From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Mar 13 20:15:58 2010 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 86AA71065676 for ; Sat, 13 Mar 2010 20:15:58 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from nox@jelal.kn-bremen.de) Received: from smtp.kn-bremen.de (gelbbaer.kn-bremen.de [78.46.108.116]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 15D7B8FC2B for ; Sat, 13 Mar 2010 20:15:57 +0000 (UTC) Received: by smtp.kn-bremen.de (Postfix, from userid 10) id 137951E0016B; Sat, 13 Mar 2010 21:15:57 +0100 (CET) Received: from triton8.kn-bremen.de (noident@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by triton8.kn-bremen.de (8.14.3/8.14.3) with ESMTP id o2DK9nnx061997; Sat, 13 Mar 2010 21:09:49 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from nox@triton8.kn-bremen.de) Received: (from nox@localhost) by triton8.kn-bremen.de (8.14.3/8.14.3/Submit) id o2DK9nBg061996; Sat, 13 Mar 2010 21:09:49 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from nox) Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 21:09:49 +0100 (CET) From: Juergen Lock Message-Id: <201003132009.o2DK9nBg061996@triton8.kn-bremen.de> To: scdbackup@gmx.net X-Newsgroups: local.list.freebsd.hackers In-Reply-To: <106107651416886@192.168.2.69> References: <201003122101.o2CL1I7s028001@triton8.kn-bremen.de> Organization: home X-Mailman-Approved-At: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:29:13 +0000 Cc: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: How to slow down SATA to 1.5 GBit/s ? X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 20:15:58 -0000 In article <106107651416886@192.168.2.69> you write: >Hi, Hi! > >Juergen Lock gave me a lot to read about >> ahci(4) on FreeBSD >= 8.0 > >The proposed solution points me to a third way >how a contemporary burner can be driven by >FreeBSD. > >The purpose of my FreeBSD installation is to >improve libburn on FreeBSD and to provide >support for FreeBSD users. I.e. i want to run >a contemporary production system with all >possible variations of drive attachment. >My idea was to use the same burner via USB and >via eSATA alternatively. > >So even if i get ahci running i would still >need a solution for ata. >(If there is none, then i will have to put > the drive into the computer and use SATA > without "e". No easy switch to USB then.) > Ah ok, I see... And thanks for trying to help improving libburn! :) Btw there also is siis(4) which works pretty much the same as ahci(4), only its for SiliconImage sata controllers. (And then you can also connect sata drives on sas controllers although I'm not sure if anyone tested burning there yet... I do know of someone who was able to boot and install FreeBSD from an optical drive connected that way tho.) And if you are also testing bluray you might need another patch: http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=138789 (Actually the patch also was needed for an external optical drive connected on usb to read `pressed' dvds for one guy, but since you use a `normal' sata drive with an usb interface your drive probably isn't affected - unless it is bluray.) >------------------------------------------------ > >I will nevertheless try to get my fstab ready >for ahci and to learn how to boot with that. >After all, it seems to be the upcomming driver >for SATA. > >Not being a skilled sysadmin i wonder whether >this hint by Juergen announces trouble: > >> (you still have to take care of swap manually then tho, and dumpdev in >> rc.conf if you have it set explicitly.) > >The machine is generously equipped with RAM. >Vanilla installation from 8.0-RELEASE-amd64-dvd1.iso.gz >plus some ports around CD/DVD/BD burning. >Installation was easy. :) > >Can it be that it doesn't have any swap ? > > # swapinfo > Device 1K-blocks Used Avail Capacity > # vmstat > procs memory page disks faults cpu > r b w avm fre flt re pi po fr sr ad4 cd0 in sy cs us sy id > 0 0 0 435M 3711M 64 0 0 0 56 0 0 0 2 94 448 0 0 100 > >Nothing gets found by > # fgrep dump /etc/rc.conf >Is that a good sign ? > Well if you didn't create a swap partition during install then you don't have one. :) A swap partition has another use besides, well, swapping if you are low on ram: Taking a crashdump in case of a kernel panic etc. (that is what dumpdev configures), in order to get a full kernel backtrace or otherwise look at the saved state of a panic'd kernel, i.e. it is to help debugging... But btw there has been code added recently to allow dumping onto an usb key/disk too so if all else fails and your FreeBSD is new enough you might still be able to get a backtrace that way. I don't remember if that code is in 8.0 already so you might need stable/8 or head tho; it is not in 6.x or 7.x because it needs the new usb stack. Anyway, good luck! Juergen