OpenFirmware and interrupt-map

[Eric W. Biederman]

"Kevin O'Connor" <kevin at koconnor.net> writes:

> Actually, I think the generic solution has been to not use option roms at
> all.  :-)  After all, most cards don't use them (VGA being the notable
> exception).

Agreed.
 
> Frankly, if I had any pull with manufactures or vendors, I'd try to
> convince them to avoid option roms instead of trying to convince them to
> support a different option rom format.

Yes.  There are cases where multiple vendors need some input on what
the firmware is doing and in those cases option roms come into play.

So for high enough volumes the firmware simply can't be solely
controlled by the board vendors.  

This does not make option roms the only business solution but one
of them.

> Having cards that conform to standards (or can emulate them during bootup)
> will be a lot more productive IMO, then a cross platform byte code.

That is the one place where it is the hardest.  Usually hardware can
be put into an emulation mode but only after it is initialized.  I
believe one of the important functions of an  option roms on video
cards is to turn on the memory for the video card.

Eric