Last night just before bed, I happened to wander across a potential solution to my problem. I found a website http://linux.yyz.us/sata/sata-status.html#ich5 that actucally acknowledged some SATA problems and offerred some solutions.
On the site I found information about the Promise PCI SATA controller card. Early this morning I decided to order the card. I happened to find it on the web at mwave.com which actually takes PayPal for payment. So the card hopefully will land here tomorrow, and I can move forward with my migration to Linux.
Of course there is the chance that the SUSE folks will figure out a solution but based on the SATA site saying "Depending on BIOS settings, IDE driver (not libata) may lock up computer when probing drives," I suspect I might be waiting a while for that to get fixed.
Anyway I off on the great American fried chicken hunt. There is a promise that the East Bend Diner which has been in existence longer than I have can deliver fried chicken almost as good as my mother's.
Since I am semi-retired, two and one half hours of driving for a taste of golden properly fried chicken is not really a problem. The driving is a whole lot better than banging my head on the wall trying to solve my Linux problem.
Expect a full report on the fried chicken and North Carolina life in general tonight. There is always something great about being among so many relatives who have been such an important part of your life. I hope we can get a table big enough for us all.
