Hmm - I wasted some more time to find out exactly what happens.
1. It is not Redhat related - my own 2.0.31 also crashes after
copying 100MB or so if I do "cp -a /cd /elsewhere".
2. It is not kernel related: 1.3.80, 2.0.29, 2.0.31 crash in the
same way.
3. It *is* CD-ROM related: copying other CD-ROMS gives no problems.
Also the second RH 5.0 CD-ROM is fine.
4. But this bad CD-ROM can be read fine on other machines.
Conclusion: I have a marginal RH CD-ROM, perhaps a little scratched,
or faulty in some other way, but most CD-ROM readers, perhaps using
their error-correcting capabilities, have no problems reading it.
One single CD-ROM reader however, perhaps old and dusty itself,
times out when reading it, usually after about 100 MB.
As soon as an error occurs Linux crashes - the SCSI subsystem,
perhaps especially the Adaptec 1542 part, is not able to handle
errors.
So, I mounted this CD-ROM on another machine, and then installed
over NFS, and all was fine. (I'll leave the nitpicks to a RedHat
conversation instead of the kernel list.)
This certainly explains it. Unless something has changed recently, the SCSI
subsystem is able to recover from this sort of problem if the driver does the
right thing. I've tested this behavior using a sacrificial CD-ROM with large
black dots I made with a Sharpie.
Leonard