Serial ATA Support (2.4.27)

Forum: DSL Ideas and Suggestions
Topic: Serial ATA Support (2.4.27)
started by: tronik

Posted by tronik on Dec. 21 2004,21:03

Hi...This is a kind of important thing for people with SATA disks...

[2.4.27] SATA support via "libata" library introduced. SATA disks appear with SCSI subsystem names (e.g. "/dev/sdb) and respond to SCSI commands (via a command translation facility).

Apparently we're at 2.4.26... ;\ which means no SATA support?

Any plans on possibly doing anything about it?

Is there anything *I* can do about it? I hate wasting 150 gigs of space ;p

Posted by cbagger01 on Dec. 22 2004,00:35

There's a few things that you can do:

(1) Check and see if your model SATA controller was ALREADY supported in kernel 2.4.26 If so, there is a good chance that it was included with the version of KNOPPIX that was distilled into the core of DSL 0.8.x/0.9.x You can then copy over the driver files from a KNOPPIX 3.4 5-17-2004 livecd and create a myDSL extension for them. Then create a custom *.iso that will autoload your new myDSL extension. There is also a slim chance that the stock DSL 0.8/0.9 distro will automagically work with your SATA controller. Worth giving it a shot.

(2) If your BIOS supports legacy SATA controller emulation, TURN IT ON. DSL may discover that your SATA drive will appear as an IDE hard drive (/dev/hda1). You can then either keep it this way or you can do a hard disk install and then upgrade the kernel + modules via apt-get or via hand-compiling.

(3) Wait for the next major reconstruction of DSL. My best guess is that DSL will eventually be rebuilt from KNOPPIX 3.7 or 3.8 (future) many months down the road.

(4) Use KNOPPIX 3.7 livecd with boot command for fluxbox as your window manager. A poor substitute for DSL, but it is usable on the newest hardware.

Posted by tronik on Dec. 22 2004,02:21

From what I"ve come to understand by asking around, and from what i've seen by reading...
SATA support WAS NOT added until 2.4.27, no bones about it.

Even reading archived developer emails (the person who merged the code into the kernel for 2.4.27), i see no hope in getting SATA until the kernel DSL uses is upgraded, or i compile my own.

Can be read here < http://kerneltrap.org/node....5c6cf79 >

Posted by ico2 on Dec. 22 2004,12:37

*grimaces sympathetically*

Posted by cbagger01 on Dec. 22 2004,17:42

Official SATA support may not have been added into the kernel tree until 2.4.27

However, there were a number of kernel patches that provided SATA support for SOME controllers in version 2.4.26 or even earlier.

So, while unlikely, it is still possible that SATA support exists in a custom compiled version of 2.4.26 The only way to know if the KNOPPIX kernel supports this is to try it and see what happens.

Posted by tronik on Dec. 26 2004,03:27

Yes, the Knoppix KErnel supports it.
I booted DSL with a Knoppix 2.4.27 kernel and it saw my drives, the only problem is the 0.9.1 DSL image has the modules linked for its kernel 2.4.26 and the 2.4.27 kernel cant find any of the modules, and you can't link them cause its mounted read only.

I'm still trying to make leway here, i'm going to attempt to remaster DSL with a 2.4.27 kernel so I can get SATA support. Heh.

Posted by tronik on Dec. 26 2004,17:05

I've added SERIAL ATA (SATA) support to DSL 0.9.1 through remastering.
Here's how,
< http://damnsmalllinux.org/cgi-bin....;t=3887 >