[gentoo-dev] Wait on 2.4.20 kernel for v1.4 final?

[Robert]

I can almost guess the answer, but the question is whether Gentoo can wait for 
the 2.4.20 kernel before distributing their final version? 
The reason is that I was recently informed that the 2.4.19 has issues with 
ATAPI drives, this info I have included below. 

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
The root of your problem is that in current 2.4.x kernels, if you don't have a 
piece of media in your removable media ATAPI drive (your ZIP drive) when you 
boot the kernel, and you are using devfs, the drive will not show up in 
/dev/discs. Also, if you are using devfsd, no compatibility symlinks will be 
created, since the main entry was not created. Even if you do have media in 
the 
drive when you boot the kernel, if you later change media the kernel will not 
do 
a very good job of updating the /dev entries to match the new media.
<snip>
The simple solution is to wait for the 
2.4.20 kernel to be released, it should have a patch to make the drive appear 
even without media in it at boot time.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

I'm currently using the 2.4.19 kernel and am not able to use supermount to 
access my internal IDE Zip drive.   Another fellow has been trying to talk me 
into loading up Gentoo when 1.4 final comes out on an installation CD, but if 
this situation exists in the kernel in your distribution, then i will 
probably wait until 2.4.20 comes out.

regards,
Robert