[lug] Partitioning and modem problems

[D. Stimits]

Mike McCallister wrote:
> 
> 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.

On the pci modem side, I have one that works great. The problem is
usually that the serial port you have assigned to it doesn't have the
correct irq assigned as well, which is where setserial helps.

My modem is being set to irq 17, and so I have this line in rc.local to
match this irq to the serial port:
/bin/setserial -v /dev/ttyS2 uart 16550A port 0xafe0 irq 17 spd_normal
skip_test

A few things you can do to find what your modem wants are in /proc/.
View /proc/ioports, and /proc/interrupts

The remaining info can be found with lspci or lspci -v. If you don't
have this program, check http://las.978.org

> 
> TIA for any ideas.
> 
> Mike McCallister
> 
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