On Tue, Aug 10, 1999 at 12:04:32PM +0200, Manuel Bouyer wrote:
> On Tue, Aug 10, 1999 at 12:55:40AM -0700, Jake J Sadowski wrote:
> > Thanks Rene. My actual problem is in telling netbsd my disk geometry. BIOS
> > is limited
> > to 16383/16/63. My new Seagate is 17.2 GB but the geometry listed is still
> > 16383/16/63.
> 
> Yes, CHS geometry can't be more than that, it's a limitation of the BIOS.
> But NetBSD should be able tp use the whole disk, as it uses LBA.

To be a bit more specific: 16383/16/63 is a limitation of the old
ST506 C/H/S interface. The BIOS interface upper limit is 1024/255/63.

If you wish to use all of the disk for NetBSD, and are installing it
as the only operating system, just specify "use whole disk" during
the install procedure. NetBSD will use the full 17.2G, it isn't
limited by the BIOS once it's started.

The only time when the BIOS limitation comes into play is when booting;
the BIOS has to be used for that. If you keep the root partition below
the 1024/255/63 limit, it's always going to be ok. If not, it depends
on whether you have a recent BIOS or not. Recent BIOSs implement a
seperate interface that removes this limitation; the NetBSD bootblocks
will use it if available and necessary.

- Frank