[rescue] Blade 100

[velociraptor]

On 6/12/06, Bryan Gurney <arb_npx42 at comcast.net> wrote:

> > Thinks pre-DMA speeds.  My understanding is that the DMA
> > implementation on the Blade 100's is severely broken.  In fact, if
> > running Linux on it, you have to completely disable DMA mode, or you
> > *will* get a corrupted boot file system.  (Oddly, it only seems to
> > affect the boot partition, not data partitions.
>
> Wow, that sounds bad.  I know that the Ultra 5 has a CMD IDE controller,
> and it's certainly not a speed demon, but is it THIS bad as well?  I'm
> planning on getting my U5 running with a WD 80 GB 7200 RPM drive.

I can't say as to whether the U5 has this problem as well under Linux.
 It'd be worth a search.  So long as you make sure to disable DMA in
your kernel, it's not an issue, but you have to remember to do it.  I
got bit on a kernel rebuild.  I was able to pull all the "real data"
off the disk, but to get the system going again I would have had to
reinstall the OS (workstation, no backups).

At the time a G4/733 hit the boneyard, so rather than fighting with a
reinstall of Linux and XFree86 (you have to hand craft the X server
config file for Sun LCDs), I just tossed the disk into a cannister so
I could mount it on something that understood the filesystem, and
rsync'd the data over.

As I am currently fighting with an "upgrade" of Kubuntu taking my Xorg
south (working from a Live CD at the mo), I gotta say, I miss the Mac.
:-/  <rant>How is it that a perfectly function xorg.conf works on one
version and not the next?  And "not working" in this case is not a
minor thing, it's a can't load core devices thing.  Not to mention
it's inconceivable to me that a livecd can consistently figure out a
display--with a passable set of fonts/resolution, mind you--yet the
fscking X config scripts can't.</rant>

=Nadine=