HighMem

Problem:
For kernels until 2.6.17 and maybe later the ata_piix controller may detect the cdrom / dvd drive but does not assign a driver letter to it. On the other hand the piix controller may detect the sata hard disk but can not use it.

Cause of the problem:
The ide controller is either handeled by the piix module or the sata_piix module. The module that is loaded first will grab the controller exclusively.

• If piix is loaded first, your hard disks might run only in ide mode or might not work at all. The cdrom/dvd drive will work.
  
• If ata_piix is loaded first, your hard disks will run in sata mode but your cdrom/dvd might not work since the atapi sata code is disabled by default (it's still experimental).
  

Solution:
Either make sure piix is loaded before sata_piix and hope your hard disk still works.
Or load the experimental sata atapi code by loading the libata module with the parameter atapi_enabled=1.

To do the latter you can either try to set "options libata atapi_enabled=1" in /etc/modules.conf or modify the initrd image (necessary for debian) by loading the module directly with the parameter. Add

libata atapi_enabled=1

to /etc/mkinitrd/modules. After that re-create the initrd via

mkinitrd /boot/initrd.img-`uname -r`

Make sure the original initrd has been replaced. Another possibility would be modifying the kernel parameter line in /boot/grub/menu.list by adding

ide1=noprobe libata.atapi_enabled=1

This should also be possible with a new installation of debian or ubuntu where the cdrom is not detected and the installation fails.

http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?messageID=494317

Problem: When you create a symbolic link inside a samba share, everything is fine when browsing the share in Windows. In Linux though, the symbolic links may be treated as links to the local filesystem, which will not work.

Solution: I don't really understand why this is the default samba behaviour, but you can disable it by setting "unix extensions" to "no" on the server for this particular share or globally.

gdmflexiserver --xnest