> 
> 
> I don't think that an OS should use kludges to make up for underlying
> hardware limits, at least not on cheap, Intel commodity hardware.
> 
the "cludges" should be in the driver and thus would not affect the _os_.

> I take a certain interest in news postings that describe the bounce
> buffer support in FreeBSD and Linux as performance killers.
> 
which in that case indicates that the implemented solution isn't
very smart.... i can think of several ways of avoiding performance
loss in most situations. at least with the current netbsd vm implementation.
even if the solution is a performance killer, people with this kind of
hardware can use the os. thats good for them. and good for the project.
> 
> The hardware is broken, not the OS.

No, it's your idea about supporting hardware that is broken....
The hardware is broken if there is absolutely no way to support it.
The argument "well we don't support this hardware, even if we know how
to do it, because we dont like how it's built" don't hold.
i thought netbsd's idea (one of them) was to provide as many people
as possible with a decent operating system. _even_ if their hardware
is not "state of the art".
> 
> The VLB and PCI busses are there for a reason.  A Buslogic VLB controller
> costs less than a Adaptec 1542, and is a lot faster in the bargain.

And how will that fact help me if i'm sitting with an Adaptec, eh?
Not all people can afford go out and buy new hardware because the
hardware combination they have is not considered "correct".