Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2002 15:40:05 -0700 (PDT) From: Jerry Dunham <jdunham@m3designinc.com> To: freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: docs/41820: Device driver confusion in Handbook (2.3) Message-ID: <200208202240.g7KMe5jJ089705@freefall.freebsd.org>
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The following reply was made to PR docs/41820; it has been noted by GNATS. From: Jerry Dunham <jdunham@m3designinc.com> To: friar_josh@webwarrior.net Cc: freebsd-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.org, Grog@lemis.com, Wes@softweyr.com Subject: Re: docs/41820: Device driver confusion in Handbook (2.3) Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2002 17:33:15 -0500 On 20 Aug 2002, at 17:29, Josh Paetzel wrote: > On Tue, 2002-08-20 at 17:02, Jerry Dunham wrote: > > > > >Number: 41820 > > >Category: docs > > >Synopsis: Device driver confusion in Handbook (2.3) > > >Confidential: no > > >Severity: non-critical > > >Priority: low > > >Responsible: freebsd-doc > > >State: open > > >Quarter: > > >Keywords: > > >Date-Required: > > >Class: doc-bug > > >Submitter-Id: current-users > > >Arrival-Date: Tue Aug 20 10:10:03 PDT 2002 > > >Closed-Date: > > >Last-Modified: > > >Originator: Jerry Dunham > > >Release: 4.6 > > >Organization: > > M3 Design, Inc. > > >Environment: > > Not finished installing yet. It can't find my SCSI CDD. > > >Description: > > I'm installing 4.6, working from the Handbook for the first time. As I worked through section 2.3 I found that the Active-drivers screen, with its long list of conflicting hardware I'd never seen before, conflicted with the device probe screen that followed. A friend informed me that the first screen was attempting (and not well) to deal with ISA cards (of which I have none) and the device probe screen was attempting (and doing well) to deal with PCI cards. I would never have figured this out from the explanation in 2.3, and spent some time frozen at that point of the install before I learned that all was really okay. > > >How-To-Repeat: > > Install 4.6 on a PCI system working from the Handbook, section 2.3. > > >Fix: > > Add some explanation of the two different device driver screens and explain that if you have a PCI-only machine you don't really need to worry about what shows in the Active-drivers screen. > > >Release-Note: > > >Audit-Trail: > > >Unformatted: > > I think this is a case of information overload. This section of the > handbook contains an incredible amount of information, and attempting to > be completely comprehensive would make it even worse. With today's > hardware, 99% of the FreeBSD installs could choose skip kernel config, > and the GENERIC kernel would probe everything just fine. The only > people that really need to deal with the visual config at all are those > that are either installing from a scsi cdrom hanging on a antique ISA > host adapter, or those who are installing from an ISA NIC. Perhaps we > could put in a disclaimer at the top of the section, "If you are > installing on a machine with PCI/AGP/Onboard devices only, please pick > skip kernel configuration, and jump to section 2.3.3" > > My .02 on the issue. I agree with the disclaimer completely. I say, "Do it!" It would have saved me time and a couple of e-mail messages. I can't imagine how it would hurt anyone. Thanks! -- Jerry Dunham M3 Design, Inc. jdunham@m3designinc.com (512) 218-8858 To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message
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