Thanks for the tips and advices I got. In the end, I did not do
exactly as any of those suggested, but came up with a new twist.
1) Took the rescue and drivers disk images from slink, there were
finally the 1.44M versions. These worked for the Adaptec 7890, but the
install program is buggy: it returns to the beginning and starts asking
again color or monocrome after the disk partitions are created and it
should start installing.
2) Took the rescue disk from Debian 2.0, removed from the floppy the
files linux and root.bin, and replaced those with the versions from
slink rescue disk. I used an existing Linux machine, and the mdel and
mcopy commands from mtools package to do this.
3) Used this self made rescue disk and Debian 2.0 drivers disk to
install hamm. Everything worked.
So, the problem got solved, but me and my collegue spent the morning
making floppies. The end is not completely happy, however. This Dell
machine was bought specifically for Linux workstation, and Dell
advertices they support Linux. We solved problems with the SCSI
adapters, but the display adapter was Diamond Permedia 2, and XFree
3.3.2 does not support that adapter. We decided it is not worth our
time to struggle any more with this Dell and returned it to shop.
However, when Debian 2.1 is out, it supports the Adaptec 7890 SCSI
adapter. And further however, XFree 3.3.3, which was released in
November, supports Permedia 2. We could not find any Debian or Red Hat
packages for XFree 3.3.3, and did not consider Permedia worth the
trouble. Dell does not sell this model with a display adapter we would
like (for example, Matrox G200), so it easier for us to get a clone
machine with the components we specify.
For those that have Dell Precision 410, you can
1) wait until Debian 2.1 is out AND XFree 3.3.3 is available
as Debian packages,
2) Use some commercial X Server. My understanding is they
already support Permedia 2 or
3) use the rescue disk trick and compile XFree 3.3.3 or
install it from tar files.
If there is interest, I can upload disk image of the rescue disk we
created. Email me if there is interest. But it was quite easy to copy
the two files from floppy to floppy.
On Wed, Dec 16, 1998 at 05:53:56AM -0500, Aaron Stromas wrote:
> > Problem: Dell Precision 410 has two SCSI adapters on the motherboard,
> > Adaptec 7880 with CD-ROM connected and Adaptec 7890 with the hard
> > drive. Now installing Debian 2.0 fails. It sees the CD-ROM but not the
> > hard drive.
> >
> > It seems this is because the Debian 2.0 Rescue disk has kernel 2.0.34,
> > and this kernel does not support Adaptec 7890. I looked at 2.0.36
> > kernel, which seems to have this support. I compiled a new kernel with
> > 2.0.36 sources, and got boot-floppies Debian package, but have not
> > figured out how to get this new kernel on a Rescue Disk.
> >
> > Does some kind soul already have a Rescue disk with support for
> > Adapted 7890? Or can someone give me some advice on making the disk.
> >
> > --
> > Tapio Lehtonen
> > [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >
> >
>
> i have a similar problem. i used the rescue image from
> http://www.debian.org/~adric/aic7xxx/5.1.5/ . however, i swapped one
> problem for the other. once i come up under new kernel i can no longer
> use the cdrom, nor can i use the network. if you ever get a good rescue
> image i'd appreciate a copy.
> --
> Aaron Stromas | "Tick-tick-tick!!!... ja, Pantani is weg...."
> Oracle Corp. | BRTN commentator, L'Alpe d'Huez, 1995 Tour
> de France
> +1 703 917 48 72 |
>
--
Tapio Lehtonen
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
