Annvix Vs ASUS P5VDC-MX (VIA 8251)
Since Last Thursday, i have been trying to get Annvix to run on my new machine based on Asus P5VDC-MX motherboard + Celeron D processor.
When I first load up the annvix, it is kind of slow (but who cares) but when I start typing in command, i noticed the whole system is not respoding the way it should be.. after fiddling around a bit, i found out that HDD’s DMA mode is off.. so I thought.. no big deal, just turn in on manually, and everything will be cool… NOT!! hdparm -d 1 /dev/hda gives me ‘Operation Not Permitted’ message… what the??? I am root! am I not? so I went on search the web, and found out the problem lies on the VIA chip 8251! it is not officially supported by linux kernel yet. o… crap.. after 2 more hours… i found a little patch that should do the trick.
However, the machine basically ‘craws’ without the DMA mode. (I am setting up software raid-5 array).. so it is almost useless…….
Anyhow, I went on search a bit just to make sure if other distributions already support this MB (just to make sure there is a solution).. Guess what, NOPE. Not even Fedora 5 and Mandriva 2006…..
Ok then, before I can convince Vincent to update the installer (for 1.2-RELEASE) so I can really setup the machine the way I like, I removed all other HDDs, and just install annvix 1.2-RELEASE on it (gawd.. painful…). then recompile the kernel with the patch (which already commited to 2.0-CURRENT, according to vdanen). After I reboot the machine, WOLLA! DMA mode is on, and transfer mode jump from ~2MB/s -> 60MB/s (no-DMA Vs DMA)!!!!
so.. the moral of the story is…. Vincent, can you update the installer (and walk me through it, so i won’t bug you again for small patch like this later on) please? =)
