From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Apr 20 07:14:52 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id AFDAC16A4CE; Tue, 20 Apr 2004 07:14:52 -0700 (PDT) Received: from arginine.spc.org (arginine.spc.org [195.206.69.236]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 75EC943D82; Tue, 20 Apr 2004 07:14:52 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from bms@spc.org) Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by arginine.spc.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 80C526546C; Tue, 20 Apr 2004 15:14:51 +0100 (BST) Received: from arginine.spc.org ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (arginine.spc.org [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with LMTP id 10357-03-12; Tue, 20 Apr 2004 15:14:50 +0100 (BST) Received: from empiric.dek.spc.org (82-147-17-88.dsl.uk.rapidplay.com [82.147.17.88]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by arginine.spc.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B98FF6543E; Tue, 20 Apr 2004 15:14:50 +0100 (BST) Received: by empiric.dek.spc.org (Postfix, from userid 1001) id 6BCFE6132; Tue, 20 Apr 2004 15:14:53 +0100 (BST) Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 15:14:53 +0100 From: Bruce M Simpson To: Roman Kurakin Message-ID: <20040420141453.GC18177@empiric.dek.spc.org> Mail-Followup-To: Roman Kurakin , Bruce M Simpson , Josef El-Rayes , freebsd-current@freebsd.org References: <20040414155525.GD562@jenny.daemon.li> <20040419183108.L47248@carver.gumbysoft.com> <40851021.6090706@cronyx.ru> <20040420121523.GA18177@empiric.dek.spc.org> <40852DAF.7090406@cronyx.ru> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="hHWLQfXTYDoKhP50" Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <40852DAF.7090406@cronyx.ru> cc: Bruce M Simpson cc: freebsd-current@freebsd.org cc: Josef El-Rayes Subject: Re: small note to GENERIC for isa dependency X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2004 14:14:52 -0000 --hHWLQfXTYDoKhP50 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline On Tue, Apr 20, 2004 at 06:03:27PM +0400, Roman Kurakin wrote: > >The problem is that ISA and the i386 architecture are still intimately > >involved. It's probably hidden away as something called LPC on yours. :-) > > I only want to say that this is normal wish to remove device "isa" as a > "hardware missing in my modern box", cause I open it and see nothing > except PCI slots. Appearances can be deceiving. I can understand the source of your confusion. Let me attempt to clarify. ISA is there in some form. If your machine has legacy hardware of any kind, such as an AT-PIC programmable interrupt controller, a PS/2 mouse port, or even a keyboard controller, you need ISA support, even if the devices are probed via ACPI. Many machines have PCI slots and not ISA slots, but ISA is still present; many VIA and Intel based motherboards have a SuperIO chip connected to the south bridge via what is known as the LPC (Low Pin Count) bus, which is covered by Intel specifications; this is essentially an ISA bus with less pins. Only a truly legacy-free machine (and most machines which are i386 and claim to be legacy-free are not) could live without the isa bus support in FreeBSD, and to the best of my knowledge, these don't exist yet. It is with us for the forseeable future. Regards, BMS --hHWLQfXTYDoKhP50 Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Comment: '' iD8DBQFAhTBdueUpAYYNtTsRAq/LAJ4kwqSZfAzfDrH0yBwATrtVxJL6ZgCgjo60 fzh7QFSgPQufHCZV/LM2cz8= =Mt4D -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --hHWLQfXTYDoKhP50--