"John A. Maier" <root@beta.datastorm.com>  wrote:
 >                         default:
 >                                 printf("ie: An EtherExpress 16 was =
 > detected but memory-mapping is turned off.\n);
 >                                 printf("ie: Run the Exp16 DOS setup =
 > program softset.exe to correct this error.\n");
 >                                 printf("ie: Set the Memory-Mapped =
 > Buffering to 32 Kbytes for optimal performance.\n");
 >                                 return 0 ;
 >                                 break; /* NOTREACHED */
 >                 }
 >                 printf("ie: Set the Memory-Mapped Buffering to 32 Kbytes =
 > for optimal performance.\n");
 > =20
 >                                 printf("ie: In DOS, run the =
 > EtherExpress16 setup program, softset.exe");
 >                                 printf("ie: Change Memory-Mapped Buffer =
 > to 32K.\n");=20
 >                                 return 0 ;
 >                                 break; /* 16K buffer size isn't current =
 > supported */
 >                         default:
 >                                 printf("ie: An EtherExpress 16 was =
 > detected but memory-mapping is turned off.\n);
 >                                 printf("ie: Run the Exp16 DOS setup =
 > program softset.exe to correct this error.\n");
 >                                 printf("ie: Be sure to set the =
 > Memory-Mapped Buffering to 32 Kbytes.\n");
 >                                 return 0 ;
 >                                 break; /* NOTREACHED */


The problems with messages like the above are:

a) if every driver had "informative" messages like that, then when 
booting, it's very likely that the autoconfig would scroll off the 
screen way too fast making diagnosis of other problems more difficult.

b) Since pretty much every "useful" driver is included in a GENERIC
kernel for installation purposes, those sorts of messages make it 
very difficult for an installation program to parse and easily determine
the hardware configuration of the machine.


The "right thing" to do IMO is to more explicitely tell people how to setup
the card in the INSTALL notes... 

Also, if a 16k mapping works and it can be determined by the config that 
said mapping works, then you could send in patches to at least enable that
mapping...  It's very difficult to glean any useful information out of
pasted source-code... Patches are much easier to work with.