Re: Two isa network cards under OpenBsd

[Nick Holland <nick@holland-consulting.net>]

Diaconescu Andrei wrote:
> 
> I have a 486-DX2/66Mhz with a motherboard that only supports isa cards.
> So, I have an isa network card.
> All is well as long I configure its flash with I/O 300 and IRQ 10.
> If I try to put the I/O 240 then OpenBsd expects to have an IRQ 9 which
> I can not set because it says in bios that it is reserved. So I can not use
> IRQ 9.

?  Reserved for what?
IRQ 2/9 is usually available on otherwise stripped ISA systems. 
However, a *few* video cards use it (and rarely admit to it, so your
BIOS wouldn't know), some sound cards, etc.

If you haven't tried it and found it didn't work, I'd take a shot at
it.  The standard ISA system have no way to easily determine what IRQs
are in use -- if the BIOS is telling you it is "reserved", I suspect
it doesn't mean what you think it does.

> My problem is that I need to have two networkcards on this computer so I
> can use it as a firewall to exit on the internet.
> The type of network card that I have is the NE2000 compatible Realtek 8019
> ISA PNP.
> I mention that I have set the card to jumperless.

Jumperless or ISAPNP?
"Jumperless" typically means software somehow configures the card (in
the case of the 8019 cards, a DOS-based application; some cards are
configured by the driver).
ISAPNP is voodoo that sometimes works to configure your card whereever
it can.

> How can I have two isa network cards work on this computer ?
> One of them is should use irq 9 and the other irq 10 but I can not use irq
> 9 for the reson I mentioned above.

Few options... 
* Get more flexible cards (3c509Bs* are my favorite ISA card) which
have the added advantage that they will probably work better (RT8019's
are not the best NE2000 compatable, and NE2000s aren't the best ISA
chipset)
* Try ISAPNP.  It might work.  I can't believe I just said that.  I
don't trust ISAPNP, I've had a lot of trouble with it on all
platforms, but it sometimes (ok, often) works as advertised.  OpenBSD
does support ISAPNP on the RT8019, can't say how well it works, I've
avoided it so far.
* config(8) the kernel to use a different IRQ (and I/O port, if you
desire):
    man 8 config
    http://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq5.html#BootConfig
    http://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq5.html#config

Nick.
-- 
http://www.holland-consulting.net