Date: Wed, 8 Dec 1999 18:04:57 -0500 From: Christopher Masto <chris@netmonger.net> To: Mike Smith <msmith@FreeBSD.ORG> Cc: Julian Elischer <julian@whistle.com>, current@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: HEADSUP: wd driver will be retired! Message-ID: <19991208180457.B1282@netmonger.net> In-Reply-To: <199912082052.MAA00517@mass.cdrom.com>; from Mike Smith on Wed, Dec 08, 1999 at 12:52:37PM -0800 References: <19991208150807.A16687@netmonger.net> <199912082052.MAA00517@mass.cdrom.com>
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On Wed, Dec 08, 1999 at 12:52:37PM -0800, Mike Smith wrote: > > Unfortunately, FreeBSD has far too many examples of a working system > > being replaced with a less functional system. Just off the top of my > > head, there were the SCSI drivers lost to CAM, the PCCARD system, > > sound drivers, and now ATA. > > Actually, most of this is histrionics. CAM didn't lose us SCSI drivers; > we actually _gained_ from it. We gained quite a bit from it, but let's not rewrite history. I remember quite clearly that there was a very popular Adaptec SCSI controller missing when the switch to CAM was made, and a lot of people were inconvenienced. That is a matter of recorded historical fact. Please don't misinterpret me; I am not suggesting that CAM shouldn't have happened, that anyone did anything wrong or that it should have been handled differently. I am merely pointing out that "CAM didn't lose us SCSI drivers" is inaccurate. > We haven't "lost" the pccard system at all Again, this is not accurate. I have a laptop with which, two months ago, I could use my LinkSys ethernet card, and I could use my digital camera's compact flash adapter. I could eject them and put them back in numerous times. I could suspend and resume. Due to some changes in the pccard system, I can no longer do these things. Due to some more recent changes, I can't even use my wireless IP card at all. So it is a simple matter of fact that functionality has been lost. Of course it is only temporary. Once again, I ask that you don't misinterpret this simple statement of fact as a complaint or attack. Warner's pccard work was desperately needed and I am confident that eventually everything will be back and better than ever. And I am not only willing, but happy to deal with these problems that I have brought upon myself by choosing to run -current on my laptop. > and the new sound code is on a feature-par with both of the old ones. When it works, it works very well. But again, the fact is that I had sound on this computer three years ago. I had sound a few weeks ago. Then I didn't. Then it came back. Now it's gone again. It'll probably come back next time I build a kernel (I have an AWE64). But the fact is that something WAS lost: $ cat > /dev/audio zsh: device not configured: /dev/audio > What we need here is a commitment to these new initiatives, not a lot of > fence-sitting and clutching our knitting to our chests. All of these > initiatives were started to deal with massive problems in the subsystems > they replace; clinging to the old code rather than getting on-board and > helping with the new code directly impedes the resolution of these > problems. > > Again, I say, think of what we're trying to achieve here. I fully agree that these things are neccessary and good. I just think we need avoid jumping the gun on removing the old code, when some people still need it to boot their machines. -- Christopher Masto Senior Network Monkey NetMonger Communications chris@netmonger.net info@netmonger.net http://www.netmonger.net Free yourself, free your machine, free the daemon -- http://www.freebsd.org/ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message
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