Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2002 15:40:03 -0700 (PDT) From: Josh Paetzel <friar_josh@webwarrior.net> To: freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: docs/41820: Device driver confusion in Handbook (2.3) Message-ID: <200208202240.g7KMe3UU089697@freefall.freebsd.org>
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The following reply was made to PR docs/41820; it has been noted by GNATS. From: Josh Paetzel <friar_josh@webwarrior.net> To: Jerry Dunham <jdunham@m3designinc.com> Cc: freebsd-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: docs/41820: Device driver confusion in Handbook (2.3) Date: 20 Aug 2002 17:29:18 +0000 On Tue, 2002-08-20 at 17:02, Jerry Dunham wrote: > > >Number: 41820 > >Category: docs > >Synopsis: Device driver confusion in Handbook (2.3) > >Confidential: no > >Severity: non-critical > >Priority: low > >Responsible: freebsd-doc > >State: open > >Quarter: > >Keywords: > >Date-Required: > >Class: doc-bug > >Submitter-Id: current-users > >Arrival-Date: Tue Aug 20 10:10:03 PDT 2002 > >Closed-Date: > >Last-Modified: > >Originator: Jerry Dunham > >Release: 4.6 > >Organization: > M3 Design, Inc. > >Environment: > Not finished installing yet. It can't find my SCSI CDD. > >Description: > I'm installing 4.6, working from the Handbook for the first time. As I worked through section 2.3 I found that the Active-drivers screen, with its long list of conflicting hardware I'd never seen before, conflicted with the device probe screen that followed. A friend informed me that the first screen was attempting (and not well) to deal with ISA cards (of which I have none) and the device probe screen was attempting (and doing well) to deal with PCI cards. I would never have figured this out fr om the explanation in 2.3, and spent some time frozen at that point of the install before I learned that all was really okay. > >How-To-Repeat: > Install 4.6 on a PCI system working from the Handbook, section 2.3. > >Fix: > Add some explanation of the two different device driver screens and explain that if you have a PCI-only machine you don't really need to worry about what shows in the Active-drivers screen. > >Release-Note: > >Audit-Trail: > >Unformatted: I think this is a case of information overload. This section of the handbook contains an incredible amount of information, and attempting to be completely comprehensive would make it even worse. With today's hardware, 99% of the FreeBSD installs could choose skip kernel config, and the GENERIC kernel would probe everything just fine. The only people that really need to deal with the visual config at all are those that are either installing from a scsi cdrom hanging on a antique ISA host adapter, or those who are installing from an ISA NIC. Perhaps we could put in a disclaimer at the top of the section, "If you are installing on a machine with PCI/AGP/Onboard devices only, please pick skip kernel configuration, and jump to section 2.3.3" My .02 on the issue. Josh To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message
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