The 2.4.23 kernel would not compile with aic79xx support enabled.
The error message is attached.
In a nutshell it complains about function not used.

The patch attached is just a pair of "ifndef __x86_64__" statements.

I don't know all the details, but the kernel seems to compile and the 
driver work after patching.
I tried to partition and format the drive, then copied files onto it.
While doing that, did not notice anything extraordinary in dmesg output.