Netserver 5/166 LS2 and Linux?

[somebody]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.hp.hardware (More info?)

I've been given a HP Netserver 5/166 LS2, dual Pentium 166Mhz w/256Mram
and 6-2G scsi drives.

I'm looking to use it as a file server for home use. I would like to try
and install Linux on it, Has anyone had any success with putting Linux on
to it?

Many thanks.

--
A7N8X-Deluxe, AMD XP2500+ (Un-locked)
2x256mb Crucial PC3200 DDR ram
Palit-Daytona Ti4200/64M AGP

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.hp.hardware (More info?)

I haven't done so, but it should be pretty straightforward, given that the 5/166
is made up of older hardware. Linux, unlike Windows, does not drop support for
older hardware. The on-board graphics in the 5/166 is pretty lame, an old
Cirrus Logic chip with limited memory. Linux should not care and should install
just fine. If not, install a respectable PCI card (ATI or Matrox come to mind)
and disable on-board graphics... Ben Myers

On Sat, 13 Aug 2005 21:20:57 GMT, SomeBody <SomeOne@Someplace.org> wrote:

>I've been given a HP Netserver 5/166 LS2, dual Pentium 166Mhz w/256Mram
>and 6-2G scsi drives.
>
>I'm looking to use it as a file server for home use. I would like to try
>and install Linux on it, Has anyone had any success with putting Linux on
>to it?
>
>Many thanks.
>
>--
>A7N8X-Deluxe, AMD XP2500+ (Un-locked)
>2x256mb Crucial PC3200 DDR ram
>Palit-Daytona Ti4200/64M AGP
>

 

[somebody]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.hp.hardware (More info?)

On Sat, 13 Aug 2005 23:06:25 +0000, Ben Myers wrote:

> I haven't done so, but it should be pretty straightforward, given that the
>5/166 is made up of older hardware. Linux, unlike Windows, does not
>drop support for > older hardware. The on-board graphics in the 5/166 is
>pretty lame, an old Cirrus Logic chip with limited memory. Linux should
>not care and should install just fine. If not, install a respectable
>PCI card (ATI or Matrox come to mind) and disable on-board graphics...
>Ben Myers


>
> On Sat, 13 Aug 2005 21:20:57 GMT, SomeBody <SomeOne@Someplace.org>
> wrote:
>
>> [quoted text muted]

Thanks for you input, I'm not to concerned with the graphics, going to be
a headless file server, will "ssh" over to the server when needed.

I'm having a slight problem with the scsi disks, never messed with them
before so I need to learn some, before proceeding with the Linux install.

I got Debian Linux to install "some what", until I need to access the
drives, which linux found none attached. I'm not sure how these disk are
configured. it has 6 of the 2Gb wide scsi drives.

If I understand it, the mother board has a scsi controller, -A- and -B-
channels, which -A- is connected to the bottom rack. I am guessing that
the bottom backplane is all connected and another cable from the last
slot of the bottom rack up to the top rack.

Another scsi controller is installed into the motherboard slot, which is
connected to the scsi cdrom and scsi tape drive. The scsi cdrom has a
terminator at the end of the cable.

The bios shows the cdrom and the tape drive but no HD show up. I'm not
sure how to set the bios to show the proper scsi ID setting and such.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

--
A7N8X-Deluxe, AMD XP2500+ (Un-locked)
2x256mb Crucial PC3200 DDR ram
Palit-Daytona Ti4200/64M AGP

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.hp.hardware (More info?)

Each individual drive has 4 jumpers to set a SCSI ID from 0 to 15. You want
one drive set to SCSI ID 0 as the boot drive. The other drives have
non-conflicting SCSI IDs, usually in sequence. The end of the SCSI bus (cable)
must be terminated, having a gizmo attached to absorb rather than reflect the
signals back down the cable. NOTHING can be done from the BIOS.

