From: roman@eskimo.com (Bill Roman) Subject: Re: Installing Linux on IBM Value Point 6384 - won't find Harddisk! Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1993 13:55:24 GMT
In article <GTAYLOR.93Apr9233050@jade.tufts.edu> gtaylor@jade.tufts.edu (Grant Taylor) writes:
>get or build a linux kernel with the hard drive parrameters hard coded
>in.
Speaking somewhat off the top of my head (I haven't had time to read and
understand the relevant boot code thoroughly) I can think of two better ways
than hard-coding the drive parameters. First, the boot code could ask the
BIOS for the hard disk parameters with INT 13h, function 08h (Get Drive
Parameters). Of course, if you're a REAL programmer, you don't make BIOS
calls any more than necessary. In this case, it should be possible to ask
an IDE drive for its preferred parameters (note that this may not work on
older drives) when the driver initializes (assuming it will initialize at all
if the boot code didn't find a hard disk). The disadvantage of this approach
is that the CMOS setup may use some alternative geometry not matching the
drive manufacturer's idea of the best one.