Re: Should isa-pnp utilize the PnP BIOS?

Thomas Hood
2001-03-03T00:34:39Z

Okay, a couple of people have responded positively to this
suggestion. The next question is, how should it be implemented?

How 'bout:

$ cd pcmcia-cs/modules
$ cp pnp_bios.c pnp_proc.c pnp_rsrc.c /usr/src/linux/2.4.2a/drivers/pnp
$ cd ../include/linux
$ cp pnp_bios.h pnp_resource.h /usr/src/linux/2.4.2a/include/linux
Edit makefiles
Edit isapnp.c to include new global flag "isapnp_usepnpbios",
a MODULE_PARM, which each isapnp function checks at entry.
If the flag is set then: in the case of "low-level" functions,
return immediately; in the case of "high-level" functions, call
appropriate pnp_bios functions to perform the task; in the case
of isapnp_init(), just check isapnp_disabled and exit. isapnp's
/proc interface would not be supported. Presumably
inter_module_get_request() would be used to call the isapnp-bios
routines.

Comments? (Go easy on me; I'm a newbie at kernel hacking.)

Thomas

> Hello, l-k.
>
> On my ThinkPad 600, The ThinkPad PnP BIOS configures
> all PnP devices at boot time.
>
> If I load the isa-pnp.o driver it never detects any ISA PnP
> devices: it says "isapnp: No Plug & Play device found". This
> is unfortunate, because it means that device drivers can't
> find out from isa-pnp where the devices are.
>
> David Hinds's pcmcia-cs package contains driver code that
> interfaces with the PnP BIOS. With it, one can list the resource
> usage of ISA PnP devices (serial and parallel ports, sound chip,
> etc.) and set them, using the "lspnp" and "setpnp" commands.
>
> Would it not be useful if the isa-pnp driver would fall back
> to utilizing the PnP BIOS (if possible) in order to read and
> change ISA PnP device configurations when it can't do this
> itself? If so, could this perhaps be done by bringing the Hinds
> PnP BIOS driver into the kernel and interfacing isa-pnp to it?
>
> Thomas Hood
> jdthood_AT_yahoo.co.uk <- Change '_AT_' to '@'