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SubjectHot PCI bus plugging
Hi!

Is it possible to use a PCI or ISA card, that is inserted while
the system is running, without rebooting?

It looks to me that at system startup time the PCI bus is scanned and
any device that isn't recognized at that stage cannot be used anytime
later. A module that is loaded for the specific card just doesn't find
it, although it's definetly there. So I think the PCI-card driver asks
the kernel about the available cards in some way, but the kernel only
knows about the devices it sees at startup.

In case of an ISA card it should be possible when using modules,
because the ISA bus is not scanned in general at startup. The
individual driver is completly responsible for detecting the card. Or
am I wrong?

You may wonder, why somebody would want such a feature, because it's
really not a very good idea to insert a PCI card into a running
desktop system.

It's very useful in the combination of a laptop and a docking
station. Most of them allow you to plug and unplug the laptop to and
from the docking station while the laptop is up and running.

But I have to reboot the whole system just to use that one little PCI
interface card, that doesn't fit into the PCMCIA-slot. And of course:
You cannot just unplug and go. You have to shutdown first. Very
annoying.

But maybe the kernel can already handle this in a smooth way. Or there
exists some busy developing team for that case where I can join?

mtsbwu,
Alex

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