[vox-tech] ATA/100 Controllers on Linux?

[Michael Dunham]

I am reviving an old Pentium II machine to use as my desktop at home.  I got
an old copy of Mandrake up on it and I am making good headway getting the
hardware organized into something that I can then upgrade to either a more
current version of Linux or FreeBSD.  My current problem is the BIOS doesn't
read larger hard drives.  I have a 13gb that would work fine as the root
disk but for now I am restricted to the original disk at 1.9gb which is just
plain too small.

I tried upgrading the BIOS but it is an ASUS and they haven't issued any
upgrades for this board since 1998. The upgrade they have didn't address
drive sizes. Ugh.  There is a 2 channel ATA/100 board from Startech
(http://www.startech.com/ststore/itemdetail.cfm?ProductID=PCI2IDE100&topbar=
topbario.htm) that some of the online outlets list as a "Linux compatible"
(Startech doesn't mention it) but I haven't been able to find any evidence
that anyone has actually used one for a Linux installation.  My concern is
that some boards require drivers and they are only available for Windoze
generally ;-(

Does anyone have any experience with this or other add-on controller boards
on a Linux installation as a workaround for larger disks?  It seems like it
should be a normal thing to do...

Regards in advance

Mike