2.6.16, sk98lin out of date
Hi, As I'm sure the drivers/net maintainers are well aware, SysKonnect constantly update their sk98lin/sky2 driver without bothering to sync their changes with the official linux kernel. I quickly downloaded driver version 8.31 from http://www.skd.de/ today and used the install script to generate a diff against 2.6.16-rc3. Even after fixing up some DOS EOLs in the package, the diff was still well over 1.5MBs. This is an enormous number of changes. The reason I'm posting is that my DFI LanParty-UT SLI-D works with this version of the driver, but not the version 2.6.16-rc3. [alistair] 10:55 [~] dmesg | grep sk98lin sk98lin: Could not read VPD data. sk98lin: probe of :01:0a.0 failed with error -5 I wonder if it's worth just identifying the quick fix (I've seen workarounds for corrupt VPDs like mine) or whether a general merge up would be beneficial.. If nobody's maintaining this driver I wouldn't mind helping out. -- Cheers, Alistair. 'No sense being pessimistic, it probably wouldn't work anyway.' Third year Computer Science undergraduate. 1F2 55 South Clerk Street, Edinburgh, UK. - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe netdev in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Re: 2.6.16, sk98lin out of date
On Mon, Feb 13, 2006 at 10:58:03AM +, Alistair John Strachan wrote: From: Alistair John Strachan [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: netdev@vger.kernel.org Subject: 2.6.16, sk98lin out of date Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 10:58:03 + Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Hi, As I'm sure the drivers/net maintainers are well aware, SysKonnect constantly update their sk98lin/sky2 driver without bothering to sync their changes with the official linux kernel. My understanding is, that skge driver has superceded the sk98lin in most uses. There could, of course, be a change to insert vendor driver _as_is_ into baseline kernel with its own name. I quickly downloaded driver version 8.31 from http://www.skd.de/ today and used the install script to generate a diff against 2.6.16-rc3. Even after fixing up some DOS EOLs in the package, the diff was still well over 1.5MBs. This is an enormous number of changes. The reason I'm posting is that my DFI LanParty-UT SLI-D works with this version of the driver, but not the version 2.6.16-rc3. [alistair] 10:55 [~] dmesg | grep sk98lin sk98lin: Could not read VPD data. sk98lin: probe of :01:0a.0 failed with error -5 I wonder if it's worth just identifying the quick fix (I've seen workarounds for corrupt VPDs like mine) or whether a general merge up would be beneficial.. See if 'skge' driver would work instead of 'sk98lin' ? If nobody's maintaining this driver I wouldn't mind helping out. -- Cheers, Alistair. /Matti Aarnio - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe netdev in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Re: 2.6.16, sk98lin out of date
On Monday 13 February 2006 11:05, Matti Aarnio wrote: On Mon, Feb 13, 2006 at 10:58:03AM +, Alistair John Strachan wrote: Hi, As I'm sure the drivers/net maintainers are well aware, SysKonnect constantly update their sk98lin/sky2 driver without bothering to sync their changes with the official linux kernel. My understanding is, that skge driver has superceded the sk98lin in most uses. There could, of course, be a change to insert vendor driver _as_is_ into baseline kernel with its own name. Thanks Matti, I wasn't even aware of this driver. Might I suggest the old driver be marked as such in Linux 2.6.16. I guess I must've skipped over it because it begins with New, and does not contain the word Marvell, which is indicated exclusively by lspci. -- Cheers, Alistair. 'No sense being pessimistic, it probably wouldn't work anyway.' Third year Computer Science undergraduate. 1F2 55 South Clerk Street, Edinburgh, UK. - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe netdev in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Re: 2.6.16, sk98lin out of date
On Mon, 2006-02-13 at 12:06 +0100, Mws wrote: hi, as i do have the same problem i may help you out. at first, syskonnect did send their kernel diffs/patches but they we're rejected caused by coding style, indention and some people thinking that things can be done better. Haha, they didn't like the LKML code review so they just stopped sending patches? Classic. Remind me not to buy their gear. Lee - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe netdev in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Re: 2.6.16, sk98lin out of date
