[sclug] Motherboards and SATA

[Alex Butcher]

On Mon, 5 Apr 2004, Ian Michell wrote:

> Well, when I ordered it form dabs, it did say it was useable in Linux,
> thats whats annoying,

Checking Linux compatibility is more involved than just checking what the
reseller says. At a minimum, I google for '<model name> linux' (or '<model
name> xfree86' for video cards) before making any purchasing decisions. If
the vendor supplies a driver, I download it and extract it to see whether
it's a) a standard, unmodified driver, pre-compiled for convenience b) a
proprietary but fully open driver, awaiting inclusion in the mainstream
kernel c) a close driver with glue code (a la nVidia) or d) a bunch of
kernel modules compiled against specific kernel versions. a) and b) are
preferable, c) is tolerable to me sometimes (e.g. laptops) d) is completely
unacceptable to me. You've got category d) unless you use Thomas Horsten's
driver.

Windows has conditioned folks to buy hardware and worry about getting it
working with their chosen OS later. The way it always used to be done, and
the only sane way to go with Linux (and the BSDs) is to pick your
application, pick the best OS for your application, then pick the best
hardware for running your OS.

> I am using a gentoo modified 2.6.3r1 kernel, I did a load of googling and
> hacked the shit outta the kernel driver for the Silicon Image 3112 driver,
> patched etc. Still nothing

Obviously you didn't read the pages I posted links to:

"News

[...]

    * 2004/03/08:
      Sorry, still no significant progress on the 2.6 driver (which is not
going to be a driver after all, but a userspace tool that can be loaded from
initrd or initramfs to detect and configure the Medley array(s) using the
Device Mapper).
    * 2004/02/08:
      Today I have finally started work on the 2.6 driver (mostly by reading
the sources for MD and DM). I have set up a mailing list to discuss the
implementation of the 2.6 driver and also to help out with support questions
for the 2.4 driver. You can find the mailing list here. Please visit the
archives of the list before asking me questions in email. As always, I will
of course try my best to help anyone who has problems with my driver."

	- <http://www.infowares.com/linux/#medley>

Looks like you're stuck with 2.4 if you want to use this hardware (unless
you want to get your kernel hacker hat on).

>, ACPI is pretty current I would think (to be in 2.6.3 that is), hmmmmm...
> What annoys me is that adaptec are not playing nice by not giving out
> source code for their SATA cards. I think its childish really... I mean
> what have you got to lose when your hardware is propriety?

The usual argument is one of a) they don't want to support all the different
Linux distros, b) revealing the source of the driver will reveal some novel
design aspects of the hardware or c) differentiation between different
models at different price points is purely a driver issue, and revealing the
source will allow purchasers of the "model 100" to get the performance of
the "model 500" simply by hacking the driver's detection routines.

I (try to) spend my money with companies that don't have broken business
models.

> Ian

Best Regards,
Alex.
-- 
Alex Butcher      Brainbench MVP for Internet Security: www.brainbench.com
Bristol, UK                      Need reliable and secure network systems?
PGP/GnuPG ID:0x271fd950                         <http://www.assursys.com/>