Fedora on thinkpad t43

[Dave Jones]

On Fri, Jan 13, 2006 at 02:06:20PM +0800, Edward Dekkers wrote:

 > >Anyone on the list had any experience with loading up Fedora onto a 
 > >thinkpad t43 without loosing the current data or pre loaded area on the 
 > >disk (pre loaded area is the install files on a separate partition with 
 > >an Access IBM button to access it on boot)
 > >
 > >Just your thoughts……
 > 
 > No experience per se, but I have loaded Linux on a Compaq years ago with 
 > the same sort of deal.
 > 
 > Just tell Anaconda to leave the install partition alone. In my case grub 
 > made an entry for it in the start menu automatically.
 > 
 > There's no black voodoo with those partitions, they're just bootable 
 > partitions like any other.

Not quite. Things have changed in recent years. Now hard disks can
present a 'fake' geometry, making the drive seem smaller than it actually is.
(google for 'host protected area' for gory details).   Linux disables the
hpa during boot (otherwise, people start asking why they can't use all of their disks).

Unfortunatly, we don't identify when it's been 'clipped' that way for
reasons like 'hiding service tool partitions'.  There was some repeated
poking at it upstream, but I don't believe it's been solved.

		Dave