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Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!munnari.oz.au!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!MathWorks.Com!yeshua.marcam.com!charnel.ecst.csuchico.edu!xmission!u.cc.utah.edu!cs.weber.edu!terry From: terry@cs.weber.edu (Terry Lambert) Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.development Subject: Re: Adaptec 2842VL Date: 22 Jun 1994 07:16:15 GMT Organization: Weber State University, Ogden, UT Lines: 94 Message-ID: <2u8ofv$7n7@u.cc.utah.edu> References: <2td9t4$59n@news.delphi.com> <michaelv.771477600@ponderous.cc.iastate.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.weber.edu Keywords: scsi drivers? In article <michaelv.771477600@ponderous.cc.iastate.edu> michaelv@iastate.edu (Michael L. VanLoon) writes: ] In <2td9t4$59n@news.delphi.com> hcubed@news.delphi.com (HCUBED@DELPHI.COM) writes: ] ] People, have you ever heard of a FAQ??? Net etiquette says read the ] FAQ first, then ask! It's in the FAQ! ] ] >Does anyone know if there is a driver for the adaptec 2842VL card available ] >for FreeBSD? ] ] No, there is not. ] ] >is anyone working on one? ] ] No, nobody is. ] ] >is the best (ie only) way to get ] >technical info on the card to phone adaptec? ] ] Yes. Plus, you will have to send them large amounts of money and ] promise not to let anyone else see the source code. Even then they ] probably won't let you have it. ] ] Buy a BusLogic card. Don't send money to Adaptec. ] ] *BSD FAQ is on ftp.iastate.edu in /pub/netbsd/FAQ/. ] FreeBSD FAQ is on freebsd.cdrom.com somewhere... Look, I'm just as rabidly anti-Adaptec as the next guy, but at least I have the excuse of having had an idiot on the other end of a support call tell me he didn't understand protected mode boot processes and he didn't have time for me to tell him *after* he *demanded* a reason why I wanted his "lovely" translation turned off before he'd tell me *if* it could be turned off (it can't). And It wasn't an 800 call, I was paying for it. And he wouldn't let me talk to his manager. Suffice to say, I would not buy Adaptec products, especially with NCR and other people coming out with $39 combined SCSI/Ethernet PCI interfaced adapters, and being more than willing to send real programming manuals for everything. BUT... back to the fools who buy from Adaptec: Consider: How can an Adaptec AIC-6660 based card like the 2842VL boot DOS from the hard drive if there isn't any microcode living in the AIC-6660 sequencer after a cold boot? The answer is that it couldn't -- yet boot it does. Why? Because the cold boot procedure loads the AIC-6660 with default code from the on-board ROM. Even HP does this on their embedded AIC-6660 motherboard, only they've hacked the code so it's no longer useful. So, if you have a AIC-6660 based board from Adaptec *and* you aren't stupid enough to soft reset the thing and dump the default microcode in the toilet, all you have to know is how to talk to the default microcode. Adaptec documents this, and gives away the information (reluctantly; you have to practically beat it out of them) if you call and nag them. They *really* want you to download the newest sequencer code they have so they can save themselves support calls. *IF* you sign non-disclosure, they'll give you code examples and docs on how to download new sequencer code to your hearts content, *BUT* it's not necessary to do this if you are happy with the default stuff and you never flush the toilet. Plus I don't think they charge you except as necessary to fulfill the requirements that will allow them to claim harm if you violate non-disclosure, so it's a token fee (one I am not willing, on principle, to pay, as long as there is non-disclosure for what is, essentially, boot code. So all this "no programming info" is crap since Adaptec is now willing to doc the default stuff for users. If anyone calls Adaptec and *can't* get this information, well, then I'm willing to publically retract all of this and call them scoundrels, but with propaganda like the previous post, even if their policay on the download code also changes, people will simply forget it instead of trying. You should always try; eventually they'll get worn down by annoyance factor if nothing else. Terry Lambert terry@cs.weber.edu --- Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present or previous employers.