Nobody is interested in what the `real' geometry of a disk is. Indeed, the number of sectors per track often is variable - there are more sectors per track close to the outer rim of the disk - so there is no `real' number of sectors per track. For the user it is best to regard a disk as just a linear array of sectors numbered 0, 1, ..., and leave it to the controller to find out where a given sector lives on the disk.
This linear numbering is known as LBA. The linear address belonging to (c,h,s) for a disk with geometry (C,H,S) is c*H*S + h*S + (s-1). All SCSI controllers speak LBA, and some IDE controllers do.
If the BIOS converts the 24-bit (c,h,s) to LBA and feeds that to a controller that understands LBA, then again 7.875 GB is addressable. Not enough for all disks, but still an improvement. Note that here CHS, as used by the BIOS, no longer has any relation to `reality'.
Something similar works when the controller doesn't speak LBA but the BIOS knows about translation. (In the setup this is often indicated as `Large'.) Now the BIOS will present a geometry (C',H',S') to the operating system, and use (C,H,S) while talking to the disk controller. Usually S = S', C' = C/N and H' = H*N, where N is the smallest power of two that will ensure C' <= 1024 (so that least capacity is wasted by the rounding down in C' = C/N). Again, this allows access of up to 7.875 GB.
If a BIOS does not know about `Large' or `LBA', then there are software solutions around. Disk Managers like OnTrack or EZ-Drive replace the BIOS disk handling routines by their own. Often this is accomplished by having the disk manager code live in the MBR and subsequent sectors (OnTrack calls this code DDO: Dynamic Drive Overlay), so that it is booted before any other operating system. That is why one may have problems when booting from a floppy when a Disk Manager has been installed.
The effect is more or less the same as with a translating BIOS - but especially when running several different operating systems on the same disk, disk managers can cause a lot of trouble.
Linux does support OnTrack Disk Manager since version 1.3.14, and EZ-Drive since version 1.3.29. Some more details are given below.