From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org ([69.77.167.62] helo=lists.gentoo.org) by finch.gentoo.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1LUkhs-0000c3-80 for garchives@archives.gentoo.org; Wed, 04 Feb 2009 16:34:33 +0000 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 56A34E03D7; Wed, 4 Feb 2009 16:34:29 +0000 (UTC) Received: from yw-out-1718.google.com (yw-out-1718.google.com [74.125.46.154]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 366AAE03D7 for ; Wed, 4 Feb 2009 16:34:29 +0000 (UTC) Received: by yw-out-1718.google.com with SMTP id 5so1000531ywm.46 for ; Wed, 04 Feb 2009 08:34:28 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:mime-version:received:in-reply-to:references :date:message-id:subject:from:to:content-type :content-transfer-encoding; bh=xWxhQoTGZ1VLk49bpTABP39SyTBLizE3RHmmXVPtwRA=; b=jIzpZsiP9CcOz9KtSFCbFy9P92ldevcOxjsb7UzT0g6dIOZj7KevGi4X0iiRk67COj OfqxCF0r1gPCT6golcqMYb98v1VdTrdQOMIpPowJBbnYAm4PghNxbgslU01bzchndOHr SajYs63EVnz4yZzJ2246bcan8DkZ2fIs01Jjo= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:subject:from:to :content-type:content-transfer-encoding; b=JHnlT1gxjOYyujybhw7kw7MYh1sd1P3lIkuGHdw21Mdn0Nn8JqQk/o3fLF1UGEcC8O PPCt6otmt9du73/H9Yb4ZxVuZOfAzihOworjupBQkDQbX/STKrjrggDs+dy61SzkimF6 fpSSHMej394OqCmkSFuHwY6tfBitOyPbVdNGc= Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.142.157.9 with SMTP id f9mr710456wfe.87.1233765268384; Wed, 04 Feb 2009 08:34:28 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: References: Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2009 11:34:28 -0500 Message-ID: Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Re: hal - what's the benefit of using it From: Hazen Valliant-Saunders To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Archives-Salt: 54faa7bb-1a08-47db-af22-701790e801ff X-Archives-Hash: 5ef2debe3b24604031013dc98a50350b Um, you are using the HAL weather you want to or not, it's not really an option! The HARDWARE ABSTRACTION LAYER with respect to good ol linux happens to be your kernel and it's drivers. The bare metal registers within which all those bits are moved is called the hardware; all those configuration files and source you compile is considered the software, anything that creates the transparency between the two is refereed to as the HAL (In windows 98 it was a single DLL file), in Linux it's the source code and binaries of the kernel and drivers, all modern computers regardless of low level arch have a HAL. Regards, Hazen. On Wed, Feb 4, 2009 at 11:17 AM, James wrote: > Helmut Jarausch igpm.rwth-aachen.de> writes: > > >> having had some problems with recent xorg version my question is >> what are the benefits (if any) of building packages with the 'hal' >> use flag (i.e. adding 'hal' to US='...' in /etc/make.conf) > > > This link is short and reasonable. > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HAL_(software) > > > Hardware Abstraction Layer is a buzz term that means > many different things to many different hardware > designers who need software to make their designs > complete. > > > hth, > > James > > > > > > -- Hazen Valliant-Saunders IT/IS Consultant (613) 355-5977