LinuxQuestions.org
Support LQ: Use code LQCO20 and save 20% on CrossOver Office
Go Back   LinuxQuestions.org > HCL > I/O Controller Devices > Promise
User Name
Password

Notices

Search · Register · Submit New Product ·
 

Promise FastTrak S150 TX2plus
Reviews Views Date of last review
3 4487 03-21-2005
spacer
Recommended By Average Price Average Rating
67% of reviewers None indicated 1.5



Description: Software based sata raid card that supports 0, 1, and 0+1 raid configurations. It supports drive compacities greater than 137 GB and can be used on 33MHz and 66MHz PCI bus motherboards.
Keywords: Promise FastTrak S150 TX2plus
/sbin/lspci output: 0000:02:00.0 RAID bus controller: Promise Technology, Inc. PDC20371 (FastTrak S150 TX2plus) (rev 02)
Connection Type: Serial ATA


Author
Post A Reply 
Old 01-20-2005, 03:26 AM   #1
aikidoist72
 
Registered: Jan 2005
Distribution: Slackware Archlinux FreeBSD
Posts: 218
Would you recommend the product? yes | Price you paid?: None indicated | Rating: 1

Kernel (uname -r): 2.6.3-7mdk
Distribution: 10.0 Mdk



[Log in to get rid of this advertisement]
Mandrake 9.2 worked like a dream with this controller, but for some reason, 10.0 could not be figured. I am about to install 10.1, and I hope that this will be updated, as I can not view my other ide's at the mome.
 is offline    
Old 03-15-2005, 04:22 PM   #2
aikidoist72
 
Registered: Jan 2005
Distribution: Slackware Archlinux FreeBSD
Posts: 218
Would you recommend the product? no | Price you paid?: None indicated | Rating: 0

Kernel (uname -r): 2.6.10-custom
Distribution: Debian Sarge


I have now tried a few distro's to see if this controller was installed during setup. All failed to install it.

Debian Sarge
Libranet
Mepis
Zen
Bonzia
Mandrake10.1

I have not attempted to compile a driver, but wanted to see if this hardware was supported 'Out of box'
 is offline    
Old 03-21-2005, 05:52 PM   #3
Indech
 
Registered: Jan 2004
Distribution: Debian, Gentoo, OpenBSD, Slackware
Posts: 32
Would you recommend the product? yes | Price you paid?: None indicated | Rating: 2

Kernel (uname -r): 2.6.10-r4
Distribution: Gentoo


First off, while this product can be compatible with linux, it's not completely so. Promise released drivers for the 2.4.x kernels. However, there are only binaries for a few outdated versions of Redhat and Suse. There is source code as well, but you need a working distro to compile the code so if you don't have the distro on another hard drive you have a Catch-22. Promise itself has terrible support and their instructions are poorly written.

So, what about the 2.6.x kernels? Promise promised drivers by the middle of 2004 and have yet to deliver. There are drivers in the linux kernel for the card, which do work. However you then have the limitations of software raid, where if you dual boot you are no longer going to have Windows be able to use it. I have no idea whether you can boot from the hard drives with this approach, though I doubt it, and when originally installing linux had to buy another hard drive that it could actually be installed on.

Short story, I recommend highly of staying away from Promise's products.
 is offline    





All times are GMT -5. The time now is 10:22 AM.

Main Menu
My LQ
Write for LQ
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute content, let us know.
Main Menu
Syndicate
RSS1  Latest Threads
RSS1  LQ News
RSS2  LQ Podcast
RSS2  LQ Radio
Open Source Consulting | Domain Registration