Re: 8390 drivers

[Finn Thain <fthain@telegraphics.com.au>]

On Sat, 23 Jul 2011, Michael Schmitz wrote:

> Duplicate symbols should have been reported at link time (or when a 
> module is inserted, at latest).

I'm not so sure. If I change "mac8390.o" to "mac8390.o 8390.o" in 
drivers/net/Makefile, I get some compiler warnings but that's all. (I 
didn't try booting it. Also mac8390 is built-in -- apparently it doesn't 
do modular).

> > Yes, but if the NIC works with idle disk and fails with SCSI load, 
> > would you not blame the VIA driver?
> >   
> Not necessarily - there may be a driver locking out interrupts for too 
> long so the timeout happens before the interrupt gets serviced. Not very 
> likely - the timeout would have to run before the net bottom half.

If that were the kind of bug affecting Christian's machine, it seems 
unlikely that it would show up on a Mac. But I will add disk I/O to the 
stress test and report anything relevant.

> > I guess there are benefits to each approach? I assume that linking to 
> > 8390.o, though simpler, would end up slower (?)
> >   
> That, and it ends up not using net_ops in the driver at all. Obsolete 
> interface ...

hydra.c, zorro8390.c, 8390.c and 8390p.c all have have net_device_ops 
structs these days. I think everything got converted a year or so back.

Finn