[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: PCI Cards




  The PCI standard specifies that the embedded firmware (if any) must be
written such that it contains code for all the targetted platforms.
Electrically, PCI is PCI, period. There are some flavors but the bottom
line is compatibility (that's the whole idea).

  So, if the machine's OS has an appropriate slot and a DRIVER for the
respective OS, then the PCI card should be usable without major problems
(except timing and interrupts and other stuff that should be handled by
the installation code and the driver in the best P&P manner).

  BUT there have been and still are broken PCI chipsets that need patches
and sometimes do not work at all as far as I know, except with special
hacked (by the manufacturer) drivers on certain OSes.

  Re: Linux, in theory, if a PCI card is supported on Intel then it should
work on Digital too, as the access methods rely on register level
programming, and the driver (which would be different to accomodate the
hardware differences and addressing etc) would exist and work.

hope this helps,
	
	Peter