Will one of the people in the know *please* explain the magnum
   branch.

I suppose.  The plan:

* much of the i386-specific code has been either rewritten or
extensively modified to fix ancient problems and improve performance
significantly.

* interrupts can be shared between any type and number of devices.
This is not recommended, but it's there if you want it.
(NetBSD-magnum: We just provide the gun.  No, that's not really where
the name came from.)

* autoconfig it more flexible, with automatic determination of most
device parameters (i.e. irqs, drqs, etc.).  (This does not apply to
all devices, as it is simply not possible on a few.)  This includes
direct EISA configuration.

* it uses new SCSI code from Julian, modified to work with the new
autoconfig (and fix a couple of bugs).

* there are new devices drivers for ethernet cards.

* the Linux sound drivers will be incorporated.

and a few other surprises.

As for what's done and what's not, I'm only going to say that it's
about 75% there.

   but when will it be available ?

When it is damned well ready.  And IT WILL HAPPEN FASTER IF PEOPLE
STOP NAGGING.  Clear enough?  It is truly amazing and annoying what
people seem to expect of volunteers.

   Are we plebs likely to see alpha/beta version before 1.0 ?

Yes.


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