Re: SEUL: Auto-detecting hardware

[Marcus Berglund <mabs@netdig.com.au>]

On Fri, 8 Aug 1997, Loren S Osborn wrote:

>> 
>> On Fri, 8 Aug 1997, Greg Fall wrote:
>> 
>> > I am wondering, what kind of goals are there for auto-detection of 
>> > hardware (not trivial or even close, I reckon), and for general 
>> > convenience in the initial setup? 
>> >
>> We should copy redhat's install...  Say I install a soundcard in my
>> computer, insmod the appropriate module and give it the location of my
>> soundcard.  Say I install an ATAPI cd-rom drive, I just insmod the
>> appropriate driver.  They're all compiled already, but as modules and you
>> just load the modules you need.  Say I get parallel port zip drive, all I
>> gotta do is insmod ppa.o.  TTYL!
>
>Well... this isn't auto-detection.  Auto-detection is using a program to
>determine what hardware is installed in the system; NOT JUST installing
>drivers for hardware that it's told are installed...
>
>I do think we need auto-detection hardware.  It probably will be the most
>technically complex software SEUL will have to develop, and will have to
>be VERY carefully written AND extensively tested, because even properly
>written auto-detection s/w can crash many systems... Probably we should
>map out which auto-detection algorythms crash what boards; and detect for
>the boards that will crash other auto-detections first...
>
>BTW.. of course the auto-detection program will HAVE TO run as 'root' because
>it will have to bypass all the kernel's h/w protection etc.  
>
>Loren
>

I am pretty sure that COL (Caldera Open Linux) does a full hardware
detection, and I must admit, we will have to get the installer to tell us
what sort of hardware is most likely, or is in there, eg. I have a SCSI
card or my network card is an NE2000 clone at io=(0x)300, if info is not
supplied then we try out all possible configurations: scan for io addr by
trying to load the module with possible addresses, and if they
specifically ask for the driver to be in the kernel, we tell lilo (or the
boot loader we will use) that the io for the card is at address x.

And, unfortunately the best way I know of doing that is by using the
Win95 (D'oh)

Food for thought...

---------------------------------------
"When all of your wishes are granted, 
many of your dreams will be destroyed", 
Man That You Fear - Marilyn Manson

mabs@netdig.com.au
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