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Xref: sserve comp.periphs.scsi:15372 comp.os.386bsd.questions:6925 comp.unix.osf.osf1:1415 Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi,comp.os.386bsd.questions,comp.unix.osf.osf1 Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!haven.umd.edu!news.umbc.edu!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!uunet!world!hd From: hd@world.std.com (HD Associates) Subject: Re: Driver for Adaptec 274xT Message-ID: <CGLJGA.KLL@world.std.com> Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA References: <1993Nov9.163202.2387@chpc.org> <CGDFu3.477@tfs.com> <2cavef$adl@mckinley.cit.macalstr.edu> Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1993 18:02:33 GMT X-Original-Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi,comp.os.386bsd.questions,comp.unix.osf.osf1 Lines: 84 In article <2cavef$adl@mckinley.cit.macalstr.edu>, Scott Ferris <sferris@budapest.math.macalstr.edu> wrote: >Julian Elischer (julian@TFS.COM) wrote: >> In article <1993Nov9.163202.2387@chpc.org>, Heas <heas@chpc.org> wrote: >> >hi all, (...) >> I wrote most of the 386bsd(etc) SCSI drivers and I'd LOVE to write a driver >> for the 274x, but adaptec are keeping the interface secret >> you have to: >> 1/ Pay money >> 2/ sign non-disclosure.. > > > I have just received a copy of the AHA-2740 series Technical Reference >manual, and the AIC-7770 Data Book (Preliminary). While I did make >about 9 calls to Adaptec Literature and 1 to Tech Support trying >to get docs, at no point was I asked to sign an NDA or anything else. >The problem I always ran into was that no one could find a listing >for the documents I was requesting. Given the Preliminary label on the >Data Book, it would appear Adaptec's failure to privide docs earlier was >because they weren't written yet, rather than because of any new policy. > > I didn't have to pay a dime for them either. >I suggest you check your sources more carefully. > >> hmm another good company shoots itself in the foot (head?) > > With slow doc writers, perhaps. They also seems to have problems >with misinformed Usenet News posters. :) Adaptec has earned any bad Usenet press they get. It took six weeks to get the 174x documentation from Adaptec, even though it was published (To be fair, I wasn't chasing them as aggressively as I could have... I would let it slide until I thought of it and got angry again). I went through three cycles of: Adaptec Literature Department: We'll send it within 10 days (10 days) Adaptec Literature Department: We don't have a record of the request... Me: I need it, I'll pay for it, I'll give you my federal express number... Adaptec Literature Department: We aren't set up to handle that; we'll send it within 10 days... When it got near the time I really needed the stuff, I contacted someone in OEM sales (this was for an OEM application), and they FED EXd me the stuff with apologies. Working with Adaptec, Part 2: This was to be a target mode application on EISA. Adpatec Pre Sales Support suggested the 174x to a client as a solution to their target requirements, and then they contracted with me to do a driver for them. In a nut shell: The 174x doesn't work in target mode, the documentation is incomplete on target mode, and finally, Adaptec now says they will not support ANY host adapter in target mode, AND, worst of all, it took several months of working with Adaptec before they would flatly say they weren't going to fix or support the advertised capabilities of the board. (to cheer me up, the same week that the letter came saying Adaptec does not support target mode on any host adapter, I received the 174x manuals from the literature department. This was around September after requesting them in March). There are a number of people within Adaptec who were a pleasure to work with, and I don't question their desire to help or the technical competence of their engineering department for a minute. However, the company hung my client out to dry after selling them on the board in the first place, and constantly battering Adaptec with memos and phone calls to get them to do anything was an experience I don't want anyone else to go through. Peter P.S.: I'm really interested to know if the 2740 documentation discusses a processor target mode of operation. -- Peter Dufault Real Time Machine Control and Simulation HD Associates Voice: 508 433 6936 hd@world.std.com Fax: 508 433 5267