summaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
path: root/Documentation/mca.txt
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorRalf Baechle <ralf@linux-mips.org>1999-01-03 17:49:53 +0000
committerRalf Baechle <ralf@linux-mips.org>1999-01-03 17:49:53 +0000
commiteb7a5bf93aaa4be1d7c6181100ab7639e74d67f7 (patch)
tree5746fea1605ff013be9b78a1556aaad7615d664a /Documentation/mca.txt
parent80ea5b1e15398277650e1197957053b5a71c08bc (diff)
Merge with Linux 2.1.131 plus some more MIPS goodies.
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/mca.txt')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/mca.txt188
1 files changed, 149 insertions, 39 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/mca.txt b/Documentation/mca.txt
index 75facdf98..9de804532 100644
--- a/Documentation/mca.txt
+++ b/Documentation/mca.txt
@@ -31,8 +31,7 @@ this. The typical probe code looks like the following:
mca_set_adapter_name( slot, "adapter name & description" );
mca_set_adapter_procfn( slot, dev_getinfo, dev );
- /* read the POS registers. Most devices only need
- 2 and 3 */
+ /* read the POS registers. Most devices only use 2 and 3 */
pos2 = mca_read_stored_pos( slot, 2 );
pos3 = mca_read_stored_pos( slot, 3 );
pos4 = mca_read_stored_pos( slot, 4 );
@@ -45,7 +44,8 @@ this. The typical probe code looks like the following:
Loadable modules should modify this to test that the specified IRQ and
IO ports (plus whatever other stuff) match. See 3c523.c for example
-code.
+code (actually, smc-mca.c has a slightly more complex example that can
+handle a list of adapter ids).
Keep in mind that devices should never directly access the POS registers
(via inb(), outb(), etc). While it's generally safe, there is a small
@@ -57,11 +57,11 @@ into memory. mca_read_stored_pos() accesses that data. mca_read_pos()
and mca_write_pos() are also available for (safer) direct POS access,
but their use is _highly_ discouraged. mca_write_pos() is particularly
dangerous, as it is possible for adapters to be put in inconsistent
-states (e.g. sharing IO address, etc) and may result in crashes, toasted
-hardware, and operator injury.
+states (i.e. sharing IO address, etc) and may result in crashes, toasted
+hardware, and blindness.
-User level drivers (such as the AGX X server) can use /proc/mca to find
-adapters (see below).
+User level drivers (such as the AGX X server) can use /proc/mca/pos to
+find adapters (see below).
Some MCA adapters can also be detected via the usual ISA-style device
probing (many SCSI adapters, for example). This sort of thing is highly
@@ -91,8 +91,8 @@ with shared IRQs in mind.
/proc/mca
=========
-I did a major rewrite of /proc/mca. It is now a directory containing
-various files for adapters and other stuff.
+/proc/mca is a directory containing various files for adapters and
+other stuff.
/proc/mca/pos Straight listing of POS registers
/proc/mca/slot[1-8] Information on adapter in specific slot
@@ -100,6 +100,8 @@ various files for adapters and other stuff.
/proc/mca/scsi Same for integrated SCSI
/proc/mca/machine Machine information
+See Appendix A for a sample.
+
Device drivers can easily add their own information function for
specific slots (including integrated ones) via the
mca_set_adapter_procfn() call. Drivers that support this are ESDI, IBM
@@ -132,10 +134,9 @@ Enable this function with:
Disable it with:
mca_set_adapter_procfn( slot, NULL, NULL );
-It is also recommended, even if you don't write a proc function, to
-set the name of the adapter (e.g. "PS/2 ESDI Controller") via
-mca_set_adapter_name( int slot, char* name ). Up to 30 characters are
-used.
+It is also recommended that, even if you don't write a proc function, to
+set the name of the adapter (i.e. "PS/2 ESDI Controller") via
+mca_set_adapter_name( int slot, char* name ).
MCA Device Drivers
==================
@@ -146,65 +147,174 @@ Currently, there are a number of MCA-specific device drivers.
drivers/block/ps2esdi.c
include/linux/ps2esdi.h
Uses major number 36, and should use /dev files /dev/eda, /dev/edb.
