ok bonecrusher forget that, i need your help really badly.Im trying to install slackware10.0 I just bought this sata hdd Seagate baracuda got a intel 2.4 processor and 1gig of ram. I've read this thread more than 5 times. First step was to insert satabare.i and then install.1 and finally install.2 ok i did that part. Then when it comes to the setup i deselected the 2.4.26 kernel both time when it asks you what kernel you would like to install. Once the installation is done it asked me what kernel i wanted to use i had the choice to use a kernel off a floppy or a cd and i think three other choices. So i inserted the satabare.i floppy and selected the use kernel on floppy option. Installation is done. But when i try to boot my computer i get the lilo boot loader screen and when i select linux as the os i want to boot my computer just restarts. Could you kindly help me and tell me where i went wrong. Probably all the way but your help would be appreciated thanks

Hmmm. Well, you mention 'satabare.i' ? I changed the name of it to refer to 'sata.i' (on ISO/CD) and 'sata-BootDiskImage.i' (bootdisk) now. (it use to be called that(satabare), but to avoid confusion I changed it when I re-compiled.) Anyway what chipset is your motherboard/controller? And if you are using an older copy of the kernel you may have problems..depending on chipset.
Let me know and then we'll sort this out.

bc
(Brady)

I am having some major problems. I have 2 WD raptors in RAID 0, when I boot with bonecrushers slack 10 disk is finds the drives but not the array. When i use cfdisk is says the partition is too big for the drive (meaning the old ntfs partition on there). I dont know if it's something I am doing wrong or what. So if some one could give me an answer as to how I can get the drives formatted I would be very apreciative.

Since (as I have said many times) not very versed in/about RAID (i dont run it...probably never will), I can't really help you personally...but you may want to see my web site and find your chipset and look for your particular RAID and see if you can get it up and going that way..

PS: BTW you should always post more details then you did.. if you want any help on here, ppl will always ask for your chipset etc etc.. details are very important for getting things troubleshooted....

Yeah sorry about not posting the chipset, it's the VIA VT8237 on an AMD 64 MSI motherboard. Thanks.

After doing alittle more research I think that RAID will only work for RedHat 9.0, Fedora Core 1, SuSe 8.2, Mandrake 9.1, Mandrake 9.2 and RedFlag 4.0. Which leaves me SOL. I love slackware too much to switch to something else. Bah, I dont know what to do.

I don't know much like I said, but did you look through the links on my web site? Seems like you need 'md' running or dmraid or something .. I am not sure how to go about it if you don't have another computer to compile on (Another Linux machine to make a RAID kernel).. then again I remember compiling in some RAID stuff on the Slack ISO I did for SATA support so I dunno what to tell ya. ...again the chicken before the egg heh

Believe this though: Just because it is Slackware doesn't mean a damn thing. A linux driver is a linux driver is a driver.. If a driver works on redhat it will work (maybe with modification maybe not) on Slack. So I certainly wouldn't give up hope if you know this works on other distro's...

bc

Hmm yeah, I think I am giving up hope because I didnt realise that the chipset is only software raid. I would still have to break up the old arrary and then make a new one with linux's raid software. I did check out your site though, and did alot of google searching. A guy on another for said this

"The via arena driver is no use. The vt8237 is just a software raid sata
controller. I actually get better performance with the inbuilt linux
software raid drivers than from the windows raid driver. "

and another guy said this

"As suspected this chipset is only a software RAID. Just like a winmodem is only a software modem. There are drivers that can supposedly run the Raid via this mismash but what is the point? Linux's RAID system is faster."

So alteast i know what is going on. The problem now is that I cant decide what to do.

I have slackeware on my router, server, laptop, and I am finally trying to make the leap of putting it on my desktop but with all these problems I might just stick with XP. Ouch that was hard to say

So should I just make the drives singles and install slack, try to get software raid working in linux, or just stick with windows.


Thanks again for your input.

Almost any RAID you can get is software RAID. Nothing wrong with it. On the other hand I don't run RAID... I have an ICH5r-SATA chipset-(INTEL), with a VIA RAID Bios onboard (Yes this is done thru 'software'/my CPU...so what?? Is 'software RAID' a dirty word or something??? hehe) - my board: (ASUS p4p800 Deluxe MoBo) and run a dual boot WinXP-Pro and Slack 10(Current) on my SATA drive with 0 problems. And I don't get that quote above that says something about mismash, but then goes on to say but why bother...'Linux RAID system is faster'??? Huh? What is THAT trying to say??? Maybe your confused.. cause that sure confuses me. Look:
Software RAID is plenty fast..from what I hear sometimes faster then hardware RAID, and Linux RAID IS software RAID! (Unless you have a proprietary driver of some sort from some hardware RAID get-up.)
so??? what is he saying? Don't believe everything you read I guess. Or maybe I misunderstood something...heh
Oh well..
Moving on...
Plain non-RAID SATA is plenty fast enough, and if I wanted to go faster, I wouldn't turn to RAID I would go Ultra-SCSI. Screw RAID.. no offense but I don't see what all the big deal about it is. YES you get some better speed and/or backup but oh well... I just don't get it, and why ppl make such a stink about having it.. Go to SCSI if you wanty REAL speed. (Unless you are running like some giant enterprise and need SCSI/RAID setup I just would blow it off. Well thats my opinion anyway I am happy I got a Serial ATA drive, though-don't get me wrong.

BTW see this link about software versus hardware RAID. kinda funny:

Jeff Garzik's Linux SATA RAID FAQ

cheers-

bc

Hands down the best raid 1 howto I've ever found is the link below. I've used it several times without problems and the best part about it is you don't have to install linux before you setup raid.

http://www.megapico.co.uk/linuxdocs/slackware_raid.html

hey bonecrusher can u take a look at my post. maybe you can help me thanks

search by my NICK

I responded to it.

bc

I have an intel 915p chipset
asus p5gd1 motherboard pci express
maxtor sata hard drive 160 gb

I have tryed every kernel to install slackware but nothing worked.
Can somebody please help me out with a proper boot disk ?

Kuno: Just download torrent and get the Slackware_CD1_SATA_ISO torrent file located here:

http://f2.pg.briefcase.yahoo.com/bc/...%3f.dir=/Linux

Then just burn the iso to a CD-R and that will replace your disc 1 CD for Slackware 10.

luegner i don t know how i must thanks you.
I have installed slackware with no problems

People who are having troubles installeng slackware becaue of there sata raid stuff.
Just download the sata slackware cd iso