From owner-freebsd-hackers Thu Jul 11 09:24:29 1996 Return-Path: owner-hackers Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) id JAA07760 for hackers-outgoing; Thu, 11 Jul 1996 09:24:29 -0700 (PDT) Received: from mole.mole.org (marmot.mole.org [204.216.57.191]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) with SMTP id JAA07740 for ; Thu, 11 Jul 1996 09:24:22 -0700 (PDT) Received: (from mail@localhost) by mole.mole.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id QAA15051; Thu, 11 Jul 1996 16:22:31 GMT Received: from meerkat.mole.org(206.197.192.110) by mole.mole.org via smap (V1.3) id sma015047; Thu Jul 11 16:22:11 1996 Received: (from mrm@localhost) by meerkat.mole.org (8.6.11/8.6.9) id JAA04570; Thu, 11 Jul 1996 09:22:10 -0700 Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 09:22:10 -0700 From: "M.R.Murphy" Message-Id: <199607111622.JAA04570@meerkat.mole.org> To: jkh@time.cdrom.com, michaelv@HeadCandy.com Subject: Re: Some recent changes to GENERIC Cc: davidg@root.com, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG, jgreco@brasil.moneng.mei.com Sender: owner-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk > > >> That's a plausible argument but I remind you that we've been through several > >> releases with sio3 enabled. > > >Actually no, it's been disabled for awhile because it was causing people > >big problems in all the release when we DID have it enabled - having > >it enabled turned out to be a big mistake! :-) > > I might point out that NetBSD has had com4 disabled in GENERIC for > some time now, for the same reason: it makes it impossible to install > on some systems with S3 or ATI MachXX cards, because the probe causes > the video card to freak out. > > Can you seriously give me *any* scenario where you need four com ports > to get boot-strapped? > No is the answer to your question. However, I think that folks are missing the difference between a GENERIC (this is the whole enchilada, including the kitchen sink, configurable with -c at boot time so conflicts can be resolved) system, and a MINIMAL (this is what you need to get installed) system. Maybe they aren't, but it seems so. That MINIMAL and GENERIC have to be similar in support for the myriad disk controller, cdrom controller, ethernet combinations is a consequence of the PC marketplace. GENERIC could be the one with two of each ethernet, multiple disk controlers of each type, ... I'd suggest MINIMAL on the boot floppy, and GENERIC in the distribution with a convenient way of getting GENERIC to be the booted-from-disk. This discussion is generating more heat than light. Folks that would normally be polite to each other are snappish. What we need is more stress so they actually start screaming, eh? -- Mike Murphy mrm@Mole.ORG +1 619 598 5874 Better is the enemy of Good