Very Computer

Hi,

Has anyone successfully run Linux on a PCI bus system, i.e., with a
PCI motherboard?

The Linux_INFO-SHEET (last updated 21 Jan) says that "Some people have
started support for PCI, but it is currently not ready for the
standard distribution on Linux."  Since apparently releases are made
quite frequently, has there been any change in this status?  

Do people have a feel for how long it might take before Linux becomes
usable on PCI bus systems (not fully debugged, just usable)?  Is
special complexity to be expected if, say, IDE devices are used on a
PCI bus?

I hope this will be of interest to many.  Apparently, PCI bus systems
are being sold cheaper than equivalent VESA bus systems (at least by
Gateway).

I welcome comments, even if they are speculative in nature.

Thanks a lot,
Munindar Singh (new to Linux)

: Has anyone successfully run Linux on a PCI bus system, i.e., with a
: PCI motherboard?

I have been running TAMU Linux pl12+ & pl14 for 3.5 months on a PCI
system without any problems whatsoever.

Specifically, it's the Gateway 2000 P5-60, with an Intel PCI motherboard
which has an integrated IDE controller and "fast" serial ports.  The
display adapter is a Gateway OEM ATI PCI Mach32 Ultra, which works great with
the XFree 2.0 Mach32 server.

The disk drive is zippy, although probably not as fast as some of the
5400+ RPM SCSI drives available.  I'm waiting to see about upgrading to
SCSI - *that* may not go as smoothly as the rest.

James

I have installed the SLS 1.03 (but I will reinstall to Slackware) on a
P5-66 system. Only the graphics card was a PCI one - the SCSI disk interface
(and some other, not realated to installation, devices) were IDE.
Linux used the devices without problem.

Quote:>Do people have a feel for how long it might take before Linux becomes
>usable on PCI bus systems (not fully debugged, just usable)?  Is
>special complexity to be expected if, say, IDE devices are used on a
>PCI bus?

I am waiting impatiently for support of the NCR PCI-SC200 FAST SCSI card ...
It was a discussion about relevant driver almost 2 months ago, but since
then a big silence.

I will upload my summary on PCI version 0.1 to sunsite sometime...
unfortunately I am on holiday for a week but after that I will.

Maybe it is time for a 0.2 then :-)

Cheers, Michael Will