For your first problem, was is the exact error message that you get? With my Intel DP35DP, I had a drive not found error, but it was related to the fact that ESX couldn't recognize the CD-Rom drive. In my case I did an HTTP install, but this idea from another thread may fix that for you.
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I happen to be having the same problem. I think the user having the issue may have left out a very critical detail. the error message occurs just after the screen "Installation Method” where you answer the question "what type of media contains the packages to be installed" Options are "Local CD-ROM, Hard Drive, NFS, FTP, HTTP" When you select "Local CD-ROM" it says "No Drivers Found" however if you continue to read it says " Unable to find any devices for this installation type". ive done some research on Linux distros and there’s tons of people having the issue and all seem to b able to resolve it by specifying something like "linux all-generic-ide irqpoll pci=nommconf " something or other... it basically makes the installer use a generic IDE mode for the CD-ROM, this only happens when the CD-rom is a "SATA" cd rom... dunno why or how... im going to keep looking till I figure it out.. Or maybe I’ll just do the FTP thing... That’s not a bad idea... just wish I could ensure it actually see's the drives before I go through all that trouble.
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If that does fix things for you, you'll have 2 additional problems
1) You won't be able to create a VMFS partition on your IDE drive. You'll need attach either a SATA drive (or SCSI via a supported / working controller).
2) ESX will likely be fine to install onto the IDE drive, but you'll likely get a failed to mount root error after you reboot. That's because ESX will not be able to recognize the Intel ICH9DH controller that the system uses. See this like for a potential fix - http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3.5/SATA_mounting_root_failed.html - except in your case you'll edit the achi.xml file.
On your second question, ESX does not use native Linux drivers (although some of the drivers it uses are derived from Linux drivers). While the service console for ESX is based on Linux, the vmkernel is not and that is the part that will be loading the storage drivers. Thus you won't be able to add drivers for your Rosewill card. ESX 3.5 supports a limited number of dual connect SAS controllers, but fortunately includes drivers that will support Intel ICH*, nVidia, LSI, Silicon Graphics and a few other brands of SATA controllers. I haven't see the Rosewill card in that list so you'll be out of luck with it.
PS - what I've written just applies to ESX 3.5 (as 3.0 doesn't include SATA support (besides a few SATA controllers that mimic SCSI controllers). You should be able to get this working with the SATA drive connected to the onboard controller.
