164 lines
8.4 KiB
Plaintext
164 lines
8.4 KiB
Plaintext
The BusLogic FlashPoint SCSI Host Adapters are now fully supported on Linux.
|
||
The upgrade program described below has been officially terminated effective
|
||
31 March 1997 since it is no longer needed.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
MYLEX INTRODUCES LINUX OPERATING SYSTEM SUPPORT FOR ITS
|
||
BUSLOGIC FLASHPOINT LINE OF SCSI HOST ADAPTERS
|
||
|
||
|
||
FREMONT, CA, -- October 8, 1996 -- Mylex Corporation has expanded Linux
|
||
operating system support to its BusLogic brand of FlashPoint Ultra SCSI
|
||
host adapters. All of BusLogic's other SCSI host adapters, including the
|
||
MultiMaster line, currently support the Linux operating system. Linux
|
||
drivers and information will be available on October 15th at
|
||
http://sourceforge.net/projects/dandelion/.
|
||
|
||
"Mylex is committed to supporting the Linux community," says Peter Shambora,
|
||
vice president of marketing for Mylex. "We have supported Linux driver
|
||
development and provided technical support for our host adapters for several
|
||
years, and are pleased to now make our FlashPoint products available to this
|
||
user base."
|
||
|
||
The Linux Operating System
|
||
|
||
Linux is a freely-distributed implementation of UNIX for Intel x86, Sun
|
||
SPARC, SGI MIPS, Motorola 68k, Digital Alpha AXP and Motorola PowerPC
|
||
machines. It supports a wide range of software, including the X Window
|
||
System, Emacs, and TCP/IP networking. Further information is available at
|
||
http://www.linux.org and http://www.ssc.com/.
|
||
|
||
FlashPoint Host Adapters
|
||
|
||
The FlashPoint family of Ultra SCSI host adapters, designed for workstation
|
||
and file server environments, are available in narrow, wide, dual channel,
|
||
and dual channel wide versions. These adapters feature SeqEngine
|
||
automation technology, which minimizes SCSI command overhead and reduces
|
||
the number of interrupts generated to the CPU.
|
||
|
||
About Mylex
|
||
|
||
Mylex Corporation (NASDAQ/NM SYMBOL: MYLX), founded in 1983, is a leading
|
||
producer of RAID technology and network management products. The company
|
||
produces high performance disk array (RAID) controllers, and complementary
|
||
computer products for network servers, mass storage systems, workstations
|
||
and system boards. Through its wide range of RAID controllers and its
|
||
BusLogic line of Ultra SCSI host adapter products, Mylex provides enabling
|
||
intelligent I/O technologies that increase network management control,
|
||
enhance CPU utilization, optimize I/O performance, and ensure data security
|
||
and availability. Products are sold globally through a network of OEMs,
|
||
major distributors, VARs, and system integrators. Mylex Corporation is
|
||
headquartered at 34551 Ardenwood Blvd., Fremont, CA.
|
||
|
||
####
|
||
|
||
Contact:
|
||
|
||
Peter Shambora
|
||
Vice President of Marketing
|
||
Mylex Corp.
|
||
510/796-6100
|
||
peters@mylex.com
|
||
|
||
ANNOUNCEMENT
|
||
BusLogic FlashPoint LT/BT-948 Upgrade Program
|
||
1 February 1996
|
||
|
||
ADDITIONAL ANNOUNCEMENT
|
||
BusLogic FlashPoint LW/BT-958 Upgrade Program
|
||
14 June 1996
|
||
|
||
Ever since its introduction last October, the BusLogic FlashPoint LT has
|
||
been problematic for members of the Linux community, in that no Linux
|
||
drivers have been available for this new Ultra SCSI product. Despite its
|
||
officially being positioned as a desktop workstation product, and not being
|
||
particularly well suited for a high performance multitasking operating
|
||
system like Linux, the FlashPoint LT has been touted by computer system
|
||
vendors as the latest thing, and has been sold even on many of their high
|
||
end systems, to the exclusion of the older MultiMaster products. This has
|
||
caused grief for many people who inadvertently purchased a system expecting
|
||
that all BusLogic SCSI Host Adapters were supported by Linux, only to
|
||
discover that the FlashPoint was not supported and would not be for quite
|
||
some time, if ever.
|
||
|
||
After this problem was identified, BusLogic contacted its major OEM
|
||
customers to make sure the BT-946C/956C MultiMaster cards would still be
|
||
made available, and that Linux users who mistakenly ordered systems with
|
||
the FlashPoint would be able to upgrade to the BT-946C. While this helped
|
||
many purchasers of new systems, it was only a partial solution to the
|
||
overall problem of FlashPoint support for Linux users. It did nothing to
|
||
assist the people who initially purchased a FlashPoint for a supported
|
||
operating system and then later decided to run Linux, or those who had
|
||
ended up with a FlashPoint LT, believing it was supported, and were unable
|
||
to return it.
