Date: Wed, 07 May 1997 12:53:34 -0400 From: Matt Thomas <matt@3am-software.com> To: dg@root.com Cc: hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: if_de.c ???? Message-ID: <3.0.1.32.19970507125334.006b90d0@www.3am-software.com>
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At 06:27 PM 5/6/97 -0700, David Greenman wrote: > The if_de driver is a #ifdef mess. It tries to support multiple operating >systems that are diverging quickly every day. Simply put, I can't personally >support it. This arrangement was fine while the author was willing to support >it, but he pulled support for FreeBSD and announced his intentions of only >supporting NetBSD. I never said that. I said that NetBSD was my primary development O/S. My W/S still runs FreeBSD (and wonders of wonders my new driver runs there just fine). Supporting BSD/OS, FreeBSD, NetBSD is a real pain. I really wish that that three could start converging instead of diverging but that isn't going to happen soon. Now that FreeBSD is going to be ported to Alpha I can only hope that FreeBSD doesn't invent its own way of doing architectural independent bus access but instead adopts NetBSD's bus_space idea (and does not gratutiously change it). > At that point the code started to grow some mold. I really really wish that FreeBSD has a stable DDK interface. Unfortunately FreeBSD changes faster than I have the free time to keep pace with. At least the NetBSD folks notify when something is changing so I know to react. >One of the problems with having such a popular NIC, coupled with little >architectural direction from the manufacturer, is that you get a variant- >a-week syndrome (different serial EEPROMs, different format for the data >in the EEPROM, etc) - and no matter what you do, it's not possible to deal >with this in a clean way. So how can I or anyone else who is knowledgeable >about the 'de' cards recommend them? Sure, the old ones work fine - but this >means nothing when you go out and buy a new one. The new driver does deal with SEEPROM in a clean way. That's why I spent six months rewriting and testing it. It's only problem is that it requires some code that currently is not part of FreeBSD. Sigh, -- Matt Thomas Internet: matt@3am-software.com 3am Software Foundry WWW URL: http://www.3am-software.com/bio/matt.html Westford, MA Disclaimer: I disavow all knowledge of this message
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