Date: Fri, 05 Dec 1997 15:43:41 -0800 From: Daniel Zappala <zappala@cs.uoregon.edu> To: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Cc: zappala@cs.uoregon.edu Subject: CardBus machines -- still unclear Message-ID: <199712052343.PAA13451@cs.uoregon.edu>
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I would very much like to get an IBM 560X and am still unclear whether I can boot any version of FreeBSD on it. In the archives I have read: > If the 560X is the new CardBus machine, then it's not supported in > FreeBSD. Newer CardBus/PCI machines are not supported 'out of the box' > yet. The same goes for new 760's if they are also CardBus. I take it this means the OS will boot, but any cards in the slot (i.e. a NIC) won't be recognized. However, my understanding of CardBus is that it is supposed to be backward compatible with PC-Card, so I'm unclear on why you couldn't use 16-bit PCMCIA cards in this slot. In particular, the IBM machine says you can use either 2 16-bit cards or 1 32-bit card. This view seems to be supported by the following quote from the archives: > You need to consider whether the hardware is critical to the system's > operation or not. > > For example, this Toshiba 220CDS has a USB port (unsupported) and > software-selectable PCMCIA/CardBus ports. > > USB isn't critical, and I can disable the CardBus stuff, so it works > really well. > > When you're buying a laptop, there are two *critical* things to look at: > - The pcic type (PCMCIA interface chip). Toshiba, Dell, NEC, Sharp, > and IBM all use parts that are compatible with FreeBSD. Acer (at > least) does not. YMMV; if at all possible, boot a FreeBSD kernel > built with pcic support in order to find out what you're looking at. So what can I expect from a "CardBus machine": a) have it not boot the OS b) have it boot the OS but not recognize the NIC or other PCMCIA cards c) have it boot the OS and recognize any 16-bit cards, but not be able to use CardBus cards. I'd love to hear the answer is b :-) Thanks, Daniel Zappala zappala@cs.uoregon.edu
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