[RULE] does Slinky detect do ISA?

[Richard Kweskin]

On Sun, 29 Feb 2004 18:19:49 +0200
Richard Kweskin <rkwesk at hellug.gr> wrote:

> On Sun, 29 Feb 2004 19:37:57 +1100
> drose <drose at dtlm.homelinux.net> wrote:
> > snip 
> > Regarding hardware detection in general, is it possible to have a piece
> > of software which can see that there's an ISA card at 0x300, IRQ 12 (for
> > example) wihtout having to know what it is or how to use it, or is
> > loading a driver and using the hardware the only way to find out the
> > details?
> > 
> Hello
> 
> I have installed plug and play isa cards with Slinky. These can usually be detected by isapnp. But isa cards which are not plug and play (or are preset by software to not be - I have some of these, too) will not be detected unless the input/output address(es) and irq the jumpers or software settings the card has are manually put to insmod.
> 
> You guessed it when you said you need to know the hardware, have the kernel compiled to either attach the module(s) or contain the driver internally and then see the results.
> 
> At least that is as far as my experience has been. Does anyone else have a different experience? Of course I will quickly add that Windows could do no better.
> 
> Richard
>
An update from Richard: Informative is http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Plug-and-Play-HOWTO.html

Also, which bugs me, is the fact that it seems necessary to resort to DOS to run any of the following:  a configuration utility to get a particular jumperless isa card to change from plug and play to not being plug and play or reverse and/or to "set" the parameters of the pnp mode. Such utilities are designed particularly to the individual card or family of cards and are found either having been accompanied with the card when purchased or sometimes on the Internet. A configuration utility designed to discover a non-pnp isa card's parameters and to add them to a database in the BIOS referred to as escd or extended system configuration data  http://developer.intel.com/design/motherbd/gen_indx.htm resulting in the BIOS being able to recognise the card's existence on each and every subsequent cold or warm boot until either intervention of the cmos utility resetting this database or a running of windows which may reset this database. Linux does not erase such entries. Why care? Once such 
cards are properly entered in the escd, pnp config in the BIOS can be left at auto and still no pci device steals some required resource.

A complicated and sometimes frustrating subject, Richard


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