diff --git a/sys/arch/i386/conf/GENERIC b/sys/arch/i386/conf/GENERIC
index 0db5f0f19364..b1b751aaa760 100644
--- a/sys/arch/i386/conf/GENERIC
+++ b/sys/arch/i386/conf/GENERIC
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#	$NetBSD: GENERIC,v 1.205 1998/11/23 20:47:03 christos Exp $
+#	$NetBSD: GENERIC,v 1.206 1998/12/02 10:54:26 bouyer Exp $
 #
 #	GENERIC -- everything that's currently supported
 #
@@ -316,7 +316,7 @@ uk*	at scsibus? target ? lun ?	# SCSI unknown
 
 
 # IDE and Related Devices
-# PCI IDE controllers (CMD tech's PCI0640, Intel's PIIx).
+# PCI IDE controllers (CMD tech's PCI0640, Intel's PIIx, ...).
 # The 0x0001 flag force the driver to use DMA, even if the driver doesn't know
 # how to set up DMA modes for this chip. This may work, or may cause
 # a machine hang with some controllers.
@@ -332,18 +332,27 @@ wdc*	at pcmcia? function ?
 wdc0	at isa? port 0x1f0 irq 14
 wdc1	at isa? port 0x170 irq 15
 
-# IDE drives
-wd*	at wdc? channel ? drive ?
-wd*	at pciide? channel ? drive ?
+# IDE drives.
+# Flags are used only with controlers that support DMA operations
+# and mode settings (e.g. some pciide controllers)
+# The first 4 bytes of the flags define the PIO mode to use, the
+# second DMA mode and the third UltraDMA mode. For each group of 4 bytes,
+# the 3 lower define the mode to use, and the last one must be 1 for the
+# setting to be used. For DMA and UDMA, 0xf means 'disable'.
+# 0x0fac means 'use PIO mode 4 DMA mode 2, disable UltraDMA'.
+# 0x0000 means "use whatever the drive claims to support.
+wd*	at wdc? channel ? drive ? flags 0x0000
+wd*	at pciide? channel ? drive ? flags 0x0000
 
 # ATAPI bus support
 atapibus* at wdc? channel ?
 atapibus* at pciide? channel ?
 
 # ATAPI devices
-cd*	at atapibus? drive ?		# ATAPI CD-ROM drives
-sd*	at atapibus? drive ?		# ATAPI disk drives
-uk*	at atapibus? drive ?		# ATAPI unknown
+# flags have the same meaning as for IDE drives.
+cd*	at atapibus? drive ? flags 0x0000	# ATAPI CD-ROM drives
+sd*	at atapibus? drive ? flags 0x0000	# ATAPI disk drives
+uk*	at atapibus? drive ? flags 0x0000	# ATAPI unknown
 
 
 # Miscellaneous mass storage devices