Subject: !PartMan and large discs

From: Alex Waugh <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 19:35:48 +0100

Hi

I have tried to install ARMLinux, but when I ran !PartMan it did not
recognise my filecore partition. It is an 8GB IDE disc on my Risc PCs
internal IDE interface. It got the disc size, number of cylinders, heads
and sectors correct, but no the partition:

Disc size: 8064
Sector size: 512
Cylinders: 16383
Heads: 16
Sectors: 63

Partition: this had no value in it
Start: 0
End: 16514063
Size: 3968 MB
Type: Free

I think that this is due to the size of the disc, as it gave correct
readings for a (borrowed) 2GB drive.

Has anyone else come across this, and is there a known fix or
alternative partitioning sofware?

TIA

-- 
Alex Waugh   Electronics student   [email-masked]

RISC OS freeware from http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~ajw498/
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From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 20:21:55 +0100 (BST)

> and sectors correct, but no the partition:

You don't say what version, nor do you supply a log file.
   _____
  |_____| ------------------------------------------------- ---+---+-
  |   |        Russell King       [email-masked]      --- ---
  | | | |  http://www.arm.linux.org.uk/~rmk/armlinux.html    /  /  |
  | +-+-+                                                     --- -+-
  /   |               THE developer of ARM Linux              |+| /|\
 /  | | |                                                     ---  |
    +-+-+ -------------------------------------------------  /\\\  |
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From: Wookey <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1999 15:44:30 +0100 (BST)

> alternative partitioning sofware?
snip
> Type: Free

Yes. Using Partition mamnager 1.11 (current standard) I get excactly the
same result on a new 13Gb drive.

However this release of !partman has a number of problems, having been
less than perfect on all 4 drives I have tried it on so far.

The newer 'alpha' release (1.13a13 [debug]) seems much better in all
respects, although it still has room for improvement:

It doesn't find a partition, but then it's straight from the shop and
doesn't appear to have one. In this case it probably ought to say that no
partition couyld be found and just get the drive geometry.

If set to PC/BIOS it gets the size as 8064Mb, which is the right anser in
terms of the reported CHS shape 16383,16,63. These are the numbers
given on the label, but not the numbers identified by a PC BIOS or Linux
boot.  I shall investigate. It is also amusing to note that the
'geometry' window only allows for 4 digits in the cyclinders field so
this drive comes out as 1638, but this seems to be purely a
display/template issue.

Editing partitions seems to work OK in this scheme, although the way the
windows and menu work could be improved.

I have downloaded all the code for this and have got most of it to
compile (Russell, I have some comments on that that I will send later
once I have finished).

I hope to do some work on this app to get it recognise and edit all the
drives here smoothly (I have a pile of drives hare formatted with various
OSes/hardware). Russell, are there newer source versions I should be
working from? 

Is the 'alpha' release really that alpha? It hasn't done anything horrid
yet, and inspires much more confidence than the 1.11 release? 

More soon - I'm right in the middle of this particular argument :-)

Wookey
-- 
Aleph One Ltd, Bottisham, CAMBRIDGE, CB5 9BA, UK  Tel (00 44) 1223 811679
work: http://www.aleph1.co.uk/     play: http://www.chaos.org.uk/~wookey/

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From: Alex Waugh <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1999 23:26:29 +0100

> You don't say what version, nor do you supply a log file.

Sorry. Version 1.11
I cannot see any mention or evidence of a log file produced by it.

I am now aware of the alpha release 1.13a13, and will download and try
that.