>>>>Looked everywhere I could think of trying to find a driver for an old
>>>>NEC-3XP CD-ROM. It's a SCSI version and I'll need it if I ever intend to
>>>>try installing Linux.
>>>If it's a SCSI CD-ROM, odds are it will work without any special drivers;
>>>there is a standard for SCSI CD-ROM commands, unlike IDE-connected models.
>>>You may want to make sure you have a supported SCSI host adapter card,
>>>however again I don't know of any unsupported models off hand.
>>Is that one that goes *in* the pc? Adaptec are *NOT* supported. Advansys
>>write the Linux driver for their own cards. Go for Advansys, Buslogic or
>>NCR (the JazDirect is also supposedly both good and cheap).
>Adaptec cards are supported; "make menuconfig" and look for yourself.
>Doubtless, these drivers are written by a Linux hacker supporting Adaptec
>instead of Adaptec programmers supporting Linux, but they are there.
By "unsupported" I meant "if it doesn't work for you, then it probably
won't get fixed". The old adaptec drivers *usually* work with the new
cards. But if for some reason they don't you're on your own. Adaptec do
not release the information required to write a proper driver. If it
doesn't work, you cannot determine whether the card is faulty or the
driver is buggy.
On the other hand, the interface definition for the NCR is, I believe,
freely available so it is possible to ask the question "is the card
behaving as per spec" and get a meaningful answer. And if a buslogic
card doesn't work, they are responsible for card AND driver, so the
problem can only lie in one place. So those two *are* supported, because
the necessary information is available.
There is bit of a move in c.o.l.hardware (I think) to get people to buy
NCR, buslogic etc and fax the receipt to adaptec with a message "you
lost this sale because you refuse to make available the information
required to support your cards". Apparently Diamond video cards are now
supported hardware because a lot of people did just that.
In short, the adaptec drivers are *old*. They do not keep pace with new
cards because adaptec refuse to make the required information available.
There are people who try and keep the drivers up-to-date, but they are
not supported hardware because it is *impossible* to modify the drivers
in accordance with the hardware spec, because the hardware spec is *not*
available.
--
Anthony W. Youngman - wol at thewolery dot demon dot co dot uk
Trousers with a single hole in their waistband are topologically equivalent
to a doughnut. These sugarcoated trousers have yet to catch on at fast-food
outlets! (SuperStrings by F. David Peat)
If replying by e-mail please mail wol. Anything else may get missed amongst
the spam.
by