Re: 2.4.0 Patch for 3c575

Miles Lane
2001-01-11T07:23:30Z

David Hinds wrote:

> On Wed, Jan 10, 2001 at 06:56:22PM -0800, Miles Lane wrote:
>
>> There's one other annoyance:
>>
>> The config files for pcmcia-cs expect the 3c575_cb driver,
>> so I either have to hack the configuration files or load
>> the 3c59x driver by hand.
>
>
> Yes, I'm not sure how to best communicate the fact that 3c59x should
> be used to cardmgr.

There are at least two things that need to happen.

1. The pcmcia-cs installation needs to install
different default configuration files when
the target machine is running kernel drivers
instead of pcmcia-cs drivers. Specifically,
there are numerous devices that aren't supported
yet by drivers in the kernel tree (e.g. D-Link
DFE-650 Fast Ethernet PC-Card). So, those
device configuration entries should probably be
removed until the needed drivers exist.
Then there is the need to map support for some
devices (like the 3c575) to new drivers (the
3c59x). I am not sure whether there are other
devices for which this is true.

For the case where drivers don't exist yet,
the /etc/pcmcia/config* files could be migrated
into the kernel tree, so that when a kernel is
installed that is configured to use the kernel
drivers instead of pcmcia-cs drivers, then
install the modified /etc/pcmcia/config* files.

Now, this is a mess. Because, people will likely
want to test the kernel drivers before making a
permanent commitment to the transition. Therefore,
it's important that the current /etc/pcmcia/config*
files get backed up. Then you have to keep backing
them up as you install additional kernels. Like
this:
/etc/pcmcia/backup/config*
/etc/pcmcia/backup.1/config*
/etc/pcmcia/backup.2/config*

This seems kind of heinous. But, these
configuration files sometimes get tweaked for
a particular machine's hardware configuration,
so it's important not to lose them.

2. A concerted development effort needs to be made
to get the PCMCIA/Cardbus device support for
kernel drivers to be on a par with the device
support in pcmcia-cs.

It would be really helpful to at least get the
pcnet_cs driver ported to the kernel tree, because
that pcmcia-cs driver support a wide array of
ethernet PCMCIA cards. On the other hand, it's
my impression that Linus wants to make sure that
the Cardbus support in the 2.4.0 tree is really
solid before developing PCMCIA support in the
kernel tree. Is that correct?

David, do you know whether there is a tulip driver in the
kernel tree that will support PC-Card tulip PC-Cards?
Your tulip_cb seems to support a huge number of cards.

I should note that I once before I modified my /etc/pcmcia/config
file so that cardmgr loaded 3c59x for my 3c575 card. I got some
errors during the card detection phase and I never got "ifup eth0"
to run automatically when I inserted the card.

Cheers,
Miles