I’ve been trying to do an installation of SLES 11 on my MAC Mini (latest version) … have had no problems what so ever with openSUSE.
When trying to do the same installation with SLES 11 it is unable to find any of the two SATA drives. Have tried a number of things - fdisk -l only shows the connected USB CD/DVD drive …
Is there something I’m missing? What is openSUSE doing different to SLES 11 - they are supposed to be identical (other than support from Novell …
Can’t really raise this question at Novell - so maybe some of you guys can give me an insight as to why …
Hmmm … hopefully I’m not comparing apples with oranges (no pun intended) - can’t believe a (.) dot 3 version makes such a difference.
I’ve tried openSUSE 11.3 - which worked fine. The SLES version I’ve tried is 11.0 I would stick with openSUSE but my requirement is to use the IBM JAVA version 1.4 which I tried to install but get an installation error (but that is another issue).
SLE* and openSUSE aren’t really identical or very close, even when matching versions are compared. The stuff in SLE* is pared down a lot to only things that are needed in enterprises because Novell has to support it for a long time.
If you are having an issue with SLE*, you should raise it in the SLE* forums.
On 03/14/2011 07:06 AM, wailadd wrote:
>
> Is there something I’m missing? What is openSUSE doing different to
> SLES 11 - they are supposed to be identical (other than support from
> Novell …
i think the main thing you are missing is a complete understanding of
the relationship between openSUSE and SLE_:
-first they are not supposed to be identical, never have been, never
will be [perhaps you are thinking wrongly that the relationship here
is the same as Red Hat to CentOS…its not, it is more like the
connection of Fedora to Red Hat]
-SLE_ is developed by Novell for the enteprise market based on the
openSUSE code, but it is not ‘just’ openSUSE with paid support, not at
all…
there are a large number of differences…you have, apparently, found
one difference (the newer code base in openSUSE version 11.? ‘sees’
SATA drives which SLES can not…but, may in their next revision)
but, if you have no problems with openSUSE why try install SLES
anyway? as you won’t get any security patches or updates after the
trial period is over??
–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP posted w/openSUSE 11.3, KDE4.5.5, Thunderbird3.1.8, nVidia
173.14.28 3D, Athlon 64 3000+]
“It is far easier to read, understand and follow the instructions than
to undo the problems caused by not.” DD 23 Jan 11
I run IBM java on opensuse. 1.4 is very old and although I have run 1.4 in the past I am now running 1.6. I think that the old versions of IBM java used to fail installing the fonts for X. You could ignore the font problem and IBM java worked. I can’t remember if 1.4 had update alternatives support, if not the installation becomes a little more complicated
thanks for your replies. Considering all the responses I now come to realise that there are differences to be expected between openSUSE and SLES but I wouldn’t have expected such a dramatic difference already during the install.
Surely it doesn’t make a difference if I’m a private persone trying to install openSUSE or a Corporation trying to install SLES - both would be using a computer that has a hard drive. A SATA drive isn’t something exotic and I really would have expected SLES to recognise it.
@DenverD - Someone else in the Novell Forum also suggested that the kernel may not support the specific SATA drives (something about checking the PCI ID’s). Need to figure out how to do that and then how to make SLES recognise the drives (boot parameter?) - anyone has any ideas?
The reason why I’m trying to use SLES is simple. I need to install software that is officially only supported on SLES. This software is also only officially supported using IBM JAVA version 1.4 …
If I can get SLES and IBM JAVA 1.4 running first of all - I can install that software and test it. If all is well the next step would be trying to install and test it on openSUSE and IBM JAVA 1.4 (if I can get JAVA to install).
All this will also help me see if openSUSE can function as full blown “SERVER Software” … SLES (SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server) implies by its name it is “SERVER Software” - openSUSE doesn’t. But does it mean openSUSE lacks Server ability? I don’t believe so - but I want to establish that.
I’m currently downloading SLES 11 SP1 and see if it behaves differently. Will post my results …
It’s not that you can’t run openSUSE as a server, many people do, it’s that SLES comes with Enterprise support, paid for of course. This is important to some users. Also some software is only qualified for Enterprise Linux, e.g. SLES, RHEL and if you run it on something else, the vendor might not support you; you’re on your own if it doesn’t run as expected.
> Surely it doesn’t make a difference if I’m a private persone trying to
> install openSUSE or a Corporation trying to install SLES - both would be
> using a computer that has a hard drive. A SATA drive isn’t something
> exotic and I really would have expected SLES to recognise it.
SLES 11 is a bit old, it is based on opensuse 11.1. You see yourself how
different 11.3 is… one year and a half development in Linux is a lot.
With the service pack 1 you might be luckier.
Some other thing, is that for certification your hardware has to be
certified as well. There is a list of hardware certified to work with SLES
11, anything different and you are out. Obviously, with certified hardware
it will install without problems, or you can complain to somebody.
> to make SLES recognise the drives (boot parameter?) - anyone has any
> ideas?
You have to ask them. But I would change the hardware without a doubt.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 11.2 x86_64 “Emerald” at Telcontar)
On 03/15/2011 03:06 AM, wailadd wrote:
> The reason why I’m trying to use SLES is simple. I need to install
> software that is officially only supported on SLES. This software is
> also only officially supported using IBM JAVA version 1.4 …
>[snip]
> I’m currently downloading SLES 11 SP1 and see if it behaves
> differently. Will post my results …
in your first post you said “Can’t really raise this question at
Novell” which is incorrect…
if you install SLES 11 you automatically have xx days of support
(maybe 60 or 90, i forgot) and they <forums.novell.com use same
ID/Pass as here> will try to help you make it work (hoping you will
purchase ‘support’–which is not much, i think maybe half a cup of
coffee a day, or less)…
but, you don’t have to purchase anything to run it forever if you
wish…you just won’t have access to security patches and bug fixes
(so be careful where you use it and who has access to it, externally)…
you can use it for ‘free’, though it would be nice if you contributed
to FOSS in some way…
–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP posted w/openSUSE 11.3, KDE4.5.5, Thunderbird3.1.8, nVidia
173.14.28 3D, Athlon 64 3000+]
“It is far easier to read, understand and follow the instructions than
to undo the problems caused by not.” DD 23 Jan 11
@DenverD
I don’t know what the purpose is of your more or less stupid and patronising comment.
