Re: Pending IDE update for SMP, bugfixes, ... (fwd)

Andrzej Krzysztofowicz (ankry@green.mif.pg.gda.pl)
Sat, 18 Apr 1998 12:33:38 +0200 (CEST)

mlord wrote:
> Andrzej Krzysztofowicz wrote:
> > 1. I don't think it is safe to enable other CPU's interrupts while
> > probing ports for chipset detection. Some of ports beeing probed
> > may be used by other hardware (eg. for some MB's 0x34 is same as 0x20
> > and probing it causes interrupt controller reprogramming)
>
> This does not worry me, because:
>
> (1) nobody with an SMP machine will have an ALI controller,

But, IMHO, it is possible. There are PCI controllers using ALI chipset.
What about 386/486 SMP ?

> and (2) the probe only happens if the user asks for it with
> a kernel boot parameter.

Yes, but this parameter cannot be switched off from command line after
setting it in lilo.conf. :( I noticed disadvantage of this situation when
using an ali14xx lilo diskette with an Intel Triton MB (just try to boot
it - division by zero error is generated during start).

>
> > 2. Is it (possible problems during probing) the reason that chipset
> > probing code is not available when compiling IDE support as a module?
>
> Err.. the support ought to still be available as part of the "resident"
> portion of the IDE driver when modules are used. Right?

No.
1. (config scripts) CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDE must be set to "y" to enable chipset
options.
2. ide_hwifs[] and ide_system_bus_speed() are declared in ide.c and used in
(eg.) ali14xx.c - move them to the main kernel (?)
3. ...?

Regards

-- 
=======================================================================
  Andrzej M. Krzysztofowicz               ankry@mif.pg.gda.pl
  tel.  (0-58) 347 14 61
Wydz.Fizyki Technicznej i Matematyki Stosowanej Politechniki Gdanskiej


-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu