Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2000 22:35:45 +0000 (GMT) From: Terry Lambert <tlambert@primenet.com> To: msmith@FreeBSD.ORG (Mike Smith) Cc: tlambert@primenet.com (Terry Lambert), freebsd-alpha@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Lynx test / 2nd attempt Message-ID: <200012062235.PAA25544@usr08.primenet.com> In-Reply-To: <200012062053.eB6KrNF52293@mass.osd.bsdi.com> from "Mike Smith" at Dec 06, 2000 12:53:23 PM
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> > Is FreeBSD being "a PnP OS" an alpha need? > > I don't think I understand this question. An OS can do a PnP scan correctly, without firmware/BIOS support, and enable devices which by default will not be enabled without the OS doing the work. > As an aside, I don't think that the PnP scan has anything to do with the > system hanging; it's simply the last probe message printed. I loathe > people that assume that because the last message printed came from > subsystem X that it must be subsystem X that is failing. Boot > verbose, you lame bastards. 8) Heh. > > This normally leads vendors of non-x86 > > machines to support a limited set of hardware, and do the POST > > initialization of the card in their own ROM or firmware code. > > This is bunk. Hey, if you can get my Compaq SCSI controller working on my Multia, I'll be happy to retract. :^). > > If the card's default POST state didn't require the CPU to do > > processing when the card was installed with PnP mode enable, > > then doing the "PnP OS" thing would work; otherwise, it probably > > won't. This means that ISA PnP will probably be broken on these > > boxes as well. > > This is also bunk. PnP cards come up disabled by default, unless they are enabled; what you're saying here (when you say it's "bunk") translates to me to mean that that the cards aren't disabled by default, or that all Apha machines with ISA slots have PnP support in their firmware/BIOS? If so, I think the original complaint can be addressed by just referencing the resource tables out of the PnP stuff on the platform, but I have no idea how to do that on an Alpha, as it's unlikely to have PnP BIOS entry points. 8-|. > > Carrying around the non-x86 equivalent for all > > possible cards that were designed by people who can't get their > > hardware into a functional state by default without the help of > > x86 code is really not an option. > > And this is irrelevant. It's relevent for my SCSI card, which, as well as hooking the PC BIOS at POST time, sets up default sequencer firmware using the host processor. This doesn't work unless called, which means that the controller is not capable of booting my machine. Since the controller is recognized by the AlphaBIOS, I wonder if it is possible to load stuff into RAM with the AlphaBIOS, and then switch to the SRM, without disturbing the memory image? This would let FreeBSD get the FreeBSD driver loaded by the firmware that recognizes the card as a boot device, and then switch over. Right now, this "PnP SCSI card" can't be used to boot, and I'm stuck with using the built-in NCR for booting, but the cheap disks are all ultrawide, and the NCR 810 isn't. The only way I can see to deal with cards that require post initialization not supported by the firmware is emulation or different firmware. What are the chances of using the x86 emulator for video cards to do the initialization job for SCSI cards? Terry Lambert terry@lambert.org --- Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present or previous employers. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-alpha" in the body of the message
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