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  • From: sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>
  • To: baslinux AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [BL] Can I make my own scsi kernel?
  • Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2005 23:47:52 +0000 (UTC)

On Thu, 17 Feb 2005, David Moberg wrote:

----- Original Message -----
From: "sindi keesan" <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>

Do I need (in order to have sda4 as a block device):
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SD=y

Is this the equivalent of insmod scsi_mod and if not, what is?

Nope, if you set this to M you get sd_mod.o. The equivalent of
scsi_mod.o is CONFIG_SCSI.

BTW, my previous posting neglected to mention that you can build
the whole SCSI driver system as (a) module(s).


I just read the relevant parts of Configure.help and learned this.

For all scsi devices (including IDE CD-burners used with cdrecord):
scsi_mod.o or CONFIG_SCSI=y

For REAL scsi devices you need the module for the card (aic7xxx.o for
my adaptec 2940) or CONFIG_SCIS_AIC7XXX=y

For scsi or pseudoscsi CD-ROM devices: CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SR=y or sr_mod.o
(these show up as sr0 etc).

For CD-writers or SCSI scanners: CONFIG_CHR_DEV_SG=6 or sg.o (sg0)
So for a CD burner you need, as Christof suggested, scsi_mod, sr_mod, and sg, and also the ide-scsi module and the line in the boot.bat file for it.

I did not get my scsi scanner working with scsi_mod and sg

For block devices which includes parallel port zip drives or scsi hard drive (or apparently also scsi zip drives)
sd_mod.o or CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SD
I was missing this module.

I did
insmod scsi_mod
insmod sg
insmod aic7xxx

It found 1 host and I could then mount /dev/sda4 on /zip.

So I don't really need a scsi kernel, like you said, if I can figure
out what is missing to make the scanner work. scsi_mod, sg, and aic7xxx ought to do it, but maybe the order is important?

There is something about Reset SCSI-devices at boot time, for 'scanners of older type that do not reset when switched on'. Default is N because it can mess up the hard drives to do a reset.

As often as I expect to use the scanner I could stand to use the aic7xxx.s kernel instead, though it is twice as big. It lets you use a lot of other scsi cards as modules, and includes many things I never heard of.

what else do I need to configure?

Whatever drivers you need for the devices you want to use. Like Steven
said, it's a good idea to read the Linux configuration documentation.

I found in the aic7xxx.s kerneL;
CONFIG_CHR_DEV_SR=y (instead of sr_mod.o?)
CONFIG_CHR_DEV_SG=y (instead of sg.o?)

Uh-huh.

(I used these two for scsi emulation with the cd burner - do I also need
them for real scsi? I have been using bare.i for scsi emulation so
that I can listen to the .wav files made with cdda2wav, but I think
the BL2 kernel also worked for it with three scsi modules plus
ide-scsi.)


You only need SR if you want to use a CD/DVD drive/burner attached via
SCSI, ATAPI/IDE-SCSI emulation, or USB. SG is for anything on those busses
which are not a hard, floppy, flash, or tape drive. You need it for burning
CDs (but you don't need it to read CDs or DVDs) and for scanners or
synthesizers (!).

Is the zip drive treated as a hard drive? Someone told me in DOS it is treated as a floppy drive (but assigned a letter following anything IDE).

I have never even seen a synthesizer.


CONFIG_SCSI_AIC7XXX=y I probably need this instead of aic7xxx.o
CONFIG_AIC7XXX_CMOS_PER_DEVICE=8 these lines too?
CONFIG_AIC7XX_CMOS_RESET_DELAY=5

The first line enables the AIC7XXX. It looks like you want that. The last
two are configuration options for that driver. The defaults should work
fine.

Do I need all of this? Or anything else not in the BL2 kernel?

See above.

Why are some scsi devices sga (scanner?), some sda4 (zip), some sr0
(cd burner, I think)? I never used anything scsi until recently,
these three devices.

Different devices have different interfaces (best explanation I could
come up with).

Thanks. At least I have the zip drive working with BL2 kernel and modules now and I will persist with the scanner. It worked with SW81 adaptec.s kernel and with the scsi zip drive plugged into it (and terminated).

Presumably a parport zip drive will be used the same way but with ppa.o in addition to sd_mod.

Steven, thanks for steering me to the information. I did not want to go through the configure routine to get at it with ?

If I have lots of RAM, is there any particular advantage to loading the five scsi modules rather than compiling into the kernel, for things I don't use often such as zip drive, scanner, and cd burner?

If I load the modules I can rmmod them in case I need to use that IRQ (for sb and aic7xxx). Can I do something similar if they are in the kernel?

Any reason NOT to compile with slhc, ppp, parport, parport_pc, lp, the sound modules, and the scsi modules (other than sb and aic7xxx)? They don't seem to require interrupts when not in use. Nor does ethernet until I run ifconfig.

For 24MB RAM should I stick to modules for everything? That computer is used mostly for writing scripts this year.

David
--

Sindi




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