I've just installed Red Hat Linux 5.2 (kernel 2.0.34) on a old IBM 486DX2 50MHz. (I've heard that this version of Red Hat works good with really old hardware) The only way i could figure out how to install it was to boot with a floppy and do an FTP install over the LAN. But my problem is I want to use my cdrom drive (well i don't have to but it would be nice ). I have a ISA Sound Blaster 16 soundcard with an on board IDE plug that my Creative 2x cdrom is plugged into (don't ask it was a packaged deal) and my motherboard only has one IDE plug on it (so no secondary IDE WTF?) and I'm using both primary and master spots for hard drives. I also have no idea what jumper the cdrom is using cuz the idiots that made the drive labeled it 0, 1, 2, 3. I haven't no idea which one is master but i do have it on 0. I'm thinking the on board IDE is setup to be a tertiary IDE but I'm not for certain. All the info i could find on the net was very vague. Can anyone out there help me?

Have you issued "lspci" as root? lspci is a utility for displaying information about all PCI buses in the system and all devices connected to them.

Okay, 'lspci' command not found. Do you know where i can download this little gem? Also (I don't know if it matters but) I don't have any PCI slots in there, just 8 ISA slots.

Found PCIUtils and downloaded it from here http://www.de.kernel.org/pub/software/utils/pciutils/
I compile it and everything goes fine. I run it and get this error "Cannot find any working access method." This could be cuz I don't have any PCI slots but then again i don't know.

The command lspci will not help since you do not have a PCI bus.

During those early years before the ATAPI interface became a standard there were several proprietary CDROM interfaces depending on the sound card manufacture. I do not remember the different ones with SB. Some SB cards even had a SCSI controller for the CDROM interface. If it is one of the proprietary interfaces you might need to recompile the kernel to include support. Check the back of the drive again the 0 1 2 3 could be the SCSI device ID header. Included in 5.2 is isapnp which is an ISA configuration tool.

Yeah that's what i figured about lspci not helping me.

I'm 100% sure it's IDE (i do have 2 other SB cards with SCSI on board but don't have a spare SCSI CDROM for them). I've also tryed plugin that CDROM and a newer 52x Creative into both master & slave spots on the primary IDE cable but no luck. The limited BIOS doesn't recognize either one.

I do have isapnp & pnpdump but not really sure what i need to be doing or looking for with them

This might help
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=3269

Good info on that site but not helpful. I have sound working just fine (also my soundcard isn't "Plug 'n Pray") I need to know how to use the on board IDE on the soundcard so I can use my CDROM drive.