[haiku-development] Re: R1a5 driver blocker issues (ATTN: Alexander)
- From: Axel Dörfler <axeld@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: haiku-development@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 30 May 2014 09:48:36 +0200 (CEST)
> On May 29, 2014 at 2:45 PM Augustin Cavalier <waddlesplash@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On Thu, May 29, 2014 at 5:21 AM, Julian Harnath <
> julian.harnath@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Instead of a fix for that, maybe it would be simpler if we could add
> > some kind of specific boot error message in this case? Is it possible
> > to catch this problem in the USB code and just panic with a specific
> > message? Most computers still have a few USB2-ports in addition to
> > USB3. If a non-haiku-savvy users sees "cannot find boot volume", they
> > will have no idea what's wrong. If the message in this case was "USB3
> > unsupported, please try booting with USB2 port" it would be clearer and
> > many could help themselves.
In short: there is no reliable mechanism to do so with the legacy BIOS.
We actually need to scan all devices in the kernel in order to even find the
boot volume.
However, what we could do is guessing: if the system does have a USB3
controller, and we cannot find a boot volume, we could change the message to
something like:
"No boot partition found - are you trying to boot via USB3?"
> How many? A lot of the newer machines I've seen (or used) are USB3 only by
> now. While that may be helpful, it would be a large hit to our hardware
> compatibility...
Sure, that wouldn't be nice. On the other hand, I would assume that most people
will actually try Haiku in a VM before they actually boot it on real hardware.
And if that then fails, one could still install it via CD-ROM (or over the
network). So while it's definitely not ideal, it's also not a total show
stopper.
Whether or not missing USB3 support should delay the release is therefore
debatable.
Anyway, thanks Augustin for stepping up as release coordinator -- as you already
found out, it's not an easy job :-)
And if you are the release coordinator, I actually have to disagree with Matt,
and would say that it's your job to select blocking tickets for the release,
too. Of course, you should always try to take the views of the other developers
into account, but in the end, you should make the decision. And then eventually
alter that decision once the release date gets closer :-)
Bye,
Axel.
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