CentOS 5.4 - IDE controller patch

The_Spider
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2010 1:42 am

Re: CentOS 5.4 - IDE controller patch

Post by The_Spider »

I have been unable to use the pre-compiled module to get this to work for 2.6.18-164.el5 following the instructions provided. The system hangs when booting trying to find the / partition. I have the system partitioned as such:

/dev/hda1 = /boot (100Mb)
/dev/hdb1 = SWAP (2Gb)
/dev/hdb2 = / (Ramainder of the drive)

I realize that the root paramater on the boot line must be modified from your documentation in order for the system to properly locate the / partition, but no matter the data provided it results in a kernel panic because of its inability to locate the partition. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

I also would be interested in a Makefile for the source provided so I can compile the driver for an up-to-date kernel.

This is my first task before I attempt to tackle the other drivers on the system. One hurtle at a time, so I'm sure I'll be asking more questions later (in a proper thread).

yogev_ezra
Posts: 539
Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2009 2:49 pm

Re: CentOS 5.4 - IDE controller patch

Post by yogev_ezra »

1. How come you have both hda and hdb? What disks are you using for that?
2. Please post your entire menu.lst file.

The_Spider
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2010 1:42 am

Re: CentOS 5.4 - IDE controller patch

Post by The_Spider »

yogev_ezra wrote:1. How come you have both hda and hdb? What disks are you using for that?
2. Please post your entire menu.lst file.
The Internal Flash is being detected as /dev/hda. I am in the process of starting from scratch (fresh install of CentOS) plus exact step by step per your instructions. I will post detailed logs (dmesg, menu.lst, and anything else you require) when all is finished. (I want to make sure I'm not wasting anyone's valuable time.)

yogev_ezra
Posts: 539
Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2009 2:49 pm

Re: CentOS 5.4 - IDE controller patch

Post by yogev_ezra »

The patch was made for Fit-PC2, it was not tested on Fit-PC2i (having internal flash) and is not guaranteed to work there. The patch assumes you have only one hard disk and no internal flash. Anyway please let me know how goes, I will try to help.

The_Spider
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2010 1:42 am

Re: CentOS 5.4 - IDE controller patch

Post by The_Spider »

I did neglect to take into consideration the differences between the two models. It does appear to suffer from the same issue, how would you recommend I proceed?

I was so happy with the original Fit-PC, I'm rather distraught that the Fit-PC2i is rather lacking on documentation/support for typical linux distributions. (I never really considered Ubuntu to be a proper distribution but that's not a discussion that should be had here.) I realize that I'm dealing with a slow to take distribution when it comes to newer hardware with CentOS but I am rather fond of it. I understand you incurred a great expense when you contracted someone to write a module for your issue (for that I know we as a community are grateful) however, in my opinion, its not feasible to continue with this project when the cost for support outweighs the cost of the hardware. Should I just shelf the product and find another solution, or wait/hope for the distribution to support the hardware?

I guess its my fault for not properly researching these details before I made my purchase, but again I was so happy with the original model years ago, I just assumed that this one would be just as good.

yogev_ezra
Posts: 539
Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2009 2:49 pm

Re: CentOS 5.4 - IDE controller patch

Post by yogev_ezra »

Well, the hardware is so new that some distributions are still behind. The original Fit-PC used AMD Geode LX that was already available in the market for a few years. I assume that the situation will be the same with Fit-PC2(i) and that after a few years, everything will be supported out of the box.

I also like CentOS and some of my customers requested it, so I took the cost and made it available for everyone. I am not disappointed with that. By the way, compiled WiFi drivers will be also posted in a few days. The person I paid did not write the modules, he only compiled and tested them. The sources were taken from either latest vanilla kernel or from manufacturers sites.

Aside from IDE controller, IR and Wifi, I do not know of other unsupported things. Am I wrong? Anyway, I have a unit of Fit-PC2i with onboard flash, so I will try to test it myself and see how goes.

kiwigeraint
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:01 am

Re: CentOS 5.4 - IDE controller patch

Post by kiwigeraint »

Because you are not using LVM the fstab has /dev/hdX in it - simply boot the old kernel and change the file to refer to /dev/sdX

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