done.

D. The key thing was the Legacy mode setting, the ICH5 Enhanced or
"Native"
mode (which is the Bios default) does not work with the RedHat 9
Install CDs..
maybe later when a driver disk is provided by someone.. could barely
guess
this "is" possible but not probable. But if you put it in Legacy mode
the RedHat 9 install CDROM's will work with the SATA drives just like
they were regular PATA IDE hard drives.

E. But, setting Legacy mode by itself is not enough, you must
judicously
"choose" to enable (one) PATA and the (one) SATA channel for a
total of two IDE channels in Legacy mode. This assumes you'd choose
the
PATA (Parallel ATA) channel which has your CDROM attached.. note: even
if you choose the wrong PATA and SATA, your CDROM will still boot.. it
just won't know where to get the CDROM install files from after it
gets a little ways into the install and will prompt for the "local
disk"
which has them.. since that PATA will not be enabled.. you won't be
able
to point it at the CDROM drive.. in a perfect install it doesn't
prompt
you at all... its a normal everyday install, nothing special.

Last Note: the "choosing" is a vertical menu of preconfigured
combinations,
you just have to "choose" the combination that matches your situation,
typically -> My CDROM drive is slave on Secondary IDE PATA channel,
and I have one SATA drive on the IDE SATA channel -> I choose
[PATA-Sec, SATA]
choice.. not easiest to reason out.. but you probably get the idea.

Oh yeah.. drives tried so far.. Seagate 120 GB and 160 GB

- john w.
courtecy: http://groups.google.com/groups? q=...&rnum
=1

333333333333333
From: Tumbleweed (tumbleweednews@mysockshotmail.com)
Subject: Re: Hard Disk
View: Complete Thread (4 articles)
Original Format
Newsgroups: linux.redhat.install
Date: 2004-04-04 07:46:26 PST


SATA is very poorly supported, certainly for the install. I have tried
RH9,
mandrake 9.2 and SUSE 9, none of which can see my SATA disks.
Red hat enterprise 3.1 installer can see my SATA disks, due to other
issues
I havent isntalled it yet. I am hoping that the new mandrake and suse
due
out within a month-6 weeks will have native SATA 9 (and my controller,
an
Intel ICH5). the controller seems to be the root of the issue.

--
Tumbleweed

Remove my socks for email address
"William Winkler" <ouiNOouiliSPAMouinqui@yahoo.nospam.com> wrote in message
news:c4mls7$foh$1@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu...
> I am including below a message from Red Hat archives, someone got a 120G
> Seagate serial disk to install without any problems.
>
> The Red Hat hardware list says
> IDE controllers
> ATA-133, ATA-33 -- most controllers.
> If a device isn't mentioned specifically, it is usually supported under th
is
> category.  The message below also mentions that there are some serial ATA
> drivers included in RH9.
>
>
> Re: Serial ATA support in Linux Red Hat
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
 --
> ----
>
> From: "bobby j kirsch" <bobk71 hamiltoncom net>
> To: <redhat-install-list redhat com>
> Subject: Re: Serial ATA support in Linux Red Hat
> Date: Fri, 9 May 2003 01:15:44 -0500
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
 --
> ----
>
> just thought i would try to help clear one up from all the things that hav
e
> helped me here.
>
> I am running redhat 9.0 on a 120 gig seagate serial HD and it picked it up
> on installation. No probs.  Hope this helps.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jim Hayward" <jimhayward earthlink net>
> To: <redhat-install-list redhat com>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2003 9:06 AM
> Subject: Re: Serial ATA support in Linux Red Hat
>
> 
>
>
> "Nafai" <nafai3000@yahoo.es> wrote in message
> news:hXxbc.4350293$uj6.14087168@telenews.teleline.es... 

courtecy: http://groups.google.com/groups? q=...&rn
um=7




hasanbabu@yahoo.com (Hasan Babu H) wrote in message news:<f298d8ec.0409290548.1f869991@posti
ng.google.com>...[vbcol=seagreen]
> I'm a newbie to linux, and want to try Red Hat Linux.
> I  have P4, 3GHz with HT, processor, two 80 GB Seagate SATA Drive,
> Intel 915 Motherboard, with 256 MB DDR. When I tried to install Red
> Hat Linux 9 ( 3 CD pack) the installer was not able to detect the hard
> drive.
> I heard that it is impossible to install red hat linux on SATA drives.
> Is that true? if not can any one help me the way out?
>
> Hasan Babu H

