linux eexpress driver options?

[CTho9305]

right now, the eexpress driver is compiled as a module, but I want to compile it into the kernel. with the module, I install it with "modprobe eexpress io=0x200". I can't see any way to tell it the io address though when it is compiled into the kernel. what do I need to do?

 

[CTho9305]

ok, temporary solutoin is to change the driver and add 0x0200 to the addresses it probes. doesn't strike me as the right way to do it though!

 

[Nothinman]

Stick with modules, they're much more flexible and you get pretty much no gain by compiling it in statically.

 

[n0cmonkey]

<< Stick with modules, they're much more flexible and you get pretty much no gain by compiling it in statically. >>



Unless you are anal like me. Although modules are nice sometimes

 

[Nothinman]

Unless you are anal like me. Although modules are nice sometimes

How anal you are has nothing to do with the flexibility of modules, like he mentioned if you compile the eexpress module statically you can't tell it what address the card is at, and since it's not probing correctly (ISA's great for that) he can either hack the source or use a module and if he hacks the source he has to do it every time he compiles a new kernel. It's just not worth the extra effort.

RedHat makes everything a module for a reason, if you change hardware you can very easily change which modules are loaded to support the new device, if it's compiled statically you have to recompile the kernel , which takes significantly longer.

 

[n0cmonkey]

<< Unless you are anal like me. Although modules are nice sometimes

How anal you are has nothing to do with the flexibility of modules, like he mentioned if you compile the eexpress module statically you can't tell it what address the card is at, and since it's not probing correctly (ISA's great for that) he can either hack the source or use a module and if he hacks the source he has to do it every time he compiles a new kernel. It's just not worth the extra effort.

RedHat makes everything a module for a reason, if you change hardware you can very easily change which modules are loaded to support the new device, if it's compiled statically you have to recompile the kernel , which takes significantly longer. >>



My anality includes the preference for as few modules as possible. But like the end of my statement says modules are nice sometimes. I have found modules to be helpful and will consider using them more than I had previously.

 

[MGMorden]

I like to keep a balance in what I make modular and what I make static. Anything the provides the system extra functionality such as USB support, IDE driver, AGPGART, filesystems that I use, etc., I compile in statically. That means I don't have to put in a modprobe line for every one of these in my rc.local file and everything will work right (and if something goes wrong with the modules then when I boot I'll at least have a working system). Now anything extra, such as drivers for extra cards (NIC's, sound cards, tv tuners, etc) I compile modular, along with a lot of stuff that I don't use right now but might need to in the future (IPX, Appletalk, PPP, NFS, SMB, filesystems I don't use). That keeps enough modular to suit me.

What was the point of my whole rant . . . . keep your eexpress driver modular.

 

[n0cmonkey]

<< I like to keep a balance in what I make modular and what I make static. Anything the provides the system extra functionality such as USB support, IDE driver, AGPGART, filesystems that I use, etc., I compile in statically. That means I don't have to put in a modprobe line for every one of these in my rc.local file and everything will work right (and if something goes wrong with the modules then when I boot I'll at least have a working system). Now anything extra, such as drivers for extra cards (NIC's, sound cards, tv tuners, etc) I compile modular, along with a lot of stuff that I don't use right now but might need to in the future (IPX, Appletalk, PPP, NFS, SMB, filesystems I don't use). That keeps enough modular to suit me.

What was the point of my whole rant . . . . keep your eexpress driver modular. >>



Sounds like a plan. Ill look into doing that when I reinstall Debian.

Nothinman, the reason I want to reinstall Debian is to try and use the XFS disks with it so I can run it on XFS instead of ext[23]2fs. If you have a link for those let me know, I think I found one but I havent tried it out yet (dont want you flaming me for wanting to reinstall since you havent ever really had to do it )

 

[Nothinman]

Here is the current link from oss.sgi.com/projects/xfs, www.digitaltux.com used to be the home of them but it's down for some reason.

What I find easiest to do is compile a kernel with all my hardware statically in for the install (which I'm sure you have one handy already =)) and install woody from the 'net, you will probably also have to boot from the install floppy once with root=/dev/whatever to boot up because the install will probably still install the default Debian-nonXFS kernel.

 

[n0cmonkey]

<< Here is the current link from oss.sgi.com/projects/xfs, www.digitaltux.com used to be the home of them but it's down for some reason.

What I find easiest to do is compile a kernel with all my hardware statically in for the install (which I'm sure you have one handy already =)) and install woody from the 'net, you will probably also have to boot from the install floppy once with root=/dev/whatever to boot up because the install will probably still install the default Debian-nonXFS kernel. >>



The install looks pretty easy and Ill be checking out that iso image, thanks. Im not sure if my current kernel is 100% static or not. I threw a bunch of things I wasnt sure about in as modules, but I doubt they get used. Ill definitely make an "as small as possible, minimalistic kernel + net + XFS kernel" incase the kernel isnt XFS capable. If I need more help Ill create a thread (instead of hijacking them)

 

[Nothinman]

The only thing that really bites me every time is I forget I need to compile Packet socket in for the DHCP client.

Wow I'm surprised that last post made it, I hit Post and galeon sh!t the bed and wouldn't display any web pages. First time that happened, thought my net connection died heh

 

[n0cmonkey]

<< The only thing that really bites me every time is I forget I need to compile Packet socket in for the DHCP client.

Wow I'm surprised that last post made it, I hit Post and galeon sh!t the bed and wouldn't display any web pages. First time that happened, thought my net connection died heh >>



I dont bother with DHCP

 

[CTho9305]

sheesh... n0c and nothinman stomped over both my threads

anyway, the reason I want to compile it statically is that i'm too lazy to figure out how to get it to insmod before the network config stuff happens, so that eth0 exists when the redhat network scritps run, and I dont have to mess with them myself (see my other threads )

 

[Nothinman]

anyway, the reason I want to compile it statically is that i'm too lazy to figure out how to get it to insmod before the network config stuff happens, so that eth0 exists when the redhat network scritps run, and I dont have to mess with them myself

That's what modules.conf is for, add the alias and options lines mentioned in another thread and ifup should modprobe eth0 with the correct options when it tries to bring up the interfaces.

 

[MGMorden]

The beauty of Slackware. It has this magical little script called rc.netdevice which for . . . . loading network device drivers. Put all your NIC modprobe's there and be worry free (well, you'd do that if you were running Slack ).

 

[CTho9305]

<< anyway, the reason I want to compile it statically is that i'm too lazy to figure out how to get it to insmod before the network config stuff happens, so that eth0 exists when the redhat network scritps run, and I dont have to mess with them myself

That's what modules.conf is for, add the alias and options lines mentioned in another thread and ifup should modprobe eth0 with the correct options when it tries to bring up the interfaces. >>



yeah, i just saw that thread. of course, the kid who owns the machine I was messing with put in a bad drive (developed bad sectors, started getting unrecoverable read errors), so the filesystem broke. the drive is now a speaker. working on building an amp

 

[thornc]

CTho9305
I already posted about this on the other thread you created....
you just need to add two line to /etc/conf.modules (modules.conf in newer distros...)!

In redhat this file is read before the network setting (ips and such) are configured...

 

[CTho9305]

<< CTho9305
I already posted about this on the other thread you created....
you just need to add two line to /etc/conf.modules (modules.conf in newer distros...)!

In redhat this file is read before the network setting (ips and such) are configured... >>


yeah, saw thta. thanks.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Just wanted to mention that despite my inability to RTFMio (Read the Friggin Manual IN ORDER) I got everything "working" with Debian +XFS