lkml.org 
[lkml]   [1999]   [Jun]   [3]   [last100]   RSS Feed
Views: [wrap][no wrap]   [headers]  [forward] 
 
Messages in this thread
/
Date
From
SubjectRe: 2.3 wish: integrate pcmcia into mainstream kernel


On Wed, 2 Jun 1999, David Hinds wrote:
>
> I've invested a lot of effort in minimizing the need to customize
> parameter files for individual machines, since this is responsible for
> a large fraction of support issues.

Yes. And every single modern machine I've seen actually does work with the
defaults. Not that I've tested all that many, but the ones I _have_ tested
have been the new and modern kind, because I basically refuse to use a
laptop if it weighs more than 5 pounds.

The part I do _not_ like is that these kinds of modern laptops almost
almost have one spindle. That part per se is fine: it makes a ton of
sense, because normally the only thing you reall yend up using on trips is
the harddisk, so why should the machine have a built-in floppy or CD?

[ Especially the floppy - there's a few interesting two-spindle machines
out there with the second spindle being a DVD, not a floppy, but because
DVD playback requires some fairly hefty CPU they are never quite thin
and light enough for me. ]

What that means, is that basically _all_ the machines I'm in the least
interested in have a floppy that is behind either USB or CardBus. And in
almost all cases the CD is CardBus, although I expect that in a few years
people will just take DVD so for granted that eventually the CD will be
built-in even in the small ones.

But in the meantime, that means that just about every single interesting
("interesting" admittedly being my personal opinion - I don't understand
how people accept a 6+ lbs laptop these days, but people obviously do)
laptop coming out within the last few months or in the next year is going
to be hard to install Linux on unless something changes.

Because obviously it seems to be really painful for people to try to cram
in all the PCMCIA tools on a initrd disk on a CD. At least nobody does it:
it seems to expand the size of the required tools enough that both SuSE
and RedHat require that Linux be able to read a floppy. Which you
currently can't do if the floppy is connected through a PCMCIA device.

Bummer, no?

I felt this was important enough that I made sure the USB drievr
development got off to a good start. So we _will_ be able to install from
a USB floppy in the not too distant future. Not today, but hopefully the
next release of RedHat and SuSe will both support it in half a year or so.
So far so good.

That still leaves PCMCIA floppies dead in the water.

This is also why I'm not all that concerned about old laptops. They all
have a built-in floppy, or at least close enough to not be an issue. It's
the new ones where the size constraints are becoming so painful that a
floppy simply isn't even possible any more that need the most help.


> I ported the Linux PCMCIA package to BeOS last summer, and guess what,
> they generally don't need to tweak special parameter files. They've
> got kernel Plug&Play support.

Oh, and how do they install on the Sony VAIO, for example?

Hint: they don't. And PnP isn't the issue, never has been.

Linux has all the required infrastructure to install easily on such
machines, but right now it's a devil of a fight to get it to install. I've
done it twice now, and the second time was as painful as the first one.

Blame distributions or whatever, the fact is that the current way of
supporting such machines is just fairly painful.

Linus


-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/

\
 
 \ /
  Last update: 2005-03-22 13:52    [W:0.139 / U:3.312 seconds]
©2003-2020 Jasper Spaans|hosted at Digital Ocean and TransIP|Read the blog|Advertise on this site