> I don't like the idea of the kernel config examining your machine and
> enabling or disabling what you see based on what's in the machine. I
> think that should be left to the person building the kernel.
>
> Also, the PCI option *is* valid for 32-bit SPARC machines, just not all of
> them. The driver doesn't operate like the PCI driver in Intel kernels.
> If you enable the PCI option on a 32-bit SPARC machine that doesn't have
> that, it craps out. On an Intel machine you can have the PCI support in
> the kernel, boot it on a VLB system and have it work.
>
> I believe it boils down to the people that needed this driver in 32-bit
> SPARC kernels just "got it done" and stopped after that. No one seems
> interested in maintaining it or enhancing it, so it presents us with
> problems like the keyboard thing we just recently discovered. But, all in
> all, it wasn't a big deal. It was annoying, but no one's head exploded as
> a result of it. :)
Damn you're a persuasive bastard! ;-> That was a great argument, and
I have to say that have made me see the light! It can stay.
> There are several things in the kernel config that you can see on SPARC
> and SPARC64 that absolutely will not compile. I don't know why they are
> there. Some even fail and kick out a message like "You lose, contact
> DaveM." So I imagine that sometime somewhere someone was able to get that
> to build.
I suppose this is done to cover all SPARC hardware in general. Since
there is a bit of overlap between SPARC and UltraSPARC hardware
they've made the kernel config that way to cover all bases.
> And in addition to that, there are things that I think should be enabled
> in the kernel config that aren't. Like USB support. :) I went down to
> Best Buy yesterday and bought a Xircom USB expansion card and I'm going to
> see if I can make that work in my Ultra 5. Wouldn't that be cool? I had
> to patch the OHCI driver a bit on the sparc64 platform, but it wasn't a
> big deal. I haven't heard of anyone trying this or even caring for that
> matter. Either I'll fry the card or I'll be syncing my Handspring Visor
> on my Ultra 5. :)
I've heard of someone else using a USB add-on card in an PCI-based
Ultra. Don't know what the results were, but I do know there are
_few_ others doing it. Good luck, and let us know what you come up
with.
Charles
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Thu Sep 19 2002 - 11:00:02 PDT