hi everyone,

i need help getting centos on my mac mini server to recognize the external firewire drive which is using the mac os extended file system (which can be changed to whatever is best).

i don't think that the computer is seeing the external firewire drive. i know the external firewire device works as i have tested on another computer.

at the very bottom of this post is the output of my /dev/ directory.

first, is there a command that can list all of the attached drives, whether or not they are mounted?

second, the main problem is that i just don't think the mini is seeing the firewire drive. is this the case, and if so how do i change that?

also, i did a less /var/log/messages | grep [F,f]irewire but nothing
came up.

why i went with centos on a macmini (intel by the way):

the remote office for the place that i work for needed a file/backup/vpn server (only 3-4 users at most). we had an extra mac mini hanging around. it was either install os x server ($500, i don't think so), or go with linux. the choice was obvious. if anyone has any particular information about running centos on a mac mini (e.g. horror stories) please let me know.

Thanks,

Dragos


##########

[root@localhost ~]# ls /dev/
adsp loop3 ram4 tty16 tty46 usbdev3.1_ep81
agpgart loop4 ram5 tty17 tty47 usbdev4.1_ep00
audio loop5 ram6 tty18 tty48 usbdev4.1_ep81
bus loop6 ram7 tty19 tty49 usbdev4.3_ep00
cdrom loop7 ram8 tty2 tty5 usbdev4.3_ep83
cdrom-hda MAKEDEV ram9 tty20 tty50 usbdev4.4_ep00
cdrw mapper ramdisk tty21 tty51 usbdev4.4_ep02
cdrw-hda md0 random tty22 tty52 usbdev4.4_ep03
cdwriter mem rawctl tty23 tty53 usbdev4.4_ep81
cdwriter-hda mixer root tty24 tty54 usbdev4.4_ep82
console net rtc tty25 tty55 usbdev4.4_ep83
core null sda tty26 tty56 usbdev5.1_ep00
disk nvram sda1 tty27 tty57 usbdev5.1_ep81
dsp oldmem sda2 tty28 tty58 vcs
dvd parport0 sequencer tty29 tty59 vcs1
dvd-hda parport1 sequencer2 tty3 tty6 vcs2
dvdrw parport2 sg0 tty30 tty60 vcs3
dvdrw-hda parport3 shm tty31 tty61 vcs4
dvdwriter port snapshot tty32 tty62 vcs5
dvdwriter-hda ppp snd tty33 tty63 vcs6
fd ptmx stderr tty34 tty7 vcsa
full pts stdin tty35 tty8 vcsa1
gpmctl ram stdout tty36 tty9 vcsa2
hda ram0 systty tty37 ttyS0 vcsa3
hiddev0 ram1 tty tty38 ttyS1 vcsa4
hpet ram10 tty0 tty39 ttyS2 vcsa5
initctl ram11 tty1 tty4 ttyS3 vcsa6
input ram12 tty10 tty40 urandom VolGroup00
kmsg ram13 tty11 tty41 usbdev1.1_ep00 X0R
log ram14 tty12 tty42 usbdev1.1_ep81 zero
loop0 ram15 tty13 tty43 usbdev2.1_ep00
loop1 ram2 tty14 tty44 usbdev2.1_ep81
loop2 ram3 tty15 tty45 usbdev3.1_ep00

Hya,

I personally do not have macmini, however my penguin is connected to firewire drive.

To use firewire on penguin, your penguin needs kernel support, regardless the cpu.

#0. Does lshw detect firewire interface? (look for ieee1394)
#1. Does your penguin say anything when you connect firewire drive? (console, or dmesg. also look for CONFIG_IEEE1394)
#2. Does your penguin support hfsplus? (check kernel config file, look for CONFIG_HFSPLUS_FS)

Post what you find here, then go to next step.

Happy Penguins!

thanks for the reply kaz2100.

i installed lshw and got the following:

*-pci:2
description: PCI bridge
product: 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1e
bus info: pci@00:1e.0
version: e2
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pci subtractive_decode bus_master cap_list
*-firewire UNCLAIMED
description: FireWire (IEEE 1394)
product: FW323
vendor: Agere Systems
physical id: 3
bus info: pci@03:03.0
version: 61
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: ohci bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=248 maxlatency=24 mingnt=12
resources: iomemory:90000000-90000fff irq:11


dmesg didn't list anything about IEEE.

i'm not sure how to check my kernel file for hfsplus support.

Hya,

It looks that your kernel does not have driver for ieee 1394. (lshw says UNCLAIMED)

A simple web search suggests that your hardware is supported.

