[ILUG] [alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk: Re: IDE error on 2.4.17]

[Matthew French]

> > Yes, that's a very mature reply from somebody whos considered on par
> > with linus.
> > Very encouraging for newbies.
>
> It's from the linux-kernel list, not the linux-newbies list!

I am most probably taking this out of context[1], but the question seemed
perfectly valid.

I have had endless hours of fun with Linux corrupting my IDE hard drive,
both on a one year old laptop and on a three year old PC. Part of the
problem is RedHat, which enables DMA by default on an early 2.4 kernel. (I
don't know what the other distributions do).

The quality of the Linux IDE drivers is also not optimal, although I have
poked through the code and I can understand why. Lack of a proper
published standard and many differing IDE implementations seem to be part
of the problem. Made me want to go buy a SCSI drive for my
laptop. *cough*

So from my point of view, issues with UDMA would belong on the kernel list -
even if it only serves to make developers aware of the problem.

However, I suspect that for Mr Cox to get so hacked off with someone there
had to be a lot of stupid questions preceding the quoted one. I would expect
that the person asking the question had at least downloaded the latest
stable kernel and compiled it. I would also expect that he had read the
relevant list FAQ's. Presumably he did neither.

- Matthew

[1] I could go look at the kernel archives, but I am not in the mood to do
it over a 9.6 dial up so I thought I would spam this list instead.



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