Subject: Re: [PATCH] SMSC LAN911x and LAN921x vendor driver

From: "John W. Linville" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2006 15:51:33 -0400

On Wed, Aug 02, 2006 at 08:23:40PM +0100, [email-masked] wrote:

> > Does this need the magic "for (addr=1; addr <=32; addr++)" trick that
> > has become idiomatic for PHY discovery in our drivers?
> 
> I don't understand the question - surely 32 is not a valid PHY address?

That's why it is magic! :-)

The idea is to probe PHY addr 0 last in the series.  Apparently some
PHYs don't like seeing addr 0 or somesuch, so you try it last to avoid
screwing them up.  It may well be folklore and legend at this point.
Still, you will find several examples in the various drivers.
The sundance driver is one example.

John
-- 
John W. Linville
[email-masked]