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nForce MCP Network Driver Working On FreeBSD 5.1

Posted by timothy on from the integrated-parts dept.

Dan writes "Quinton Dolan is in the final stages of porting the NVidia Linux nForce MCP network driver to FreeBSD-5.1. He is looking for users/developers with access to this hardware for testing help. The driver currently appears to be stable on his hardware (an MSI K7N420 Pro), although he hasn't done much stress testing, nor does he have access to an nForce2 based motherboard to test."

1 of 26 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Hmmmm.... by phoenix_rizzen · · Score: 3, Informative

    It's not emulation, it's binary compatibility. When a Linux binary is loaded, the kernel loads the Linux system call map and uses that instead of the FreeBSD on. IOW, the binary is running natively, without any emulation layer.

    In the early days of FreeBSD 4.x, you could actually run Linux binaries faster on FreeBSD, and in many cases, it would run stabler too. (This is why the CGI in The Matrix was done using Linux apps on FreeBSD servers.)

    But, this only works for userland apps. You can't run Linux kernel modules (drivers) inside the FreeBSD kernel.