Linux Sparc Lock-up...

[Duane Attaway]

On Thu, 23 Jan 2003, Kurt Kessler wrote:

> Thanks everyone. I know its an older OS. It was just a default install
> by the seller that I got it from. I was just jacking around to play on
> it. I wound up doubling the memory to 256mb and it hasnt locked up since
> last night. I did try Auroralinux that was recommended to me by someone
> on the list, on my other sparc. Though I like Red Hat, I may even go and
> try the SuSe on here for kicks.  BTW, I've never had to look before, but
> is there a command which will show me hardware conflicts? Thanks for the
> suggestions everyone.

cat /proc/interrupts

Any hardware device that has something ready for the CPU to munch on gives
an interrupt line a tick.  Multiple devices can share the same interrupt
port with no problem.  Things get interesting when the operating system
software isn't programmed for, or has a way to determine *which* device
triggered the interrupt.

Now, memory ports, or small patches of addressable memory, allocated to
devices are different.  I don't think multiple devices are intelligent
enough to cooperate over the same land of memory without starting a war:

cat /proc/iomem

And even smaller byte sized patches of memory, defined as ports with more
efficient instructions by the CPU:

cat /proc/ioports

There will be contention if more than one device tries to assert the same 
memory port at the same time.  It would be like two movie projectors 
trying to illustrate their picture on the screen.  It would come out as 
garbage.

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