On Fri, 29 Mar 2002, Manuel Bouyer wrote:

> On Fri, Mar 29, 2002 at 02:38:10PM -0500, Brian A. Seklecki wrote:
> > On Fri, 29 Mar 2002, Manuel Bouyer wrote:
> >
> > > On Fri, Mar 29, 2002 at 09:31:17AM -0700, RJ45 wrote:
> > > > I Was thinking also to add a Adaptec 2940 scsi board on Ultra 10, may it
> > > > work?
> > >
> > > Yes, as long as they're supported by NetBSD they should work.
> > > But you need current.
> > >
> >
> > Wait, a 2940 in an ultra5?  How would that even remotely work?  How would
> > you get access to the configuration menu system from sparc hardware?
>
> This is not needed. This board can run without BIOS support.
>

There's more than just BIOS support in there.  IIRC, 99% of the time the
card wouldn't work properly on an i386 with the default settings.  From
the menu system you have a great many features:

*) Low level formatting
*) Low Level sector checking
*) The ability to adjust transfer rates, parity, disconnect, etc. on a per
ID basis
*) The ability to enable/disable on-board termination
*) A great number of other features...

...I must investigate this further on my Ultra5 (assuming solaris 8
drivers exist).

But my point is: all the functionality provided via that menu system would
have to be provide through other means -- perhaps a userland utility?