Problems Installing FC3 (linux newbie)

[Arcanedeath]

Sorry about the long post..... in advance

Hiya,

I'm trying to install Fedora Core 3 to setup a MythTV HTPC for my Father and I'm a linux newbie, I've played w/ Knoppix on CD before and installed RH7 waaay back when just to mess with linux but I'm pretty much a Windows Guy so any help you guys could provide would be great .
In any event here is the setup.
Intel P4 630 3.0ghz
Asus P5AD1 Prem. (I915P chipset w/ ICH6R) Specs from NE
2x 512 MB of Gskill PC3200 cas 2 DDR
1 WD1000JB 100GB HDD on the onboard ITE IT8212F set to ide mode (eg not raid)
1 Seagate 200GB 7200.7 in a removable frame (not in the system when loading linux)
1 Sony 4x dual format DVD burner
Onboard Intel HD audio and Marvel Yukon Gigabit Ethernet.
+ the HDTV card (I forget the model /sigh only works in linux though)
(thats pretty much all the important specs/stuff)

I have a 10GB part. on the WD drive w/ WinXP and the ITE IT8212F, this works fine.

I'm trying to install Fedora Core 3 to the rest of the WD drive and I can't get the linux installer to see the hard drive on the ITE controler (if the seagate drive is hooked up it see's that fine on the single onboard IDE controler along w/ the DVD burner) I've tried using the Ver. 1.45 linux drivers from Here and I can get the ITE driver to show up as a raid driver and attempt to load it but FC3 doesn't rec. it as being in the system and only detects the onboard IDE and SATA controlers but not the ITE one.

Does anyone know a way I can get FC3 to rec. my onboard IDE / raid controler properly? (I'm not sure if I even have the right driver but that one from ITE's site was all I could find for linux, but it might be for the stand alone card and not work for an onboard setup) Also as a note I was using the Red Hat 9 driver supplied in the download as thats the highest one listed in the package.

Any Help would be greatly appricated, so far I can't even get the HTPC off the ground Knopmyth was the orginal distro install I tried and it was even more of a disaster.

 

[cleverhandle]

Well, the download page you linked indicates that the binary downloads are for 2.4 kernels but FC3 uses a 2.6 kernel. That's why the system won't load it. The full package on the download page includes source and implies that it should compile for 2.6 but that doesn't do you much good unless you can already have a working FC3 system to compile on.

Being a linux newbie, it probably won't be an easy thing to get the drivers built properly even if you have a spare machine to work with. If you can use one of the standard ATA ports (not on the ITE controller), that will be the easiest solution.

 

[bersl2]

Whoa! The RAID card actually has specifications! Nice.

Yeah, modules compiled for 2.4 will not work with 2.6. The kernel has a driver in it called it8172, but I don't know whether it will support your board.

 

[Arcanedeath]

It8172 is a different chipset, I tried that one and it won't support my board , in any event I'm not tied to Fedora Core 3, Pretty much anything that I can get that raid card and Myth TV to work with and I'd be happy Feel free to toss any suggestions you've got out there.

And is Fedora Core 2 based on the 2.4 Kernal? I can't remember, because if so I could prolly use that.

Edit: I do have a spare system lying around that would prolly work w/ FC3 (an older Celeron 525 system on the BX chipset w/ 256mb of ram) if I setup FC3 on that system would I be able to compile the drivers from there? even if the IT8212F isn't present in the system? also Unforunatly due to the way the case is setup I have to feed the 5.25" drive bays w/ the only non ITE PATA controler otherwise I can't get the cables to reach properly. So using the onboard PATA controler for the WD HDD is out as its in the bottom of the case mounted sideways.

Thanks for the comments and any other ideas you guys could come up w/ would be great or possibly instructions for how I could compile a driver that would work w/ the IT8212F in non raid mode, I'm not sure if the ones from ITE will work unless the controler is in raid mode and array is defined. Any comments on that? and thanks again....

 

[cleverhandle]

Originally posted by: Arcanedeath
in any event I'm not tied to Fedora Core 3, Pretty much anything that I can get that raid card and Myth TV to work with and I'd be happy Feel free to toss any suggestions you've got out there.

It'll be the same story with any other distro. It's nice that ITE has driver source available and all, but unless they actually contribute it to the kernel then no distro will be able to include it by default.

And is Fedora Core 2 based on the 2.4 Kernal? I can't remember, because if so I could prolly use that.

If you're intent on using the ITE controller, you might as well do it right and use FC3. You'd probably create more problems with an old distro than you'd solve.

Edit: I do have a spare system lying around that would prolly work w/ FC3 (an older Celeron 525 system on the BX chipset w/ 256mb of ram) if I setup FC3 on that system would I be able to compile the drivers from there? even if the IT8212F isn't present in the system?

Sure, you could do that. Then you create a driver disk with the resulting module and use that with the new system. I don't know what the format for such a disk is, but it's probably simple. Maybe you just drop the module on a floppy and that's it.

also Unforunatly due to the way the case is setup I have to feed the 5.25" drive bays w/ the only non ITE PATA controler otherwise I can't get the cables to reach properly. So using the onboard PATA controler for the WD HDD is out as its in the bottom of the case mounted sideways.

Well, it's your call. If you want to use this as a learning opportunity, then go ahead and install FC3 on the spare system and figure out how to make a driver disk. Could be fun. But if learning commands and compiling stuff is not your idea of fun, then think about what your time is worth to you. You could get a new SATA drive pretty cheap these days, and that would install without any issues as well as be quieter than that old WD.

I'm not sure if the ones from ITE will work unless the controler is in raid mode and array is defined.

Download the driver source and read the docs inside. They indicate that it should just fine with single disks.

 

[Arcanedeath]

Thanks for all the suggestions Cleverhandle I'm not in that big a hurry to get the HTPC going so I figure I could use this as a good learing exp. I'd like to know more about Linux and figure I'd just drop myself off the deep end hehe I downloaded the drivers already but they're on my laptop looks like I'll have to dig it out and read the docs.