From: Dr J Pelan (J.Pelan_at_gatsby.ucl.ac.uk)
Date: Thu Jul 05 2007 - 20:28:23 CEST
Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2007 19:28:23 +0100 (BST) From: Dr J Pelan <J.Pelan@gatsby.ucl.ac.uk> Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.64.0707051714590.29580@godel.gatsby.ucl.ac.uk> Subject: Re: [suse-sles-e] SLES 10 on a Dell PowerEdge 1600SC
On Thu, 5 Jul 2007, John Bown wrote:
> What's interesting is that Ubuntu sees everything correctly right out of
> the gate. Might anyone know what I'm doing wrong?
Here is an attempt at a mostly generic answer for such queries.
If you have a working system then the thing to do is make a note of the
name of the working driver and its version together with the kernel
version (e.g. using 'dmesg'). While you are there also make a note of the
relevant PCI id using 'lspci -nv', just in case.
Once you are equipped with this information, it should be relatively easy
to check if the kernel of your chosen distribution (SLES10 SP1, 2.6.16)
has that driver built-in and if that driver still supports your hardware.
(Those kernel parameters will be pointless if the driver isn't there).
You can do this by looking at the freely available source, checking the
release notes or otherwise via our good friend Google. One other thing to
watch for is that sometimes driver names change (e.g. to reflect changes
in chipsets for a common brand) and megaraid in particular comes in
different flavours, as you know.
The harsh reality is that the kernel API moves on but the drivers don't
always keep pace - particularly if they are of the nasty 'binary only'
kind. Older hardware will become orphaned unless someone cares enough to
keep it functional and in the kernel/distribution. You could be stuck
unless you fancy some coding.
If the driver is API compatible but not bundled, you can compile a module
for the required kernel yourself, using the known working driver source
and the kernel source appropriate for the install. The instructions for
building the unfortunately named 'driver update disks' are here;
http://developer.novell.com/wiki/index.php/Creating_a_Driver_Update_Disk_(DUD)
Also, you are not alone which may be a bad sign;
http://readlist.com/lists/suse.com/suse-linux-e/22/111875.html
-- John P. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: suse-sles-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands, e-mail: suse-sles-e-help@suse.com
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