Date: Wed, 06 Dec 2000 12:53:23 -0800 From: Mike Smith <msmith@freebsd.org> To: Terry Lambert <tlambert@primenet.com> Cc: freebsd-alpha@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Lynx test / 2nd attempt Message-ID: <200012062053.eB6KrNF52293@mass.osd.bsdi.com> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Wed, 06 Dec 2000 20:36:47 GMT." <200012062036.NAA21965@usr08.primenet.com>
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> > > Please find attached the transcript of the boot of yesterdays
> > > Lynx boot floppy. Unfortunately the system still hangs after
> > > the probing PnP devices message. Isn't PnP on Alpha a no-no
> > > anyway?
> >
> > ISA PnP should work just fine. Nobody's pointed out to me how we could
> > obtain the other resource information from SRM, so I haven't made any
> > attempt to emulate the BIOS PnP functionality the x86 has (but I would
> > very much like to, and I know the information is available somewhere).
>
> Is FreeBSD being "a PnP OS" an alpha need?
I don't think I understand this question.
> The Shanley/MindShare PnP book documents what an OS needs to do
> to be a "PnP OS". The one problem is that the POST code on most
> cards assumes POSTing by an x86 processor running ROMed x86 code
> from the card itself.
This assumes that the card has POST firmware at all. Most ISA PnP cards
do not. Most BIOS PnP devices are initted by platform firmware (which
the Alpha has already). Video cards and supported SCSI cards are notable
exceptions; the Alpha platforms run the video BIOS in an x86 emulator,
and the SCSI POST code is integrated into the platform firmware.
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)
> 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.
> 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.
> 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.
--
... every activity meets with opposition, everyone who acts has his
rivals and unfortunately opponents also. But not because people want
to be opponents, rather because the tasks and relationships force
people to take different points of view. [Dr. Fritz Todt]
V I C T O R Y N O T V E N G E A N C E
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