- Supports two drives, but only one controller. Usually requires the
- command-line args ed=cyl,head,sec
+ Supports two drives, but only one controller. May use the
+ command-line args "ed=cyl,head,sec" and "tp720".
2) PS/2 SCSI
drivers/scsi/ibmmca.c
drivers/scsi/ibmmca.h
The driver for the IBM SCSI subsystem. Includes both integrated
controllers and adapter cards. May require command-line arg
- ibmmcascsi=pun to force detection of an adapter.
+ "ibmmcascsi=io_port" to force detection of an adapter. If you have a
+ machine with a front-panel display (i.e. model 95), you can use
+ "ibmmcascsi=display" to enable a drive activity indicator.
3) 3c523
drivers/net/3c523.c
drivers/net/3c523.h
- 3Com 3c523 Etherlink/MC Ethernet driver.
+ 3Com 3c523 Etherlink/MC ethernet driver.
-4) SMC Ultra/MCA
+4) SMC Ultra/MCA and IBM Adapter/A
drivers/net/smc-mca.c
drivers/net/smc-mca.h
- Elite/A (8013EP/A) and Elite10T/A (8013WP/A) Ethernet driver
-
-As well, drivers/char/psaux.c was modified to support IRQ sharing (it's
-#ifdef CONFIG_MCA'ed, for your convenience, although PCI users might be
-able to use it...)
+ Driver for the MCA version of the SMC Ultra and various other
+ OEM'ed and work-alike cards (Elite, Adapter/A, etc).
+
+5) NE/2
+ driver/net/ne2.c
+ driver/net/ne2.h
+ The NE/2 is the MCA version of the NE2000. This may not work
+ with clones that have a different adapter id than the original
+ NE/2.
+
+6) Future Domain MCS-600/700, OEM'd IBM Fast SCSI Aapter/A and
+ Reply Sound Blaster/SCSI (SCSI part)
+ Better support for these cards than the driver for ISA.
+ Supports multiple cards with IRQ sharing.
+
+Also added boot time option of scsi-probe, which can do reordering of
+SCSI host adapters. This will direct the kernel on the order which
+SCSI adapter should be detected. Example:
+ scsi-probe=ibmmca,fd_mcs,adaptec1542,buslogic
The serial drivers were modified to support the extended IO port range
of the typical MCA system (also #ifdef CONFIG_MCA).
The following devices work with existing drivers:
1) Token-ring
-2) Future Domain SCSI (MCS-600, MCS-700, not MCS-350)
-3) Adaptec 1640 SCSI (aha1542 driver)
-4) Buslogic SCSI (various)
+2) Future Domain SCSI (MCS-600, MCS-700, not MCS-350, OEM'ed IBM SCSI)
+3) Adaptec 1640 SCSI (using the aha1542 driver)
+4) Bustek/Buslogic SCSI (various)
+5) Probably all Arcnet cards.
+6) Some, possibly all, MCA IDE controllers.
+7) 3Com 3c529 (MCA version of 3c509) (patched)
+
+8) Intel EtherExpressMC (patched version)
+ You need to have CONFIG_MCA defined to have EtherExpressMC support.
+9) Reply Sound Blaster/SCSI (SB part) (patched version)
Bugs & Other Weirdness
======================
NMIs tend to occur with MCA machines because of various hardware
-weirdness, bus timeouts, and many other non-critical things. Those of
-you who have NMI problems should probably set the CONFIG_IGNORE_NMI flag
-somewhere. NMIs seem to be particularly common on the model 70.
-
-Various Pentium machines have serious problems with the FPU test in
-bugs.h. You may need to comment out the FPU test before you can even
-boot. This occurs, as far as we know, on the Pentium-equipped 85s, 95s,
-and some servers. The PCI/MCA PC 750s are fine as far as I can tell.
+weirdness, bus timeouts, and many other non-critical things. Some basic
+code to handle them (inspired by the NetBSD MCA code) has been added to
+detect the guilty device, but it's pretty incomplete. If NMIs are a
+persistent problem (on some model 70 or 80s, they occur every couple
+shell commands), the CONFIG_IGNORE_NMI flag will take care of that.
+
+Various Pentium machines have had serious problems with the FPU test in
+bugs.h. Basically, the machine hangs after the HLT test. This occurs,
+as far as we know, on the Pentium-equipped 85s, 95s, and some PC Servers.
