[lug] Partitioning and modem problems

[Mike McCallister]

Greetings all!

I was finally able to install Corel Linux last week, and am most thrilled 
to be running a fairly stable dual-boot Win98/Linux system at this time.

There are two nagging and critical problems that I can't seem to figure 
out, though.

First, I had left 10GB (of my single Western Digital 20GB drive) for Linux 
partitions. I asked the Corel install program to use and format all the 
free space on the drive. It made a 1.7GB partition for itself and a 125MB 
swap space, but left the remaining ~8.3GB alone. I can't seem to make any 
new ext2 partitions.

I have Partition Magic 5.1 and it tried unsuccessfully to make new Linux 
partitions (ideally, I'd like to have one large /usr partition to store 
apps on and one data partition for docs, etc.). I also tried running Linux 
FDisk from the Corel Console, but it says there's no space left when I ask 
it to create a new partition! Here is how Linux FDisk reports the partition 
table (PM reports slightly different numbers):

hda1: Starts on Cyl 1, Ends on 374. Blocks: 3004125+. ID: b. Win95/FAT32 
(the Windows C: drive)
hda2: 1678-2482, Blocks: 6466162+. ID: f. Win95 Extended (LBA) PM created 
this one
hda3: (Boot partition) 375-598. Blocks: 1799280. ID: 83 Linux Native (this 
is where Corel's root is)
hda4: 599-614. Blocks: 128520. ID: 82. Linux Swap (created by Corel)
hda5: (my Windows D: partition in the DOS extended part). 1678-2431. 
Blocks: 6056473+. ID: b. Win95/FAT32
hda6: (Windows E:, FAT16). 2432-2482. Blocks: 409626. ID: 6. DOS 16-bit >=32MB.

When FDisk verifies the partition table, it reports 17077281 unallocated 
sectors. Physically these sectors are located between hda4 and the DOS 
extended partition (hda2/hda5). Is this my problem?? BTW, I also tried 
installing GNU Parted, but I'm missing some dependencies.

The other problem is getting the internal modem to work. This is a brand 
new Dell system. When I ordered it about three months ago, I confirmed with 
the guy that this was a hardware-based modem, and that it would work with 
Linux. I've since double-checked with the Dell website and they also assure 
me that my modem will work with Linux. I also downloaded a Red Hat modem 
driver (yes, I recognize that the driver may not work with the Debian-based 
Corel distro). Meanwhile the Windows Device Manager reports that the modem 
is a USRobotics 56K Voice PCI (and I know that PCI modems can be 
problematic). The Dell spec sheet calls it a 3Com PCI Telephony modem--now 
that I look at it again, this is also a bad sign. The bottom line is that 
every time KPPD queries the modem, "Sorry, modem is busy" is the reply.

TIA for any ideas.

Mike McCallister