Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 04:02:16 -0400 From: "Andrew C. Hornback" <hornback@wireco.net> To: "Ted Mittelstaedt" <tedm@toybox.placo.com> Cc: "FreeBSD Hardware" <hardware@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: RE: Install problem Message-ID: <010a01c0cd5e$0b6a2720$0e00000a@tomcat> In-Reply-To: <00f901c0cb09$a9778360$1401a8c0@tedm.placo.com>
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> -----Original Message----- > From: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG > [mailto:owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG]On Behalf Of Ted > Mittelstaedt > Sent: Sunday, April 22, 2001 4:53 AM > To: Andrew C. Hornback; genocide@adelphia.net > Cc: FreeBSD Questions > Subject: RE: Install problem >=20 > > What you are running into is the wonderful foresight of=20 > >IBM's engineers when they came up with MCA, back in the mid 80s. =20 > >MCA doesn't allow hardware to occupy an IRQ, as the rest of the=20 > >world understands it. >=20 > Actually, the MCA bus is a lot like the PCI bus. IBM wanted to > permit interrupt sharing so they did, and actually the MCA > bus had dozens to hundreds of technical advancements over ISA. MCA also has a slot similar to PCI, physically. But, as a bit of = trivia for the uninitiated, there are three different MCA slots which = makes putting older MCA hardware to work a bit more challenging. =20 =20 > At the time that MCA came out, there were MANY motherboard > manufacturers that were wanting to implement it on their boards. > Unfortunately, IBM got greedy and demanded very steep licensing > fees. As a result, the rest of the industry came up with EISA > which is technically poorer. Otherwise, today we would all be running > MCA. I always figured it was something like that, since IBM had lost it's = stake in the PC market due to licensing the technology out, and the fact = that Phoenix BIOS was out there for the clones to be built with. I = figured it was either the licensing cost, or the fact that the "Big = Five" wanted to show IBM who was boss, as a power play. (feels like he = needs to dust off his old issues of Byte, for nostalgia's sake) > > As much as I hate to say it, there is a version of Linux=20 > >that will run on MCA, if you can find it. And I believe Solaris=20 > >might run on it, but that would be an old version as Sol8 doesn't=20 > >even support ISA anymore. > > > > IBM builds good, strong, solid hardware... your machine=20 > >still being around and in good running shape is a testament to=20 > >that. Just good luck in finding software that'll work with their=20 > >quirky "next generation" architecture... >=20 > OS/2 anyone? Got a shrinkwrapped copy of it sitting on my desk. *grins* --- Andy Obligatory FreeBSD content - I didn't realize that there was a version = of FreeBSD with support for the MCA bus. What's the URL for the info on = that puppy? To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hardware" in the body of the message
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