On Thu, 1 Feb 2007, Ioannis Vranos wrote: > Eva Myers wrote: >> I'm having some trouble installing SL44 on a new machine from World of >> Computers. As far as WOC are aware, the only difference between this >> machine and the one I was asking about in December is that the IDE >> DVD-RW drive has been replaced by a SATA drive because they were >> having difficulty getting a different version of Linux to communicate >> with the IDE drive. >> >> However, the installation problems are quite different. Rather then >> freezing when I boot from the boot CD without any kernel options, the >> install process claims that it cannot find any hard drives. I tried >> using the all-generic-ide and pci=nommconf options - the hard drive >> was then detected, but the install process hung while formatting the >> root filesystem! >> >> The relevant hardware details (copied from the quotation) are: >> >> Motherboard + processor: Intel D965SSCK Core 2 Duo 6300 2MB cache >> Hard drive: 160GB - ST3160811AS - 7200rpm Serial ATA >> DVD drive: Samsung DVD RW (+/-) OEM Dual Layer/16xDVD+R,8xDVD+RW,16xRead-SATA >> >> The Seagate website does not seem to have any hard drives with the >> exact model number above but does have a ST3160812AS-RK - could this >> be why the computer is behaving differently? I was hoping they would >> also have a Linux driver to download but they didn't. >> >> Is the change in the DVD drive at all likely to be the cause of the >> problem, and could someone please explain how to get the installation >> working? Sorry for all the stupid questions. >> Eva. > > > In general, the oldest the hardware, the more possible to be supported by GNU/Linux. Also, > when getting specific new hardware, it is useful to check whether its web site provides a > driver for GNU/Linux (I have learned this first hand when I had to buy a new 56 Kbps > fax/modem for SL 4.4. Had a Zoom but they did not provide a GNU/Linux driver for it, and I > got a Tornado one that they provide a GNU/Linux driver for it. > > > SATA is a relative new technology, and I do not think there is/will be SL 4.x support for > it, other than the drivers that SATA controller makers provide themselves. I think that > the upcoming SL 5 will probably support SATA. I think you may have to wait for 5. SATA works fine in SL44. Has worked for a long time now. I suggest that you look at the 2 systems and look for bios differences. You could also run memtest86 to make sure you do not have a memory problem. > > The same I think for Core Duo processor, I am not sure you will get a good multithreading > with SL 4.x. Core Duo and Core 2 Duo are both supported in SL44. > > > In the meantime waiting for SL5, you may use the latest Fedora Core, if you are talking > about home use. > -Connie Sieh