# pcmcia vs. cardbus drivers

## HogRider

I've searched through posts related to pcmcia and pcmcia-cs, compared my Gentoo install to my working RH/Custom 2.4.18ipsec kernel, and I'm left with the following question:

Are pcmcia_core, i82*, and ds mods required to use current cardbus mods?

I've seen post regarding open issues related to 16b cards working, but not 32b, which is the primary difference between pcmcia & cardbus (as I recall).  Could this be leading to the numerous issues related to running pc cards on Gentoo?

Just a thought as I work through my issues.  

Mike

BTW, the point leading up to this question:

I currently run a custom kernel with modular pcmcia/cardbus support, but lsmod doesn't show any of the above modules as loaded.  A quick search of my /lib/modules/$VERSION/* shows they aren't available.

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## lasa

Well, after having compiled the kernel with built-in support for pcmcia I had to recompile with it as a module. The reason was that whenever I would insert my network adapter in the pcmcia slot it would get IRQ 3 and conflict with my modem on ttyS1. Perhaps someone knows how to solve this, but it works when pcmcia is a module. 

-lasa-

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## HogRider

 :Embarassed:  Following further dissection, I realized yenta was built into my working kernel (this is my primary laptop), which made the rest of my discussion foolish.

I've rebuilt the Gentoo kernel mirroring the settings (where possible) of my current build.  Yenta is built-in, the remainder of pcmcia is modular.  Works (sort of).  I've seen several errors related to 'tainted' modules, but I also receive these errors related to the vmware modules.  I'll have to look into it further.

With regards to your IRQ issues...

Which parts of pcmcia were you building into your kernel?  Aside from the core elements (yenta, pcmcia_core, i82*, ds), you should always run modular.  To clarify, the card drivers themselves should always be modules.  The kernel will then load & unload them from memory as you switch card.

Once you system is configured this way, you can restrict IRQ's & memory via /etc/pcmcia/config.opts

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