Linux and an old IBM PS/2 8570

[John Boffemmyer IV]

I recently got an old IBM PS/2 8570 (as mentioned to some earlier). Been 
thinking about putting Linux on it as the original owner put some company 
proprietary software on it for some unknown network monitoring via 
proprietary hardware (that has since been removed before I came into 
possession). The big thing is that it doesn't want to boot from SCSI. I 
have 4 cards and the adf disks for them. 1 is an IBM (supposedly Corvette) 
controller. 2 are Adaptec 1640's (different year manufacture and slightly 
different layout/revision). The final one is a Storage Dimensions 3211B 
(technically a compatible, yet rarer C/D). The other thing is that I've 
been told it has some sort of special boot partition on the 60MB ESDI 
drive. The SCSI drives I'm trying to use are all 1 and 2.2GB Seagates with 
an external Sun 611 enclosure (again, making the 10 year rule from what 
I've been told). If I can get the damned thing to take the SCSI drives and 
not the 60MB ESDI, that would be the ideal situation. If I have to use the 
60MB ESDI as the boot drive, how could I get this to work as I've never 
tried Linux on an MCA before and everything I find out there seems not to 
pertain to my situation? The other cards in the machine are an IBM Long 
16/4 (DB9 out) Token Ring card and I was thinking of using a Kingston 8000 
Memory card (any info on this unique piece of hardware would be greatly 
appreciated as all I can find are the adf's for it). Anyone know what the 
max size and type memory was for that card and how it was implemented? 
Worst case scenario is that I simply don't use it, as the bigger goal is to 
get the damned thing working with Linux on SCSI and Token Ring.
If people are hesitant on helping me, I have a bunch of spare MCA DB9 16/4 
Token Ring cards (long and short), SCSI cards (as described above) and a 
couple XGA and XGA2 cards wthat I'm willing to offer for shipping in 
exchange for help. Hell, I've even willing to give up the odd Kingston 
memory card if it got me some help. Any takers? Please reply off-list, thanks.
-John Boffemmyer IV
john at boff dash net dot nospamdhs dot org (just drop the nospam)

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