Bill Schwab wrote:
> I have read some statements
> that Linux does not use the bios and is therefore immune to any such
> problems, but I find that hard to believe.
It may be hard to believe, but it's true. Once the BIOS has handed over 
operation of the computer to the kernel, Linux doesn't care what size 
BIOS thinks the hard drives are. It communicates directly with the IDE 
controller to get the information from the drive. It uses an IDE command 
called, surprisingly, IDENTIFY DRIVE to get the CHS, LBA, or 48-bit LBA 
depending on the size of the drive. So, you can plug pretty much any ATA 
drive into your old computer and Linux will see the correct size. You 
will want a /boot partition that is in the area the BIOS can see, near 
the beginning of the disk. I do agree with the previous comment here 
that if you expect high performance from the disks you want to put them 
on separate controllers, not just separate channels on the same controller.

-Tom