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

quote:
Originally posted by Hasan Babu H 
I'm a newbie to linux, and want to try Red Hat Linux.
I  have P4, 3GHz with HT, processor, two 80 GB Seagate SATA Drive,
Intel 915 Motherboard, with 256 MB DDR. When I tried to install Red
Hat Linux 9 ( 3 CD pack) the installer was not able to detect the hard
drive.
I heard that it is impossible to install red hat linux on SATA drives.
Is that true? if not can any one help me the way out?

Hasan Babu H 
 



Dear Hasan i am also a newbie. In the interest of helping many a fresher lik
e us i post the folllowing facts culled from different sources.
Hope this would suffice to do the trick

Post yr feedback after trying it
Regards,
V.S.Raj



http://sourceforge.net/project/show...?group_id=79320

D865PERL SATA and Gig notes

Installing Redhat 9 >> please note I now recommend dropping Redhat for
Debian
ans we have tested several distributions and found Debian to be the
heart of
the Linux world. see Linux for more details.

   Set the bios in legacy mode as the RedHat 9 install disk won't
   recognize the Enhanced setting and will fail to see the drives.
Under
   the legacy setting choose the last option. It will install seeing
the
   drives as normal IDE drives with a slow transfer rate.

   Download the latest Kernel RPM on a different machine (as your LAN
   won't work as of yet) and transfer over via CD ROM. Build a new
Kernel
   being sure to turn on the PIXII and Intel gig a bit options in
   menuconfig. See( How-to-make-a-redhat-kernel )

   Once the Kernel is made you will want to add a new stanza to
grub.conf
   as below --
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.20-20.9kps1 hdc)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.20-20.9kps1 ro root=/dev/md2 hdc=ide-scsi
initrd /initrd-2.4.20-20.9kps1.img

   Note on the line that starts kernel -- you will now point to hdc
   (don't ask me why??)

   You will also need to edit /etc/raidtab or fstab to change to the
new
   drive letters which are hde and hdg

   Reboot and in the BIOS setup change to 'enhanced' mode. Go to the
boot
   selection and delete the hard drives for boot -save and reset the
   computer with the reset button enter the boot section and reselect
the
   drives (this gets around a bug in the BIOS).

   Once the machine boots up you need to delete /boot/grub/device.map
and
   run grub --devicemap=device.map

   Check /proc/mdstat - you may need to raidhotadd and rebuild your
raid

Just a quick note for anyone searching for help.

1. Yes it can be done using only the original RedHat 9 install CDROMS.
2. UDMA2 is supported in Legacy mode using a RedHat 9 RPM update
kernel.
3. Throughput experienced was 556 MB/s 56 MB/s using hdparm -Tt
/dev/hda

Key items to note:

A. This was using off the shelf OEM built whitebox and parts, 
Intel boxed parts and Intel Bios.

B. I've heard some Dell systems that use the ICH5 chipset do not 
provide a Bios option to put the motherboard into Legacy IDE mode..
hence they will not work like an OEM Intel Motherboard with the
Legacy option... keep checking Dell support site.. perhaps someday
they will release a Bios with this feature (no guarantees.. I 
don't work for Dell ;-)

C. After installing RedHat 9 my thoughputs were 556 MB/s and 3 MB/s
the DMA feature was disabled. Had to download the RedHat 9 RPM update
for the kernel to 2.4.20-19 this kicked it into 556 MB/s and 56 MB/s
with UDMA2 mode enabled.. no kernel recompiles.. just rpm -Uvh 
and done.

D. The key thing was the Legacy mode setting, the ICH5 Enhanced or
"Native"
mode (which is the Bios default) does not work with the RedHat 9
Install CDs..
maybe later when a driver disk is provided by someone.. could barely
guess
this "is" possible but not probable. But if you put it in Legacy mode
the RedHat 9 install CDROM's will work with the SATA drives just like
they were regular PATA IDE hard drives.

