Tiny Core Base > TCB Bugs

Missing IDE driver

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KingOfDos:
We (a little community within the Netherlands) have a few (~10) old computers. Something 'they' call a laptop, but it will crush your lap (seriously!) after a couple of minutes. It's mend as "almost" all-weather-conditions-pc.

The problem with linux atm is, that they removed our IDE driver from the kernel. And there are many users with exact this hardware setup. I've already tried a few old linux distro's, but nothing usefull. Most (if not all of them) "netboots" won't work, because the age, and incomplete mirrors).

This is the hardware info from the BIOS (and HDT gives the same information):
IDE interface [0101]: ALi Coporation MS4803 [10b9:5215]

The kernel versions that support the needed hardware lay between 2.3.27 and 2.6.14-rc2, as far I can tell. Based on this:

--- Quote ---http://www.linuxhq.com/kernel/v2.3/27/drivers/pci/pci.ids
+5215 MS4803

http://www.linuxhq.com/kernel/v2.6/14-rc2/drivers/pci/pci.ids
-5215 MS4803
--- End quote ---

I'm hoping that you (the TCL team) can create a patch for us, so we could use any future TCL without the need for everyone to compile there own stuff. :)
ATM the only way for me to use this machine, is to PXE-boot the ISO file (using gPXE). Because non of the up2date distro's will support this IDE card. That's quite useless seen a portable setup (where you don't want to PXE boot everything).

The main reason for me to use TCL is the old hardware. It's an Pentium 1, 200MHz. 64mb ram. TCL works really fast at this setup! But I don't have the knowledge to compile my own kernel (modules) to solve this problem. So i'm really hoping that the community will help me (and thereby others!).

^thehatsrule^:
If it was actually removed from upstream kernel, there would probably be a good reason for it.  However, the removal of that file from that location doesn't mean much.

Is there anything relevant in `dmesg`?  Does the device have a raid controller?

curaga:
Shouldn't it run with the generic ide driver, even if there's no proper one?

KingOfDos:

--- Quote from: ^thehatsrule^ on August 18, 2010, 10:54:56 PM ---If it was actually removed from upstream kernel, there would probably be a good reason for it.  However, the removal of that file from that location doesn't mean much.

--- End quote ---
Sure, if they removed it from the kernel, there will be a good reason for it. But for me as linux user (on kernel level) it's sometimes quite annoying to see that they've changed things again. Ok, I should stop with speculating, hehe.


--- Quote ---Is there anything relevant in `dmesg`?  Does the device have a raid controller?
--- End quote ---
dmesg located here: http://kingofdos.com/zooi/dmesg-for-old-embedded-device.log
[added with edit]
And I'd see this line: Uniform Multi-Platform E-IDE driver
That's odd tbh. I'd even see some /dev/hda (and hda[1-9]{1}) and /dev/hdb (and hdb[1-9]{1}), but those are from the ramdrive (fdisk and cfdisk can't access it, so I guess it's not the IDE drive but ram).
[/added with edit]

The devices is build with embedded hardware, so there's nothing I'd can change (except the pcmcia card, floppy, hdd and battery pack). There is also 1 16bit ISA slot containing a 4 port serial card (as far dmesg can tell, custom connector+stuff).
And there is a SCSI card, that's only available through the backside of the laptop. There is NO option within the bios (or hardware jumper as far I can tell) to disable the SCSI card.

We checked a couple of BIOSes, to see if there are any differences. But all the devices have the same (or at least for the most important) settings within the BIOS/CMOS (except booting order, and other non-hardware specific changes).


--- Quote from: curaga on August 19, 2010, 01:08:12 AM ---Shouldn't it run with the generic ide driver, even if there's no proper one?

--- End quote ---
That's what I was thinking. It's just an IDE driver, and even GRUB/etc are working with the controller. So why the real kernel isn't doing the same (at any distro!!)?

Is it for example possible to change the /lib/modules/2.6.*/modules.pcilist (or whatever the filename is exactly, tabcompletion ftw), so I could add the PCI ID to a generic driver? Yes it's possible, but the question is more like: Is it usefull to try this? Because I've got to unpack the ISO, change it and repack it.

But again, I'd don't know the linux kernel very good. I'm a webdeveloper who can install and maintain many services and create my own applications. But trying to find a solution for this (kernel) issue is new for me.

curaga:
As mentioned in the dmesg, try this boot option:

ide_generic.probe_mask=0x3f

The generic driver has no pci ids set, it should take over if there's no native driver. If it's an ISA chip, it might not be able to without the param above.

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