nixCraft Linux Sys Admin Blog

Linux ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series Driver Available

Posted: 27 May 2008 04:38 AM CDT

One of my desktop system has Radeon 1550 PCI card with 256Mb ram (I'm using Radeon driver from X.org) . I'm looking to upgrade it to ATI Radeon HD 3800 series PCIe card. Now AMD has released the ATI Catalyst Linux Graphics Driver software suite version 8.493.

For further information and driver download visit the ATI website.

Linux Find SCSI Hard Disk Model, Serial Number, Size, and Total Sectors Information

Posted: 26 May 2008 10:22 AM CDT

Simply use utility called sdparm to fetch SCSI / SATA device information. Inquiry data including Vital Product Data (VPD) pages can also be displayed. Commands associated with starting and stopping the medium; loading and unloading the medium; and other housekeeping functions may also be performed by this utility.

In short you can get or set SCSI hard disk parameters. If you are using ATA ( IDE ) hard disk use hdparm utility.

Install sdparm utility

Type the following command at shell prompt:
# apt-get install sdparm
Red Hat / CentOS user can grab sdparm rpm package here.

sdparm examples

To list common mode parameters of a disk, enter:
# sdparm /dev/sda
To list the designators within the device identification VPD page of a disk:
# sdparm --inquiry /dev/sdb
To see all parameters for the caching mode page:
# sdparm --page=ca /dev/sdc
To set the "Writeback Cache Enable" bit in the current values page:
# sdparm --set=WCE /dev/sda

Further readings:

sdparm man page

Best Method To Reboot Remote Linux / Windows / UNIX Server

Posted: 26 May 2008 06:22 PM CDT

Q. I've couple of Linux / Windows server hosted in remote data center? My ISP provides following option for rebooting the box: a) Graceful shutdown command b) An IPMI reboot c) A power strip Which one is the best way to reboot server and why? A. For UNIX like system shutdown command is the best way to reboot system [...]

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