E. But, setting Legacy mode by itself is not enough, you must
judicously
"choose" to enable (one) PATA and the (one) SATA channel for a
total of two IDE channels in Legacy mode. This assumes you'd choose
the
PATA (Parallel ATA) channel which has your CDROM attached.. note: even
if you choose the wrong PATA and SATA, your CDROM will still boot.. it
just won't know where to get the CDROM install files from after it
gets a little ways into the install and will prompt for the "local
disk"
which has them.. since that PATA will not be enabled.. you won't be
able
to point it at the CDROM drive.. in a perfect install it doesn't
prompt
you at all... its a normal everyday install, nothing special.

Last Note: the "choosing" is a vertical menu of preconfigured
combinations,
you just have to "choose" the combination that matches your situation,
typically -> My CDROM drive is slave on Secondary IDE PATA channel,
and I have one SATA drive on the IDE SATA channel -> I choose
[PATA-Sec, SATA]
choice.. not easiest to reason out.. but you probably get the idea.

Oh yeah.. drives tried so far.. Seagate 120 GB and 160 GB 

I am including below a message from Red Hat archives, someone got a 120G
Seagate serial disk to install without any problems.

The Red Hat hardware list says
IDE controllers
ATA-133, ATA-33 -- most controllers.
If a device isn't mentioned specifically, it is usually supported under this
category.  The message below also mentions that there are some serial ATA
drivers included in RH9.


Re: Serial ATA support in Linux Red Hat

How to Compile 2.6 kernel for RedHat 9/8
Mike Chirico 
Last Updated: Wed Mar 24 09:12:06 EST 2004

The latest version of this document can be found at:
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/...26.txt?download

For configs ref:
http://sourceforge.net/project/show...ux/kernel/v2.6/

Also take a look at
http://www.codemonkey.org.uk/post-halloween-2.5.txt This has
some useful hints on some of the changes needed.


STEP 2:

Download the latest version of module-init-tools
"module-init-tools-3.0.tar.gz" and
"modutils-2.4.21-23.src.rpm"

http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/ker....
tar.gz
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/ker...src
.rpm


STEP 3:

Install module-init-tools. This will replace depmod
[/sbin/depmod] and other tools.

tar -zxvf module-init-tools-3.0.tar.gz
cd module-init-tools-3.0
./configure --prefix=/sbin 
make
make install 
./generate-modprobe.conf /etc/modprobe.conf


STEP 4:

Install modutils-2.4.21-23.src.rpm. You may get warnings
about user rusty and group rusty not existing. Also, yes,
you'll have to force the install. If you don't do these steps
for both Redhat 9 and Redhat 8, you'll have problems with the
make modules_install.

rpm -i modutils-2.4.21-23.src.rpm
rpmbuild -bb /usr/src/redhat/SPECS/modutils.spec
rpm -Fi /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i386/modutils-2.4.21-23.i386.rpm


STEP 5:

Install and configure the kernel. Do NOT use the /usr/src/linux
area! Reference the README. I put my files in /home/src/kernel/

gunzip linux-2.6.3.tar.gz tar -xvf linux-2.6.3.tar cd
linux-2.6.3

If you have patches install these now:

bzip2 -dc ../patch-2.6.xx.bz2 | patch -p1


STEP 6:

Copy the appropriate /usr/src/linux-2.4/configs
[kernel-2.4.20-i686.config, kernel-2.4.20-i686-smp.config]
to .config in whatever directory you are installing. In my
case it's /home/src/kernel/linux-2.6.3

cp /usr/src/linux-2.4/configs/kernel-2.4.20-i686.config \
/home/src/kernel/linux-2.6.3/.config

If you don't have the source configs, you can download them
from here:

[url]https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=79320&package_id=109944[/ur
l]

I've also included a file config2.6-chirico which was a 2.6
version for some of my systems. This isn't a bad reference if
you run into trouble.


STEP 7:

Assuming you copied the appropriate kernel-2.4 config to
.config, run the following which will run through necessary
questions for the 2.6 kernel. Or, you might want to use the
config2.6-chirico...this has already been run through make
oldconfig on my system, and I've answered the necessary questions
for a general system.

make oldconfig



STEP 8:

This is very important. Make sure you're .config has the
following in it CONFIG_EXT3_FS=y You'll run into the following
error if you leave this =m instead of =y:

pivotroot: pivot_root(/sysroot,/sysroot/initrd) failed

This is because Redhat 9.0 and 8.0 use the ext3 filesystem
for /boot ...


