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From: Terry Lambert <terry@lambert.org>
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: Compaq and FreeBSD
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 1996 13:28:19 -0700
Organization: Me
Lines: 39
Message-ID: <317402E3.7D406572@lambert.org>
References: <doug-1604961223170001@pb.injapan.net>
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Doug Lerner wrote:
]
] I heard that FreeBSD will not run on Compaq computers because they use
] some incompatibile, proprietary bus technology. Does anybody have
] experience with FreeBSD and Compaq?
]
] I was thinking of getting a SCSI-based Compaq system for a second
] FreeBSD machine.
Some Compaq machines:
1) Incorrectly underreport the amount of RAM in CMOS; you
have to build a kernel to force recognition of >16M on
some Compaq machines.
2) Use the AMD ethernet/SCSI controller combo chip on board;
the ethernet portion of the chip is supported with the
LANCE ethernet driver. The SCSI portion is not supported
in a released kernel, but has been supported in an alpha
quality driver (it is a variant of an older NCR SCSI
chip) according to a posting by the driver author on the
-current mailing list. See the list archives for details.
To use an existing release without getting install disks from the
driver author (sorry, I don't know his name), you will need an
IDE or SCSI controller other than the one on the motherboard for
the few Compaq machines which use this chip.
Other than that, Compaq machines should run fine (to the point of
there being a driver for the Compaq RAID controller, and Compaq
itself using FreeBSD for business purposes on several internal
company machines that I know about).
Terry Lambert
terry@lambert.org
---
Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present
or previous employers.