Return to BSD News archive
Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!msuinfo!agate!spool.mu.edu!news.clark.edu!netnews.nwnet.net!news.u.washington.edu!tzs
From: tzs@u.washington.edu (Tim Smith)
Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.development
Subject: Re: Where to buy NCR 810 PCI SCSI cards?
Date: 18 Sep 1994 04:00:25 GMT
Organization: University of Washington School of Law, Class of '95
Lines: 23
Message-ID: <35ge0p$d9l@news.u.washington.edu>
References: <199408172054.PAA07862@MindBender.HeadCandy.com> <356m8j$n1f@nntpd.lkg.dec.com> <MICHAELV.94Sep14133142@MindBender.HeadCandy.com> <35ahfqINN15u8@rs1.rrz.uni-koeln.de>
NNTP-Posting-Host: stein3.u.washington.edu
Speaking of NCR host adaptors, someone should see if NCR is willing to
release the interface to the SDMS BIOS. If they would, it would greatly
simplify supporting all NCR host adaptors under {Free,Net}BSD.
The SDMS BIOS contains 32-bit code meant to be called from protected mode
operating systems. A driver written to use this code does not have to
anything about the SCSI chip on the host adaptor. The 32-bit SDMS BIOS
code was carefull designed so as to not make any assumptions about the
operating system. It should be usable form any 32-bit protected mode
system. NCR uses it from their SCO Unix, Netware, Windows, and (I think)
Windows NT drivers, so I doubt that there would be any technical problems
accessing it from {Free,Net}BSD. (OS/2, somewhat surprisinginly, runs
ADDs in 16-bit segments, so the 32-bit SDMS code is *NOT* used on OS/2.
The 16-bit SDSM BIOS code is carefully designed to not care if it is in
real mode or protected mode, and so that is used).
Anyway, if NCR would release the interface documents for this code, then
one could write a single driver that would work with all present and
future systems that contain the SDMS BIOS.
I have no idea who one would talk to at NCR to try to get this released.
--Tim Smith