If the system does not see the hard drives, there are a couple of possibilities:

1. The SCSI channel to which they are attached is either malfunctioning or set
as Disabled in the BIOS.
2. The SCSI ID jumpers are incorrect and conflicting.
3. Either cabling or termination is incorrect.

When th computer powers up, the narrow SCSI adapter to which the tape and CD-ROM
are attached is obviously working OK. It is probably an Adaptec 2940-series,
and displays its own identification text and copyright notice before polling its
SCSI drives.

The on-board SCSI channels are Adaptec 7895 (IIRC) or similar. Do these
channels also display identification text and copyright notice? If not, then
they are disabled in the BIOS. If so, then look at jumpers and cables. You may
need to get specs for the drives to figure out the jumpers... Ben Myers

On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 01:50:33 GMT, SomeBody <SomeOne@Someplace.org> wrote:

>On Sat, 13 Aug 2005 23:06:25 +0000, Ben Myers wrote:
>
>> I haven't done so, but it should be pretty straightforward, given that the
>>5/166 is made up of older hardware. Linux, unlike Windows, does not
>>drop support for > older hardware. The on-board graphics in the 5/166 is
>>pretty lame, an old Cirrus Logic chip with limited memory. Linux should
>>not care and should install just fine. If not, install a respectable
>>PCI card (ATI or Matrox come to mind) and disable on-board graphics...
>>Ben Myers
>
>
>>
>> On Sat, 13 Aug 2005 21:20:57 GMT, SomeBody <SomeOne@Someplace.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> [quoted text muted]
>
>Thanks for you input, I'm not to concerned with the graphics, going to be
>a headless file server, will "ssh" over to the server when needed.
>
>I'm having a slight problem with the scsi disks, never messed with them
>before so I need to learn some, before proceeding with the Linux install.
>
>I got Debian Linux to install "some what", until I need to access the
>drives, which linux found none attached. I'm not sure how these disk are
>configured. it has 6 of the 2Gb wide scsi drives.
>
>If I understand it, the mother board has a scsi controller, -A- and -B-
>channels, which -A- is connected to the bottom rack. I am guessing that
>the bottom backplane is all connected and another cable from the last
>slot of the bottom rack up to the top rack.
>
>Another scsi controller is installed into the motherboard slot, which is
>connected to the scsi cdrom and scsi tape drive. The scsi cdrom has a
>terminator at the end of the cable.
>
>The bios shows the cdrom and the tape drive but no HD show up. I'm not
>sure how to set the bios to show the proper scsi ID setting and such.
>
>Any ideas?
>
>Thanks.
>
>--
>A7N8X-Deluxe, AMD XP2500+ (Un-locked)
>2x256mb Crucial PC3200 DDR ram
>Palit-Daytona Ti4200/64M AGP
>

 

[somebody]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.hp.hardware (More info?)

On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 02:44:13 +0000, Ben Myers wrote:

> Each individual drive has 4 jumpers to set a SCSI ID from 0 to 15. You want
> one drive set to SCSI ID 0 as the boot drive. The other drives have
> non-conflicting SCSI IDs, usually in sequence. The end of the SCSI bus (cable)
> must be terminated, having a gizmo attached to absorb rather than reflect the
> signals back down the cable. NOTHING can be done from the BIOS.
>
> If the system does not see the hard drives, there are a couple of possibilities:
>
> 1. The SCSI channel to which they are attached is either malfunctioning or set
> as Disabled in the BIOS.
> 2. The SCSI ID jumpers are incorrect and conflicting.
> 3. Either cabling or termination is incorrect.
>
> When th computer powers up, the narrow SCSI adapter to which the tape and CD-ROM
> are attached is obviously working OK. It is probably an Adaptec 2940-series,
> and displays its own identification text and copyright notice before polling its
> SCSI drives.
>
> The on-board SCSI channels are Adaptec 7895 (IIRC) or similar. Do these
> channels also display identification text and copyright notice? If not, then
> they are disabled in the BIOS. If so, then look at jumpers and cables. You may
> need to get specs for the drives to figure out the jumpers... Ben Myers
>
> On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 01:50:33 GMT, SomeBody <SomeOne@Someplace.org> wrote:
>
>> [quoted text muted]

