I have an ancient Intel box -- X-Series, Deskside/MX -- with two SCSI controllers. An AIC7770 onboard controller is used for a Sanyo tape drive and an external Toshiba CD ROM, and a DPT SmartRAID IV card is used for the hard disks, currently configured in a RAID 5.

There are two channels for both controllers.

I am trying to install the latest SuSE (or anything else), and of course, it has difficulty seeing the controllers. It seems to identify the correct modules (from boot floppies) -- aic7xxx (for the CD and tape drive controller) and aic790x Ultra320 (for the RAID controller).

If I boot tomsrtbt, it uses AIC7xxx and Twin Channel for the controllers, but it will not get past the Twin Channel config. I was hoping to be able to boot a Linux console to query the SCSI controllers for the parameters.

BootE does not identify the controllers.

I am looking for a "safe" way to boot to a Linux console and use a utility to probe the hardware for scsi configurations, or some suggestions on boot parameters, etc. to help in loading the modules.

I am also considering installing from a DOS-based partition, ala loadlin. Any suggestions?

Thx

After a number of unsuccessful attempts and after much review, I made the decision to install Slackware 8.1 instead.

The reason:

I found a pre-compiled kernel that supported my RAID controller. It did not support my onboard controller AND my RAID controller, but I am using an IDE CD Rom for installation. Afterwards, I will configure the SCSI CD controller.

This has been a good learning experience.

I am thinking of using this machine as a calendar/mail server. I may also compile kernels, etc. for use in-house on older hardware. My goal is to use our existing hardware in a thin-client scenario.

Thanks for the look-see!