[tulip] Interrupt problem (?) with OvisLink Fast Ethernet PCMCIA

[Donald Becker]

On Wed, 26 Jul 2000, David Ford wrote:
> Donald Becker wrote:
> 
> > You have correctly identified the problem.
> > The important detail for the subject line is "2.4.0test5-pre3" -- this is a
> > problem with the new kernel PCMCIA interface, not the driver itself.
>
> Unfortunately unless things have changed, depending on your hardware, no tulip
> cards get interrupts delivered if you use the kernel pcmcia stuff.  I have
> switched back to the dhinds pcmcia package and it not only is working properly
> for tulip cards, but it doesn't crash four times a day; corresponding to
> insertion/removal/suspend/resume cycles.

That was my point.

This is a bug caused by moving all of the PCMCIA code into the 2.4-pre*
kernel.

I can understand the ideal of having every device driver packaged in one
place with the kernel, ready for instant interface changes with a tap on the
keyboard.  This ideal might even be feasible if no new hardware came out for
say, 18 months.

The current approach is trying to pull all development into the main kernel
tree.  The alternative is designing clean interfaces that remain stable
until there is a demonstrated reason to change.  Development for new
hardware and interfaces should be done in a parallel path, until the updates
are at least superficially stable and test.

Ooops, time to get off the soapbox.  I'm not really a single-issue person.

Donald Becker				becker@scyld.com
Scyld Computing Corporation		http://www.scyld.com
410 Severn Ave. Suite 210		Beowulf Clusters / Linux Installations
Annapolis MD 21403