> All this leads me to believe that VLB is actually a bug and is to be
> avoided like the plague.  True that it is possible to make that
> configuration work given that other operating systems do it, but the
> fact that it exhibits itself on VLB systems,  indicates to me that there
> is something inherently *wrong* with the design.  In Boston, I spoke
> with Paul Vixie (who maintains the BSDI 3c5x9 driver) and he hinted that
> the problems we were seeing were familiar to them.
> 
> 
> hpeyerl@novatel.ca                           |  NovAtel Commnications Ltd.
> hpeyerl@fsa.ca                               | <nothing I say matters anyway>
>  "A sucking chest wound is nature's way of telling you to slow down."
> 


I agree with the other poster that VLB systems with more than 2 slots at
33MHz should be avoided.  I would tend to blame your problems on the fact
that your VLB board is outside VLB 1.0 specs before condemning VLB as a whole.
I have one of the earliest VLB designs, a Micronics JX-30 (basically a
Gateway machine), with an ATI GUP VLB and a Buslogic BT445S, and only 2 VLB
slots; it has worked flawlessly in NetBSD, Linux, NT, Windows/DOS, and 
OS/2 2.1.


-dwh-
dhess@cs.stanford.edu

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