[9fans] alternative SCSI controller

[9fans] alternative SCSI controller

[Nigel]

Yes. I have got as far as configuring the card and loading the
microcode. This is not as simple as it sounds. The chip is such an ugly
device compared to the NCR it's going to take time. At least the FreeBSD
guys are very helpful.

>-----Original Message-----
>From:	jmk@plan9.bell-labs.com [SMTP:jmk@plan9.bell-labs.com]
>Sent:	Wednesday, August 27, 1997 3:17 PM
>To:	9fans@cse.psu.edu
>Subject:	[9fans] alternative SCSI controller
>
>i've added the following to CHANGES.txt on the web site:
>
>	23-Aug-97 9/contrib/dpt
>	=======================
>	This is a pci only driver for the DPT PM3334UW SmartRAID IV Ultra adapter.
>	It is a basic driver and does not use any of the advance features of the
>card.
>
>	The 9/pc & boot/pc drivers have been tested, but the fs/pc driver has not.
>
>	Thanks to
>		John L. Chmielewski, jlc@att.com
>
>i don't have any of these but would be interested i hearing how it works out.
>
>after the last cycle of "why isn't there an adaptec driver?" a couple of
>months ago
>has anyone made any progress?
>
>--jim

[9fans] alternative SCSI controller

[jmk]

I've added the following to CHANGES.txt on the web site.
Thanks to Mark and DPT for their support.


02-Sep-97 9/contrib/dpt
=======================
This is a clarification from Mark Salyzyn (dpt.com!salyzyn_mark) of the
hardware supported by the DPT driver:

All the PCI cards made by DPT will work with this driver. These cards include
the PM2024, PM2124, PM2044, PM2144, PM3224 and PM3334. RAID and Cache
support is part of the firmware of the card and needs no driver support
to utilize these features. The PM3334 supports, with the appropriately
wired backplane, HOT target swapping (for RAID arrays).

The add-on features supported by the DPT controller card and Plan 9 driver
include:
1) Up to 64MB of configurable cache.
2) Firmware RAID-0 (striping), RAID-1 (mirroring) and RAID-5 (multi-
   drive redundant arrays of up to 18 drives each).
3) Hot Swapping of targets in RAID-1 and RAID-5 arrays, with
   appropriate hardware.
4) Hot Spares

The features not supported at this moment:
1) Command Queueing (? a driver/OS issue).
2) Passthrough (allowing native OS configuration and rebuilding of
   arrays).
3) Software RAID (striping of arrays across adapters).
4) Multichannel Cards (The PM3334 can support up to 3 wide SCSI
   channels).
5) Server-On-Call redundant server.

Sincerely -- Mark Salyzyn Senior Software Engineer
Distributed Processing Technology

[9fans] alternative SCSI controller

[David]

Nigel Roles (in response to jmk's question about the adaptec driver):
> Yes. I have got as far as configuring the card and loading the
> microcode. This is not as simple as it sounds. The chip is such an ugly
> device compared to the NCR it's going to take time. At least the FreeBSD
> guys are very helpful.

Well, that's more than I've done :-)  I was planning on making a start on
it soon (not realizing that Nigel had done so much), but I keep getting
sidetracked by other things.  At the moment I'm playing with a Miro PC TV
tuner/capture card (Bt848-based).  I've got this thing DMA-ing images
straight into my frame buffer :-)

Well, I'm available for beta testing, debugging and code review :-)

[9fans] alternative SCSI controller

[jmk]

i've added the following to CHANGES.txt on the web site:

	23-Aug-97 9/contrib/dpt
	=======================
	This is a pci only driver for the DPT PM3334UW SmartRAID IV Ultra adapter.
	It is a basic driver and does not use any of the advance features of the card.

	The 9/pc & boot/pc drivers have been tested, but the fs/pc driver has not.

	Thanks to
		John L. Chmielewski, jlc@att.com

i don't have any of these but would be interested i hearing how it works out.

after the last cycle of "why isn't there an adaptec driver?" a couple of months ago
has anyone made any progress?

--jim