I run a small group of Linux machines here. I compile a single kernel
on one machine, which is then distributed to all the others by a
semi-automatic process. Minor architectural differences between the
machines are handled by putting most kernel functions in to modules (for
examples, some machines load the serial module for mouse support, others
load the PS/2 mouse module). However, it is not possible to do this for
sound cards, because we have some Sound Blaster 16 cards and some AWE32
cards. I understand that the standard sound module will work with both
of these cards, however, the AWE32 uses different IRQ, I/O and DMA
channels to the SB16.
Would it be possible to make these parameters passable as MODULE_PARMs
to the sound module, so that they could be specified at boot time? It
would be a great boost to the flexibility of the sound subsystem if they
could, allowing greater variety in the types of sound cards supported.
I believe we should be moving Linux towards a "plug-and-play" type of
system; while this would mean major changes to large parts of the
kernel, allowing parameters such as this to be specified at boot time
rather than compile time would be a step in the right direction.
What do you all think?
Colm
-- Colm Buckley B.F. | EMail : Colm.Buckley@tcd.ie or colm@lspace.org Computer Science | WWW : http://isg.cs.tcd.ie/cbuckley/ Trinity College | Phone : +353 87 469146 (087-469146 within Ireland) Dublin 2, Ireland | "Microsoft : Where do you want to crash today?"