Ok I downloaded the patch from via's website,
:ide patch ver0.8 date 4/11/2002

This patch describes how to install a kernel patch which turns on ATA133 transfer mode of the integrated ide controller in the south bridge VT8233A under Redhat 7.2

Now for my question.

Maybe I just cant follow instructions or Im way gone!!! haha
but I cant unde stand what is going on in the readme file they provide to install the kernel patch.

Here is part of the readme (the bits in brackets)are describing what i am having trouble with? If anyone has used this patch with success please help! I really want to sort out my slow transfer speed!



This README file provides the way how to patch IDE driver source file,
rebuild linux kernel and test IDE performance.

The first step is to patch your linux IDE driver source file
1.The linux kernel including driver source files are all placed in the directory
/usr/src/linux.You have to change your directory /usr/src in your console.

#cd /usr/src (is the directory i need to change to? or is it /usr/src/linux?)

2.Before patching your linux IDE source file, you should decompress
your patch file.

#gunzip xxx-patch-xxx-vpide.gz (am I uncompressing the file in the above directory? (usr/src) )

3.And then you will find a file "xxx-patch-xxx-vpide" in the current directory (being what? Is the current directory /usr/src?).
This file is a patchfile that linux utility "patch" can read.

#patch -p0 < xxx-patch-xxx-vpide (do I execute this command? if so where from? /usr/src? )

note: Setting parameter -p0 gives the entire file name unmodified. (when I enter this I get a blank line that I cant do anything with after the command has been executed)

The second step is rebuilding your linux kernel
1.Change your directory to /usr/src/linux (I dont have such a directory. I have /usr/src/linux-7.4.7-10 )
This is as far as I am able to get.
#cd linux

2.Config your system. The system will query you about driver setting.

#make xconfig

Patch must match the kernel version of your system. And guess what, for the life of me I couldn't get the official patches to actually work for any RH kernel that had an extra version, for instance 2.4.7-10 (that -10 that spoils everything), I'd suggest to get the official kernel from http://www.kernel.org (the latest stable is 2.4.19), and compile it youself, if you need a basic HOW-TO there is the famious one http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Kernel-HOWTO.html just make sure you have a backdoor to boot into your working kernel if things go eerie with compilation. If you want to give it a try without compilation then make a symlink as follows
cd /usr/src
ln -s linux-2.4.7-10 linux
and go with the instructions, it expects kernel tree to be located under /usr/src/linux

Thanx Neo !!
this just seems to go on and on!! haha

Once i have downloaded the latest Kernel
and compiled it

do I still have to try to install that patch i downloaded from via? or does the new kernel support udma5 ??? ATA/133 ??

thanx Again