RE: pci cards and alpha

Hilarion (rhogan@mnsi.net)
Wed, 29 Apr 1998 17:03:30 -0500 (CDT)

On 29-Apr-98 Colm Connolly playfully chanted:
| I have a query about pci based cards and alpha.
| Do pci cards need special firmware/bios to operate in an alpha box or
| could you go out buy a pci card (eg scsi/nic card ) and use it in an
| alpha box (provided there is a driver of course)?
|
| Is it a difficult exercise to port a pre-existing ix86 Linux driver to
| the the alpha? In any event, where can you find information on doing
| this and would I be mad to even consider doing it?

I think most should be fine. However, this brings out a question I've been
puzzling over from time to time...

Is the Alpha-compatible motherboards PCI 2.1 compliant, or just 2.0? My PC164
manual doesn't say _anything_ about this, and there are a few cards on the
market that require this. (Although on this fine sunny afternoon, the specific
details of such cards escape me at the moment.) Does anyone know, or (again)
have pointers?

---
rhogan@mnsi.net
Do we chase our tail or the moon when we follow the path of self-modification
with out objectivity?