Bug 228769

Summary:	USB Full HID support && hdparm and SATA
Product:	[OLD] Docs on www.gentoo.org	Reporter:	Denilson Sá Maia <denilsonsa>
Component:	Installation Handbook	Assignee:	nm (RETIRED) <nightmorph>
Status:	RESOLVED FIXED
Severity:	normal	CC:	docs-team, dsd
Priority:	High
Version:	unspecified
Hardware:	All
OS:	Linux
URL:	http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-5122604.html#5122604
Whiteboard:
Package list:		Runtime testing required:	---

Description Denilson Sá Maia 2008-06-21 15:49:32 UTC

There are two small issues in this bug (I know I shouldn't do it, but I guess it should be ok this time):


1. USB Full HID support

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-amd64.xml?part=1&chap=7 

It says to configure "USB Full HID support" inside USB Support, but in fact this option is placed inside HID Devices. So, the handbook should be updated.


2. hdparm and SATA

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-amd64.xml?part=1&chap=2

The handbook (section Optional: Tweaking Hard Disk Performance) tell us to enable DMA for /dev/sda... Well, as far as I discovered, DMA is part of SATA specification (this is what a guy on IRC said), and it should be already enabled for SATA disks. I've tried to run "hdparm -d /dev/sda" to see if DMA was enabled, and I got no output. If I run it for /dev/hda (which is an IDE CD/DVD), then I get the output saying that DMA is 1 (enabled).

Thus, I think that portion of the handbook is a bit misleading and confusing, and should be updated. I guess that DMA only makes sense for IDE drives, but not SATA (but I'm not very sure).



I've previously reported these issues here:
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-5122604.html#5122604

Comment 1 nm (RETIRED) gentoo-dev

2008-06-22 01:23:22 UTC

Note that if you're reporting a bug, the forums are a bad place, as Gentoo developers do not check the forums -- please report future bugs here.

The first issue, that of USB HID location, is now fixed.

The second issue, that of DMA and /dev/sda, is not a but. Re-read the handbook; it mentions why devices are named /dev/sda -- it's not just for SATA devices, but for all devices that use the newer, recommended libata driver framework. You'll only see /dev/hd* if you specify the old IDE framework. This is all covered in the handbook, which directs you to use libata, so that all devices are named sd* accordingly.

However, I'll revisit the bit on DMA, as I believe hdparm won't work on IDE disks that are using libata. You'll get an "inappropriate IOCTL" error every time, since libata uses the SCSI commands which are already setup to have DMA working no matter what.

CCing dsd to verify that's how it works in the kernel. :)

Comment 2 Denilson Sá Maia 2008-06-22 03:20:41 UTC

(In reply to comment #1)
> Note that if you're reporting a bug, the forums are a bad place, as Gentoo
> developers do not check the forums -- please report future bugs here.

This is why the other developer asked me to post bugs here, and then this is what I did (after one week, I guess).

Don't worry, I usually post bugs here. But since that was the "official" 2008.0 beta thread, there were some developers there, and I was somewhat in a hurry, I posted there (at least so I wouldn't forget later). Then, after some time, I followed the advice and posted here.

> The first issue, that of USB HID location, is now fixed.

Thanks.

> The second issue, [...]

Ok, thanks! Probably I'm using the old IDE interface. Well, later I'll change that. (to tell the truth, since I'm an old Gentoo user, I've not re-read the handbook entirely, this is why I've missed that part about which ATA driver to use.