Re: CONFIG_PNP: Please change the name

Andrew Mileski (dmtech@magi.com)
Mon, 18 Mar 1996 10:20:53 -0500 (EST)

>Definately there is a benefit in having a resource manager in Linux.
>Hopefully it is not a braindamaged type of intelligence which totally
>refuses to take into consideration hardcoded, user given info
>(jumpers on legacycards). This is presently the case in most PnP
>implementations. This is _really_ my only consern about PnP. We
>must be able to live with legacycards for years to come and in many
>cases only the most bizarre combination of settings works. Settings,
>which has been tweaked to perfection by trial-and-error over many
>frustrated hours.

Right now, I'm looking at a self-configured boot system
(just enough to get the disks working), and a user space
utility to tweak the rest - with or without user intervention.
The user space utility will have the toughest job, as the
kernel code won't be much more than an API.

Kinda like the DOS ICM - but better. The DOS ICM is not
a part of the OS, so it isn't able to do anything until
AFTER the machine has booted (catch-22 in some cases).
It cannot handle dynamic on-the-fly configuration to
meet sporadic demands (example: need 12 IRQ lines,
but only 3 are available - any 3 of the 12 devices can be
in use at one time IFF the drivers co-operate).

-- Andrew E. Mileski --
--------------------------------------------------------------
mailto:dmtech@magi.com http://www.redhat.com/~aem/
"The best programmers are lazy", so I'm told.
I haven't gotten around to seeing if it is true or not though.