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Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.development Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!hamblin.math.byu.edu!news.byu.edu!ns.novell.com!gateway.univel.com!fcom.cc.utah.edu!cs.weber.edu!terry From: terry@cs.weber.edu (A Wizard of Earth C) Subject: Re: EISA CONFIG (was: AHA1742) Message-ID: <1993Jul14.195756.10450@fcom.cc.utah.edu> Sender: news@fcom.cc.utah.edu Organization: Weber State University, Ogden, UT References: <21gt98$kuk@obelix.uni-muenster.de> <1993Jul13.172743.15441@fcom.cc.utah.edu> <wilko.742661051@spoetnix.idca.tds.philips.nl> Date: Wed, 14 Jul 93 19:57:56 GMT Lines: 49 In article <wilko.742661051@spoetnix.idca.tds.philips.nl> wilko@idca.tds.philips.nl (Wilko Bulte) writes: >terry@cs.weber.edu (A Wizard of Earth C) writes: >>In this same vein, isn't it about time that we got some EISA configuration >>code ported to something other than DOS? [ ... ] >There is one snag: the config info is written into the EISA config CMOS >memory by the system BIOS. Although the EISA spec defines 32bit BIOS >calls to do this in 32bit mode, they generally DON'T work. Most machines >we've tested here (Digital that is) simply implement the BIOS calls >incorrectly. And there were definitely brand-name machines involved >that don't work. OK, assuming this is the case: 1) How does cf.exe do it? There is only one company cranking these programs out, with everyone OEMing the exact same code (if not the exact same vesion of the code), it seems. For instance the EISA config on my machine, a Compaq machine, and a Dell machine all had *exactly* the same config utility. 2) We're a protected mode OS; there's no way to do BIOS calls without a *lot* of work, and 32 bit calls will be more difficult (potentially impossible in fact). So the BIOS argument is irrelevant. 3) What has DEC done for it's EISA-based Alpha PC? I know that DEC has released pricing for everything Alpha based *but* the Alpha PC; has this been cancelled? I'd hate to think so, since there is almost a working C compiler and assembler for the chip as a prelude to porting NetBSD to the Alpha PC, *not* the other Alpha systems (initially, unless DEC suddenly becomes more willing to cut us *big* price breaks on the hardware -- or *any* price breaks, for that matter). On the other hand, there *is* an EISA based R4000 box being sold (not by DEC). Neither of these machines will run the DOS cf.exe. >My opinion: don't bother, there are better (and less frustrating) things >to be done. This is actually an interesting project, even if it is only done for DOS (but I won't be involved, if that's the only target). I think it would be cake compared to some of the shared library stuff... now *that's* a frustrating project. Terry Lambert terry@icarus.weber.edu --- Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present or previous employers.