+The PCI/MCA PC 750s are fine as far as I can tell. The ``mca-pentium''
+boot-prompt flag will disable the FPU bug check if this is a problem
+with your machine.
The model 80 has a raft of problems that are just too weird and unique
to get into here. Some people have no trouble while others have nothing
-but problems. I'd suspect the problems are related to the age of the
-average 80 and accompanying hardware deterioration.
+but problems. I'd suspect some problems are related to the age of the
+average 80 and accompanying hardware deterioration, although others
+are definitely design problems with the hardware. Among the problems
+include SCSI controller problems, ESDI controller problems, and serious
+screw-ups in the floppy controller. Oh, and the parallel port is also
+pretty flaky. There were about 5 or 6 different model 80 motherboards
+produced to fix various obscure problems. As far as I know, it's pretty
+much impossible to tell which bugs a particular model 80 has (other than
+triggering them, that is).
+
+Drivers are required for some MCA memory adapters. If you're suddenly
+short a few megs of RAM, this might be the reason. The (I think) Enhanced
+Memory Adapter commonly found on the model 70 is one. There's a very
+alpha driver floating around, but it's pretty ugly (disassembled from
+the DOS driver, actually). See the MCA Linux web page (URL below)
+for more current memory info.
+
+The Thinkpad 700 and 720 will work, but various components are either
+non-functional, flaky, or we don't know anything about them. The
+graphics controller is supposed to be some WD, but we can't get things
+working properly. The PCMCIA slots don't seem to work. Ditto for APM.
+The serial ports work, but detection seems to be flaky.
Credits
=======
A whole pile of people have contributed to the MCA code. I'd include
their names here, but I don't have a list handy. Check the MCA Linux
-home page (URL below) for an out-of-date list.
+home page (URL below) for a perpetually out-of-date list.
=====================================================================
-http://glycerine.cetmm.uni.edu/mca
+MCA Linux Home Page: http://glycerine.itsmm.uni.edu/mca/
-Chris Beauregard
+Christophe Beauregard
chrisb@truespectra.com
+cpbeaure@calum.csclub.uwaterloo.ca
+
+=====================================================================
+Appendix A: Sample /proc/mca
+
+This is from my model 8595. Slot 1 contains the standard IBM SCSI
+adapter, slot 3 is an Adaptec AHA-1640, slot 5 is a XGA-1 video adapter,
+and slot 7 is the 3c523 Etherlink/MC.
+
+/proc/mca/machine:
+Model Id: 0xf8
+Submodel Id: 0x14
+BIOS Revision: 0x5
+
+/proc/mca/pos:
+Slot 1: ff 8e f1 fc a0 ff ff ff IBM SCSI Adapter w/Cache
+Slot 2: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
+Slot 3: 1f 0f 81 3b bf b6 ff ff
+Slot 4: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
+Slot 5: db 8f 1d 5e fd c0 00 00
+Slot 6: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
+Slot 7: 42 60 ff 08 ff ff ff ff 3Com 3c523 Etherlink/MC
+Slot 8: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
+Video : ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
+SCSI : ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff
+
+/proc/mca/slot1:
+Slot: 1
+Adapter Name: IBM SCSI Adapter w/Cache
+Id: 8eff
+Enabled: Yes
+POS: ff 8e f1 fc a0 ff ff ff
+Subsystem PUN: 7
+Detected at boot: Yes
+
+/proc/mca/slot3:
+Slot: 3
+Adapter Name: Unknown
+Id: 0f1f
+Enabled: Yes
+POS: 1f 0f 81 3b bf b6 ff ff
+
+/proc/mca/slot5:
+Slot: 5
+Adapter Name: Unknown
+Id: 8fdb
+Enabled: Yes
+POS: db 8f 1d 5e fd c0 00 00
+
+/proc/mca/slot7:
+Slot: 7
+Adapter Name: 3Com 3c523 Etherlink/MC
+Id: 6042
+Enabled: Yes
+POS: 42 60 ff 08 ff ff ff ff
+Revision: 0xe
+IRQ: 9
+IO Address: 0x3300-0x3308
+Memory: 0xd8000-0xdbfff
+Transceiver: External
+Device: eth0
+Hardware Address: 02 60 8c 45 c4 2a