STEP 9:

Edit the Makefile and add changes to the Extraversion is needed.
Patches will update these values as well.

VERSION = 2 
PATCHLEVEL = 6 
SUBLEVEL = 3 
EXTRAVERSION = -skim-ch6


STEP 10:

make bzImage


STEP 11:

make modules


STEP 12:

make modules_install


STEP 13:

make install

If you come across errors here, what version of "depmod" is
being picked up in your path?

Also, if you get a module not found, say the following:
No module aic7xxx found for kernel 2.6.x
Then, in /lib/modules/2.6.x/kernel/drivers/scsi/aic7xxx/
cp aic7xxx.ko aic7xxx.o


insmod should look for aic7xxx.ko ;but , it looks for aic7xxx.o

If you still have trouble, make the following change in the
.config
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SD=y
and go back to STEP 10.

You also may want to ref
kernel-2.6.3-i686-smp-chirico-aic7xxx.config
in
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/...tar.gz?download



STEP 14:

mkdir /sys



STEP 15:

/etc/rc.sysinit needs to be modified. Look for the following
line:

action $"Mounting proc filesystem: " mount -n -t proc /proc /proc

and after this line enter the following:

action $"Mounting sysfs filesystem: " mount -t sysfs none /sys

Here's my /etc/rc.sysinit for reference:

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/...it.txt?download



Be very careful at this step. Backup the /etc/rc.sysinit file.

Thomer [http://thomer.com/linux/migrate-to-2.6.html ] also added
changes to /etc/fstab. I only had to do STEP 16 below.



STEP 16:

Add the following to /etc/fstab for usb support.

/proc/bus/usb /proc/bus/usb usbdevfs defaults 0 0




STEP 17 (CHECKING EVERYTHING):

Check the following:

a. The new image file should be installed on boot and there
should be sym link to it. My latest kernel is 2.6.3-skim-ch6,
and I got the "-skim-ch6" from the values I put in the Makefile,
so I see the following:

/boot
vmlinuz -> vmlinuz-2.6.3-skim-ch6
System.map -> System.map-2.6.3-skim-ch6

/boot/grub/grub.conf Should have been automatically
updated from make.

In /boot/grub/grub.conf change "default=0" to boot
with the new kernel. Here's an example of my
grub.conf:


# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making 
# NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to 
# root (hd0,2)
# kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hda6
# initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hda
default=0
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,2)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title Red Hat Linux (2.6.3-skim-ch6)
root (hd0,2)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.3-skim-ch6 ro root=LABEL=/
initrd /initrd-2.6.3-skim-ch6.img


b. The directory /sys exists

c. You added the mount command for sys in /etc/rc.sysinit

d. CONFIG_EXT3_FS=y was used in the .config

e. Run /sbin/lsmod or cat /proc/modules to make
sure a 2.4 kernel module wasn't forgotten. Also
look at "$cat /proc/iomem"



STEP 18 (DEVELOP YOUR OWN 2.6 MODULES):

You're done with the 2.6 build. So learn how to develop
2.6 kernel modules. First, checkout the following article

http://lwn.net/Articles/driver-porting/

Then, take a look at the following sample code, which shows how
to create /proc entries for communicating with the kernel and writing
out to any available tty device.

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/...ownload


REFERENCES:
http://www.codemonkey.org.uk/post-halloween-2.5.txt
http://kerneltrap.org/node/view/799
http://thomer.com/linux/migrate-to-2.6.html 
http://www.kernel.org/

http://bugzilla.kernel.org/
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=...3855888078.html
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/...26.txt?download
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/...it.txt?download
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/...tar.gz?download
https://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=353715
http://www.redhat.com/software/rhel/kernel26/
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/KernelAnalysis-HOWTO.html
http://www-124.ibm.com/linux/projects/?topic_id=2

KERNEL DRIVER DEVELOPMENT IN 2.6:
Excellent (series of articles):
http://lwn.net/Articles/driver-porting/

Here's my sample program:
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/...og/linuxdrive2/

http://linuxdevices.com/articles/AT4389927951.html
http://linuxdevices.com/articles/AT5793467888.html

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]