|
||
|
||
In the middle of December, I asked to meet with BusLogic's senior
|
||
management to discuss the issues related to Linux and free software support
|
||
for the FlashPoint. Rumors of varying accuracy had been circulating
|
||
publicly about BusLogic's attitude toward the Linux community, and I felt
|
||
it was best that these issues be addressed directly. I sent an email
|
||
message after 11pm one evening, and the meeting took place the next
|
||
afternoon. Unfortunately, corporate wheels sometimes grind slowly,
|
||
especially when a company is being acquired, and so it's taken until now
|
||
before the details were completely determined and a public statement could
|
||
be made.
|
||
|
||
BusLogic is not prepared at this time to release the information necessary
|
||
for third parties to write drivers for the FlashPoint. The only existing
|
||
FlashPoint drivers have been written directly by BusLogic Engineering, and
|
||
there is no FlashPoint documentation sufficiently detailed to allow outside
|
||
developers to write a driver without substantial assistance. While there
|
||
are people at BusLogic who would rather not release the details of the
|
||
FlashPoint architecture at all, that debate has not yet been settled either
|
||
way. In any event, even if documentation were available today it would
|
||
take quite a while for a usable driver to be written, especially since I'm
|
||
not convinced that the effort required would be worthwhile.
|
||
|
||
However, BusLogic does remain committed to providing a high performance
|
||
SCSI solution for the Linux community, and does not want to see anyone left
|
||
unable to run Linux because they have a Flashpoint LT. Therefore, BusLogic
|
||
has put in place a direct upgrade program to allow any Linux user worldwide
|
||
to trade in their FlashPoint LT for the new BT-948 MultiMaster PCI Ultra
|
||
SCSI Host Adapter. The BT-948 is the Ultra SCSI successor to the BT-946C
|
||
and has all the best features of both the BT-946C and FlashPoint LT,
|
||
including smart termination and a flash PROM for easy firmware updates, and
|
||
is of course compatible with the present Linux driver. The price for this
|
||
upgrade has been set at US $45 plus shipping and handling, and the upgrade
|
||
program will be administered through BusLogic Technical Support, which can
|
||
be reached by electronic mail at techsup@buslogic.com, by Voice at +1 408
|
||
654-0760, or by FAX at +1 408 492-1542.
|
||
|
||
As of 14 June 1996, the original BusLogic FlashPoint LT to BT-948 upgrade
|
||
program has now been extended to encompass the FlashPoint LW Wide Ultra
|
||
SCSI Host Adapter. Any Linux user worldwide may trade in their FlashPoint
|
||
LW (BT-950) for a BT-958 MultiMaster PCI Ultra SCSI Host Adapter. The
|
||
price for this upgrade has been set at US $65 plus shipping and handling.
|
||
|
||
I was a beta test site for the BT-948/958, and versions 1.2.1 and 1.3.1 of
|
||
my BusLogic driver already included latent support for the BT-948/958.
|
||
Additional cosmetic support for the Ultra SCSI MultiMaster cards was added
|
||
subsequent releases. As a result of this cooperative testing process,
|
||
several firmware bugs were found and corrected. My heavily loaded Linux
|
||
test system provided an ideal environment for testing error recovery
|
||
processes that are much more rarely exercised in production systems, but
|
||
are crucial to overall system stability. It was especially convenient
|
||
being able to work directly with their firmware engineer in demonstrating
|
||
the problems under control of the firmware debugging environment; things
|
||
sure have come a long way since the last time I worked on firmware for an
|
||
embedded system. I am presently working on some performance testing and
|
||
expect to have some data to report in the not too distant future.
|
||
|
||
BusLogic asked me to send this announcement since a large percentage of the
|
||
questions regarding support for the FlashPoint have either been sent to me
|
||
directly via email, or have appeared in the Linux newsgroups in which I
|
||
participate. To summarize, BusLogic is offering Linux users an upgrade
|
||
from the unsupported FlashPoint LT (BT-930) to the supported BT-948 for US
|
||
$45 plus shipping and handling, or from the unsupported FlashPoint LW
|
||
(BT-950) to the supported BT-958 for $65 plus shipping and handling.
|
||
Contact BusLogic Technical Support at techsup@buslogic.com or +1 408
|
||
654-0760 to take advantage of their offer.
|
||
|
||
Leonard N. Zubkoff
|
||
lnz@dandelion.com
|