I have simply been asking some questions in this community in the hope of getting ideas on how to resolve an issue that I have when I am “EVALUATING” the use of different SUSE distros on a specific hardware / OS / software combination.
A lot of people have been great and provided me with some valuable insight (all thanks to them) - unfortunately no thanks to you.
Why are you patronising me by saying “you can use it for ‘free’, though it would be nice if you contributed to FOSS in some way”. When I use software - I pay for it. Always have - always will. When I publish my findings on the installation of different SUSE distros on a new HW platform for the purpose of installing specific and special software FREE OF CHARGE - am I not also contributing to FOSS.
Your comments are hurtful and inappropriate!
BTW someone little more friendly than you did inform me that it is indeed possible to get help during an evaluation phase - which I am clearly in. So yes - my initial statement may have been incorrect. That however doesn’t warrant your comment. If you can’t make a decent comment or suggestion on the issue, instead going off on a tangent and without cause virtually accusing me of being a freeloader - then don’t bother at all making comments such as these and don’t waste your and my time.
People and comments like the ones you just made surely do not help the cause and make me think twice about FREELY distributing my findings so others may benefit from them.
After all - wasn’t that the aim of FOSS in the first place?
On 03/17/2011 03:06 PM, wailadd wrote:
> Your comments are hurtful and inappropriate!
despite what you might believe, my aim was to be helpful to you (and
any others who follow (via search engine on “SLES”) into this thread)…
for missing my target, i humbly apologize for any hurt you felt…and,
i’m happy you got the same good info from someone a little more friendly…
finally, thank you for your contribution to FOSS…
–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP posted w/openSUSE 11.3, KDE4.5.5, Thunderbird3.1.8, nVidia
173.14.28 3D, Athlon 64 3000+]
“It is far easier to read, understand and follow the instructions than
to undo the problems caused by not.” DD 23 Jan 11
Thanks for that information on the BIOS - I’ll look into that, but I’m not sure how that would assist the installation.
What I was told is to run the following checks:
Run command /usr/sbin/hwinfo --disk
That should show the HD … but it doesn’t.
Run command /sbin/lspci -nnk
part of the output shows:
…
00:0a.0 IDE interface [0101]: nVidia Corporation MCP089 SATA Controller [10de:0d85] (rev a2) Kernel driver in use: ahci
Kernel modules: ide-pci-generic, ata_generic, pata_acpi, ahci
…
however in a provided example it should show the Kernel modules as : ide-pci-generic, ata_generic, pata_acpi, sata_nv
I have tried to load that module using yast2 but that doesn’t seem to make a difference.
Seems the kernel on the SLES distro does not support these particular hard drives.
Would it be possible to simply build a DVD that contains the distro of SLES but uses the default kernel of the openSUSE distro or am I off the the planet suggesting something like that?
Seems the kernel of SLES uses the ahci module but it really should use the sata_nv module. Alternatively - how can I force the kernel to use a specific module…
Did you try SLES 11 SP1? I saw in one of your posts that you were going to, but I didn’t catch if you had yet.
The kernel was upgraded (significantly) between the 2 releases (that is, between SLES 11 GA and SLES 11 SP1) hence the problem might be that the kernel in SLES 11 GA is too old to recognize your hardware. SP1 is using 2.6.32 which all of the enterprise distros seem to be standardizing on now — RHEL6, Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, SLES 11 SP1 all use the 2.6.32 kernel as their base.
There were also several other upgrades in SP1 (GNOME is newer, glibc is newer, etc) so that might help. I run SLES 11 SP1 and noticed a huge difference between the GA and SP1 versions. I also had some hardware issues that were resolved by just upgrading.
Sorry - no I didn’t mention, maybe should have. Yes - downloaded the SLES 11 SP1 - no joy with that one either.
I’m starting to think the kernel of the SLES distro is not well put together. You probably have a very valid point - the kernel compiled for openSUSE has that all licked. There have been a few peculiarities around the loading and using of modules too. I’m also talking at the moment to someone at NOVELL directly to find out more on the issue.
Once I know more I’ll post it. Meanwhile - I’m open to suggestions …
wailadd wrote:
> Run command /sbin/lspci -nnk
> part of the output shows:
> …
> 00:0a.0 IDE interface [0101]: nVidia Corporation MCP089 SATA Controller
wailadd wrote:
> I’m starting to think the kernel of the SLES distro is not well put
> together. You probably have a very valid point - the kernel compiled for
> openSUSE has that all licked. There have been a few peculiarities around
> the loading and using of modules too. I’m also talking at the moment to
> someone at NOVELL directly to find out more on the issue.
>
> Once I know more I’ll post it. Meanwhile - I’m open to suggestions …
Well, I almost didn’t bother posting since you seem to leap to negative
conclusions both about people who are trying to be helpful and about
software. But I can always add you to my killfile if you snarl, so …
A quick google using the pci information immediately reveals that this
is a well-known and somewhat resolved issue. But you’ll need a new
kernel, I think …
…
The one thing is that’s different is your running MAC hardware…