> > 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)?
>
> No, PCI (and ISA) are standards themselves, theoretical
> every PCI (and ISA) card should work fine in your Alpha
> provided there is a driver of course ;-)
Sorry to correct you, but this isn't really true for some adapters that
rely on their onboard BIOS (which is what the original author was asking
for I think.
This is not a problem, if Linux has _full_ drivers for the device,
that entirely make the BIOS obsolete. This is usually the case for
SCSI cards.
Network cards that are used for remote booting (i.e. have a BIOS and use
it before Linux is up) and Video cards (which cannot be properly initialized
by Linux, except when using GGI) are exceptions.
However, these are normally handled fine by the Alpha builtin x86 Emulation
software.
Only a few graphics cards are said to have problems.
CU, Andy
-- = Andreas Beck | Email : <andreas.beck@ggi-project.org> = ======== GGI - The Right Thing To Do : http://www.ggi-project.org/ ========