Proposal to remove ARCNET support

[Jason Thorpe]

Hey folks --

I am proposing that we remove support for ARCNET. For those not familiar, ARCNET (Attached Resource Computer Network) is/was a 2.5Mb/s token passing network that had some popularity in the late-80s due to its lower cost and relative simplicity compared to the Ethernet of the same era, which still used a linear cabling scheme. It was common with some Tandy and Commodore systems, and NetBSD supports the Standard Microsystems ARCNET chip that was widely used.

Ignatios Souvatzis wrote our ARCNET code, including the driver for the SMC90c26 / SMC90c56 ARCNET controller chip.

These days, ARCNET is largely obsolete. It still has a niche use in industrial control, but it's long-gone from general purpose computing. This code is not MP-safe, and while hardware is available (ARCNET hubs and some VME, ISA, and other controller board form-factors) from the Internet's auction house, it's relatively expensive for the performance you can get out of it and I see it as unlikely that any updates to this code would ever be tested.

I believe it's time to let it go.

Code in question:

net/if_arc.h
net/if_arcsubr.c

dev/ic/smc90cx6.c
dev/ic/smc90cx6reg.h
dev/ic/smc90cx6var.h

arch/amiga/dev/if_bah_zbus.c

Are there any objections?

-- thorpej


--
Posted automagically by a mail2news gateway at muc.de e.V.
Please direct questions, flames, donations, etc. to news-***@muc.de

[Eivind Nicolay Evensen]

Den Tue, 14 Jan 2020 06:21:36 -0800

Post by Jason Thorpe
Hey folks --
I am proposing that we remove support for ARCNET. For those not
familiar, ARCNET (Attached Resource Computer Network) is/was a
2.5Mb/s token passing network that had some popularity in the
late-80s due to its lower cost and relative simplicity compared to
the Ethernet of the same era, which still used a linear cabling
scheme. It was common with some Tandy and Commodore systems, and
NetBSD supports the Standard Microsystems ARCNET chip that was widely
used.
Ignatios Souvatzis wrote our ARCNET code, including the driver for
the SMC90c26 / SMC90c56 ARCNET controller chip.
These days, ARCNET is largely obsolete. It still has a niche use in
industrial control, but it's long-gone from general purpose
computing. This code is not MP-safe, and while hardware is available
(ARCNET hubs and some VME, ISA, and other controller board
form-factors) from the Internet's auction house, it's relatively
expensive for the performance you can get out of it and I see it as
unlikely that any updates to this code would ever be tested.
I believe it's time to let it go.
net/if_arc.h
net/if_arcsubr.c
dev/ic/smc90cx6.c
dev/ic/smc90cx6reg.h
dev/ic/smc90cx6var.h
arch/amiga/dev/if_bah_zbus.c
Are there any objections?

For whatever it may be worth, arcnet was one of the ways I hoped to
be able to transfer files from my Amigas to other machines, as a better
solution that what I currently do.

[Frank Wille]

If it's still in active use and there are people willing to test
potentially destabilizing changes to the code, then I am totally
fine with keeping it. That's what this conversation is about.

I have ARCnet hardware on at least one (now) tertiary machine of
mine, too, and can create a test network. Would need to upgrade
one of them.

Good news! Thanks.

I already asked on the biggest german Amiga forum if anybody still owns that
hardware. Found one - but probably only a single board.

It would be sad to remove working drivers, just because they are "obsolete".
In the end we are NetBSD, and not FreeBSD or OpenBSD, which is something I
was proud of in the past. :)

[Jason Thorpe]

Post by Frank Wille

If it's still in active use and there are people willing to test
potentially destabilizing changes to the code, then I am totally
fine with keeping it. That's what this conversation is about.

I have ARCnet hardware on at least one (now) tertiary machine of
mine, too, and can create a test network. Would need to upgrade
one of them.

Good news! Thanks.
I already asked on the biggest german Amiga forum if anybody still owns that
hardware. Found one - but probably only a single board.
It would be sad to remove working drivers, just because they are "obsolete".
In the end we are NetBSD, and not FreeBSD or OpenBSD, which is something I
was proud of in the past. :)

Well, the real issue is that if no one can test them, we don't exactly know that they're working. This is especially true when changes that aren't purely mechanical are involved.

In any case, I won't remove ARCNET support since there appears to be active interest in it and people willing to test changes.

-- thorpej


--
Posted automagically by a mail2news gateway at muc.de e.V.
Please direct questions, flames, donations, etc. to news-***@muc.de