Alistair John Strachan wrote: Thanks Matti, I wasn't even aware of this driver. Might I suggest the old driver be marked as such in Linux 2.6.16. I guess I must've skipped over it because it begins with New, and does not contain the word Marvell, which is indicated exclusively by lspci. I changed the help text of all 3 drivers (sk98lin/skge/sky2) to point out which ones are/aren't interchangable in 2.6.16. The situation is a little confusing. The reason that the sk98lin diff is so huge is because SysKonnect effectively added support for a substantially different range of cards (Yukon-2) into the existing driver. This is far from the driver quality required for the kernel today, so Stephen Hemminger (skge author) wrote a new driver (sky2) for the Yukon-2 range. The long term plan is to obsolete and remove sk98lin, but we aren't ready yet: skge issues pop up every month or two, and sky2 is young. Stephen's own words: I applaud the initiative, but this it is too premature to obsolete the existing driver. There may be lots of chip versions and other variables that make the existing driver a better choice. Daniel - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe netdev in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Re: 2.6.16, sk98lin out of date
On Mon, 2006-02-13 at 21:34 +0100, Willy Tarreau wrote: On Mon, Feb 13, 2006 at 02:03:14PM -0500, Lee Revell wrote: On Mon, 2006-02-13 at 12:06 +0100, Mws wrote: hi, as i do have the same problem i may help you out. at first, syskonnect did send their kernel diffs/patches but they we're rejected caused by coding style, indention and some people thinking that things can be done better. Haha, they didn't like the LKML code review so they just stopped sending patches? Classic. Remind me not to buy their gear. Lee, it's not always that simple. When you submit one driver, sometimes reviewers tell you that for whatever reason your driver's structure is wrong and it has to be changed a lot (and sometimes they're right of course). But when you don't have enough ressource to do the job twice, the best you can do is to maintain it out of tree, which is already a pain. I'm not saying that it is what happened with their driver, I don't know the history. However, I found your reaction somewhat hasty. I personally would prefer to offer time and help before deciding that I don't want anyone's products on this basis. It's not as if they did not release their driver's source! True, that was a little harsh. I just find it a little sad that all these vendors insist on throwing away months of work rather than simply researching what the linux kernel coding standards are ahead of time. Lee - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe netdev in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Re: 2.6.16, sk98lin out of date
On Mon, Feb 13, 2006 at 02:03:14PM -0500, Lee Revell wrote: On Mon, 2006-02-13 at 12:06 +0100, Mws wrote: hi, as i do have the same problem i may help you out. at first, syskonnect did send their kernel diffs/patches but they we're rejected caused by coding style, indention and some people thinking that things can be done better. Haha, they didn't like the LKML code review so they just stopped sending patches? Classic. Remind me not to buy their gear. Lee, it's not always that simple. When you submit one driver, sometimes reviewers tell you that for whatever reason your driver's structure is wrong and it has to be changed a lot (and sometimes they're right of course). But when you don't have enough ressource to do the job twice, the best you can do is to maintain it out of tree, which is already a pain. I'm not saying that it is what happened with their driver, I don't know the history. However, I found your reaction somewhat hasty. I personally would prefer to offer time and help before deciding that I don't want anyone's products on this basis. It's not as if they did not release their driver's source ! Cheers, Willy - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe netdev in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Re: 2.6.16, sk98lin out of date
On Monday 13 February 2006 19:48, Daniel Drake wrote: Alistair John Strachan wrote: Thanks Matti, I wasn't even aware of this driver. Might I suggest the old driver be marked as such in Linux 2.6.16. I guess I must've skipped over it because it begins with New, and does not contain the word Marvell, which is indicated exclusively by lspci. I changed the help text of all 3 drivers (sk98lin/skge/sky2) to point out which ones are/aren't interchangable in 2.6.16. The situation is a little confusing. Thanks, this would have prevented my mistake. The reason that the sk98lin diff is so huge is because SysKonnect effectively added support for a substantially different range of cards (Yukon-2) into the existing driver. This is far from the driver quality required for the kernel today, so Stephen Hemminger (skge author) wrote a new driver (sky2) for the Yukon-2 range. The long term plan is to obsolete and remove sk98lin, but we aren't ready yet: skge issues pop up every month or two, and sky2 is young. Stephen's own words: I applaud the initiative, but this it is too premature to obsolete the existing driver. There may be lots of chip versions and other variables that make the existing driver a better choice. Well, Stephen's driver works great for me and sk98lin frankly didn't. -- Cheers, Alistair. 'No sense being pessimistic, it probably wouldn't work anyway.' Third year Computer Science undergraduate. 1F2 55 South Clerk Street, Edinburgh, UK. - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe netdev in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