During my first attempt of the Debian Linux installation, dmesg shows:

scsi0: adaptec AIC7XXX EISA/VLB/PCI scsi HBA Driver Rev 6.2.36 <adaptec
AIC 7870 scsi adapter> AIC 7870: Wide channel A, SCSI id=0 16/253 SCB

scsi1 : is the same as above with the exception of "SCSI id=1"

My HD are "Hot swapable" drives, I removed the drives from rack, took
them, one at a time, out of the holders and looked at the jumpers. 4 of
the 6 had no jumpers and 2 had the same settings, which where drives 5 and
6.

The last drive in the rack, which I presume is the last HD in the scsi
chain, has no termination at the back of the rack, just an open scsi
connector.

I'm not sure if this backplane(?) has built in termination, or is setup to
id the drives automatically.

What about pulling all drive except one, setting its address to 0, no
jumpers? Do I need to purchase a terminator for the scsi connector at the
back of the rack? Do they (terminators) plug into the drive connector itself?

Thanks for taking the time to respond to my queries.


--
A7N8X-Deluxe, AMD XP2500+ (Un-locked)
2x256mb Crucial PC3200 DDR ram
Palit-Daytona Ti4200/64M AGP

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.hp.hardware (More info?)

On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 05:37:08 GMT
SomeBody <SomeOne@Someplace.org> wrote:

> scsi0: adaptec AIC7XXX EISA/VLB/PCI scsi HBA Driver Rev 6.2.36 <adaptec
> AIC 7870 scsi adapter> AIC 7870: Wide channel A, SCSI id=0 16/253 SCB
>
Definitely supported in Linux. My first "bought-for-Linux" machine
was a 486DX2 with EISA bus and a 7870 SCSI HBA, in the days when
Linux 1.0.9 was the stable version. The Adaptec driver was in active
development, and quite well supported by the time 1.2 came out.

The 7870 has a built-in BIOS, which IIRC can be accessed through hitting
ctrl-A at the appropriate moment. There should be a prompt of sorts. The
controller's BIOS shows all the connected devices during the boot
process; if it doesn't show anything, then Linux (or Windows, or any OS
for that matter) will not see the devices either.

> My HD are "Hot swapable" drives, I removed the drives from rack, took
> them, one at a time, out of the holders and looked at the jumpers. 4 of
> the 6 had no jumpers and 2 had the same settings, which where drives 5 and
> 6.

If they're hot-swap devices, they should have a single SCA-type
connector that carries both the power and signal lines. If that's the
case, the SCSI ID is set through the connector. Changes to the SCSI ID
then are either impossible or done through switches provided on the
enclosure.

> The last drive in the rack, which I presume is the last HD in the scsi
> chain, has no termination at the back of the rack, just an open scsi
> connector.
> I'm not sure if this backplane(?) has built in termination, or is setup to
> id the drives automatically.
> What about pulling all drive except one, setting its address to 0, no
> jumpers? Do I need to purchase a terminator for the scsi connector at the
> back of the rack? Do they (terminators) plug into the drive connector itself?

If the rack can be daisy-chained, then either it should have a switch to
terminate the chain, or use a plug-in terminator. These can be obtained
from a parts supplier such as Black Box (at least that's where I got
mine from).

Take care,

--
Stefaan
--
As complexity rises, precise statements lose meaning,
and meaningful statements lose precision. -- Lotfi Zadeh

 

[somebody]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.hp.hardware (More info?)