Nest step is:
Does your penguin have kernel source? -> if no, install it.
Look for your current config file. (very often it is /boot/config or /config or whatever looks like)

Have you ever rebuilt kernel yet? (it is not difficult. There are many threads floating around. Read README file!!)

Check config file for hfs and firewire support (see my previous post).

Try as far as you can, then post here again whatever.....

+++++

Another issue you mentioned in the #1 about file system. I personally like to use hfsplus on Apple computers, and ext3 on penguin computers, (I have not used Reiserfs, so I do not know). It is all up to you. If you decide to use ext3, it is obvious that your penguin does not need to support hfs. (still need firewire.)

Happy Penguins!

lol. an hour later into my quest i start thinking, "this is all just to get my firewire drive to work". i really want linux to work for me, but i also want a social life!

anyway (frustration aside) i did a uname -r and my kernel is: 2.6.18-8.el5. i never found the exact copy of the source, so i'm reluctant to use it.

i got: wget http://mirrors.ircam.fr/pub/CentOS/5...53.el5.src.rpm

how do i find out if i already have the source on my computer?

less /boot/config-2.6.18-8.el5 | grep hfs (also did firewire ieee1394) didn't show anything.

i tried to post the log file but it was too long for the post.

Hya,

#1: less /boot/config | grep -> what did you search hfs or HFS? It is ALL UPPER CASE. Also, IEEE.

#2: Looks like you downloaded kernel source. (wget ...) Most often, kernel source resides under /usr/src/ , if not look for linux-2.6.18-8... (find / -name linux-2.6.18\* -print)

#3: Depending on what you find at step #1, you may need to compile kernel. Try as far as you can proceed, then come back here.

Happy Penguins!

okay. i did find something grepping the config file.

[root@localhost ~]# less /boot/config-2.6.18-8.el5 | grep HFS
CONFIG_NET_SCH_HFSC=m
CONFIG_HFS_FS=m
CONFIG_HFSPLUS_FS=m
CONFIG_SQUASHFS=m
# CONFIG_SQUASHFS_EMBEDDED is not set
CONFIG_SQUASHFS_FRAGMENT_CACHE_SIZE=3
# CONFIG_SQUASHFS_VMALLOC is not set

[root@localhost ~]# less /boot/config-2.6.18-8.el5 | grep IEEE
CONFIG_IEEE80211=m
# CONFIG_IEEE80211_DEBUG is not set
CONFIG_IEEE80211_CRYPT_WEP=m
CONFIG_IEEE80211_CRYPT_CCMP=m
CONFIG_IEEE80211_CRYPT_TKIP=m
CONFIG_IEEE80211_SOFTMAC=m
CONFIG_IEEE80211_SOFTMAC_DEBUG=y
# IEEE 1394 (FireWire) support
# CONFIG_IEEE1394 is not set


As far as the kernel source, i didn't find anything in the /usr/src directory, and find didn't find anything either.

what's next?

Hya,

#1: It looks like that hfsplus is supported (module). -> good
#2: It does not look like that IEEE1394 is supported. -> you need to turn this on.

So, next step is rebuild kernel. However, it does NOT look like you have kernel source. Did you install rpm package which you downloaded using wget? Otherwise, I do not quite understand your situation.

Once you locade kernel source code, rebuilding looks like: (read README and some other threads carefully!!)
1. copy /boot/config... to ./.config
2. make oldconfig
3. make config (or make gconfig or make xconfig) -> this step you turn on IEEE1394 options on. Read documents and turn on whatever you need. (It depends on hardware which your penguin has.)
4. make
5. make modules_install
6. make install (Depending on your system, you may need to edit configure file for lilo or grub...
7. things go well

Happy Penguins!

well, i think i have had enough.

i recompiled the kernel, did the very cryptic instructions in the README file. i think i have the right settings for grub, but i still get:


less /boot/config-2.6.18-8.el5 | grep IEEE
CONFIG_IEEE80211=m
# CONFIG_IEEE80211_DEBUG is not set
CONFIG_IEEE80211_CRYPT_WEP=m
CONFIG_IEEE80211_CRYPT_CCMP=m
CONFIG_IEEE80211_CRYPT_TKIP=m
CONFIG_IEEE80211_SOFTMAC=m
CONFIG_IEEE80211_SOFTMAC_DEBUG=y
# IEEE 1394 (FireWire) support
# CONFIG_IEEE1394 is not set


i feel bad giving up, but i feel worse wasting my time. again, this is all just to get firewire working!?!

thanks for all of you help kaz2100 but i'm just going to use a USB cable.

Your statements imply that people who can use linux don't have a social life.

You can't learn linux if you just dabble and look down your nose on it. If it's not worth your time, you're not worth helping either.


There are other operating systems for your type. Go buy those and keep your precious so-called social life.