partmap 15 limit Revisited

[sloopy]

On Sun, 2004-06-06 at 15:08, Daniel Gimpelevich wrote:

> 
> If you look at the major and minor device numbers in the /dev/hdXX and /dev/sdXX
> entries you will see that /dev/hdXX entries advance to the next disk every 64
> minor device numbers, but /dev/sdXX entries advance to the next disk every 16
> minor device numbers! That means that while the Linux kernel could theoretically
> address 63 partitions on IDE devices, only 15 are possible on SCSI or
> SCSI-emulated devices. This flaw is built into the Linux kernel by design, and
> I'm not sure why. This limitation is present on ALL Linux computers, regardless
> of platform or partitioning scheme. I believe it's very likely that this will
> NEVER be fixed.
> 

it is actually a problem with the way linux associates partitions and
internal numbering... it is being fixed, but slowly... IDE drives are
more common in x86 linux so that is what was done first... eventually
SCSI will get the same priveledges... the original reason for the limit
is the size of HDs... yes even linux has its 'shortsighted' designs...
just remember several 10's of gigs HD's havnt been in the mainstream
very long... and partitioning a 4 gig drive into 15 partitions would get
to be more an experiment in 'time management for those with too much'
;') also the reasoning for 15 instead of a normal power of two (i.e. 16)
is because on pc's you do get 16... the partition map on mac is a
partition itself, whereas on pc's it is not...

also i am told that putting mac os high (i.e. on a partition higher then
15) and linux in the lower portion does work...

sloopy.