On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 10:58:10 +0200, Stefaan A Eeckels wrote:

> On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 05:37:08 GMT
> SomeBody <SomeOne@Someplace.org> wrote:
>
>> [quoted text muted]
> Definitely supported in Linux. My first "bought-for-Linux" machine
> was a 486DX2 with EISA bus and a 7870 SCSI HBA, in the days when
> Linux 1.0.9 was the stable version. The Adaptec driver was in active
> development, and quite well supported by the time 1.2 came out.
>
> The 7870 has a built-in BIOS, which IIRC can be accessed through hitting
> ctrl-A at the appropriate moment. There should be a prompt of sorts. The
> controller's BIOS shows all the connected devices during the boot
> process; if it doesn't show anything, then Linux (or Windows, or any OS
> for that matter) will not see the devices either.
>
>> [quoted text muted]
>
> If they're hot-swap devices, they should have a single SCA-type
> connector that carries both the power and signal lines. If that's the
> case, the SCSI ID is set through the connector. Changes to the SCSI ID
> then are either impossible or done through switches provided on the
> enclosure.
>
>> [quoted text muted]
>
> If the rack can be daisy-chained, then either it should have a switch to
> terminate the chain, or use a plug-in terminator. These can be obtained
> from a parts supplier such as Black Box (at least that's where I got
> mine from).
>
> Take care,
>
> --
> Stefaan

Well, Time for an update on the Debian install on the Netserver 5/166 LS2.

It appears that whomever had the server before I, had swapped the cables
around. The onboard scsi controller (Channel A) was attached to the scsi
cdrom and scsi tape drives and the scsi controller card (pci) was attached
to the drive rack. So I swapped the cables around and ran the bios setup
and I finally seen the scsi hd, whereas I couldn't see them before.

I'm in the process of installing Debian Linux on the server!

Many thanks for all who responded.

Jeff


--
A7N8X-Deluxe, AMD XP2500+ (Un-locked)
2x256mb Crucial PC3200 DDR ram
Palit-Daytona Ti4200/64M AGP

 

[somebody]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.hp.hardware (More info?)

On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 22:55:56 +0000, SomeBody wrote:

> On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 10:58:10 +0200, Stefaan A Eeckels wrote:
>
>> [quoted text muted]
>
> Well, Time for an update on the Debian install on the Netserver 5/166 LS2.
>
> It appears that whomever had the server before I, had swapped the cables
> around. The onboard scsi controller (Channel A) was attached to the scsi
> cdrom and scsi tape drives and the scsi controller card (pci) was attached
> to the drive rack. So I swapped the cables around and ran the bios setup
> and I finally seen the scsi hd, whereas I couldn't see them before.
>
> I'm in the process of installing Debian Linux on the server!
>
> Many thanks for all who responded.
>
> Jeff

All is not well for the Debian Linux installation, after getting the first
part of the install finished, partitioning the scsi hd, installing grub
onto the first scsi drive MBR it FAILED to boot.

There must be something else going on with a scsi installation that I'm
not aware of. I've read somewhere about int13 needs to be disabled??? Will
have to do some more research and trail and error before I get this to
work. I'll hang in there, until.....


--
A7N8X-Deluxe, AMD XP2500+ (Un-locked)
2x256mb Crucial PC3200 DDR ram
Palit-Daytona Ti4200/64M AGP

 

[somebody]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.hp.hardware (More info?)

On Mon, 15 Aug 2005 03:02:21 +0000, SomeBody wrote:

> On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 22:55:56 +0000, SomeBody wrote:
>
>> [quoted text muted]
>
> All is not well for the Debian Linux installation, after getting the first
> part of the install finished, partitioning the scsi hd, installing grub
> onto the first scsi drive MBR it FAILED to boot.
>
> There must be something else going on with a scsi installation that I'm
> not aware of. I've read somewhere about int13 needs to be disabled??? Will
> have to do some more research and trail and error before I get this to
> work. I'll hang in there, until.....


-UPDATE-

I finally got Debian Linux installed on the Netserver 5/166 LS2 computer.
It is happily humming away!



--
A7N8X-Deluxe, AMD XP2500+ (Un-locked)
2x256mb Crucial PC3200 DDR ram
Palit-Daytona Ti4200/64M AGP