The funniest part of this is:

* Linux relies heavily on the BIOS to tell it what devices are
  present.

* OpenBSD doesn't do anything clever -- it uses a broken
  implementation of the sketchy algorithm in the Phoenix whitepaper,
  which doesn't help in the relevant cases.

* FreeBSD is just now trying to develop a new algorithm, and has not
  yet managed to stabilize it.

* OpenBIOS hasn't even gotten to implementing any IDE support after
  spinning their wheels for a few years.

* LinuxBIOS uses an implementation that's rather clearly derived from
  NetBSD (naturally with no attribution or NetBSD copyright), so it
  uses the same algorithm I'm trying to fix/replace.

So much for looking to others for wisdom.