1 .. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 2 3 =================================== 4 The BusLogic FlashPoint SCSI Driver 5 =================================== 6 7 The BusLogic FlashPoint SCSI Host Adapters are now fully supported on Linux. 8 The upgrade program described below has been officially terminated effective 9 31 March 1997 since it is no longer needed. 10 11 :: 12 13 MYLEX INTRODUCES LINUX OPERATING SYSTEM SUPPORT FOR ITS 14 BUSLOGIC FLASHPOINT LINE OF SCSI HOST ADAPTERS 15 16 17 FREMONT, CA, -- October 8, 1996 -- Mylex Corporation has expanded Linux 18 operating system support to its BusLogic brand of FlashPoint Ultra SCSI 19 host adapters. All of BusLogic's other SCSI host adapters, including the 20 MultiMaster line, currently support the Linux operating system. Linux 21 drivers and information will be available on October 15th at 22 http://sourceforge.net/projects/dandelion/. 23 24 "Mylex is committed to supporting the Linux community," says Peter Shambora, 25 vice president of marketing for Mylex. "We have supported Linux driver 26 development and provided technical support for our host adapters for several 27 years, and are pleased to now make our FlashPoint products available to this 28 user base." 29 30 The Linux Operating System 31 ========================== 32 33 Linux is a freely-distributed implementation of UNIX for Intel x86, Sun 34 SPARC, SGI MIPS, Motorola 68k, Digital Alpha AXP and Motorola PowerPC 35 machines. It supports a wide range of software, including the X Window 36 System, Emacs, and TCP/IP networking. Further information is available at 37 http://www.linux.org and http://www.ssc.com/. 38 39 FlashPoint Host Adapters 40 ======================== 41 42 The FlashPoint family of Ultra SCSI host adapters, designed for workstation 43 and file server environments, are available in narrow, wide, dual channel, 44 and dual channel wide versions. These adapters feature SeqEngine 45 automation technology, which minimizes SCSI command overhead and reduces 46 the number of interrupts generated to the CPU. 47 48 About Mylex 49 =========== 50 51 Mylex Corporation (NASDAQ/NM SYMBOL: MYLX), founded in 1983, is a leading 52 producer of RAID technology and network management products. The company 53 produces high performance disk array (RAID) controllers, and complementary 54 computer products for network servers, mass storage systems, workstations 55 and system boards. Through its wide range of RAID controllers and its 56 BusLogic line of Ultra SCSI host adapter products, Mylex provides enabling 57 intelligent I/O technologies that increase network management control, 58 enhance CPU utilization, optimize I/O performance, and ensure data security 59 and availability. Products are sold globally through a network of OEMs, 60 major distributors, VARs, and system integrators. Mylex Corporation is 61 headquartered at 34551 Ardenwood Blvd., Fremont, CA. 62 63 Contact: 64 ======== 65 66 :: 67 68 Peter Shambora 69 Vice President of Marketing 70 Mylex Corp. 71 510/796-6100 72 peters@mylex.com 73 74 75 :: 76 77 ANNOUNCEMENT 78 BusLogic FlashPoint LT/BT-948 Upgrade Program 79 1 February 1996 80 81 ADDITIONAL ANNOUNCEMENT 82 BusLogic FlashPoint LW/BT-958 Upgrade Program 83 14 June 1996 84 85 Ever since its introduction last October, the BusLogic FlashPoint LT has 86 been problematic for members of the Linux community, in that no Linux 87 drivers have been available for this new Ultra SCSI product. Despite its 88 officially being positioned as a desktop workstation product, and not being 89 particularly well suited for a high performance multitasking operating 90 system like Linux, the FlashPoint LT has been touted by computer system 91 vendors as the latest thing, and has been sold even on many of their high 92 end systems, to the exclusion of the older MultiMaster products. This has 93 caused grief for many people who inadvertently purchased a system expecting 94 that all BusLogic SCSI Host Adapters were supported by Linux, only to 95 discover that the FlashPoint was not supported and would not be for quite 96 some time, if ever. 97 98 After this problem was identified, BusLogic contacted its major OEM 99 customers to make sure the BT-946C/956C MultiMaster cards would still be 100 made available, and that Linux users who mistakenly ordered systems with 101 the FlashPoint would be able to upgrade to the BT-946C. While this helped 102 many purchasers of new systems, it was only a partial solution to the 103 overall problem of FlashPoint support for Linux users. It did nothing to 104 assist the people who initially purchased a FlashPoint for a supported 105 operating system and then later decided to run Linux, or those who had 106 ended up with a FlashPoint LT, believing it was supported, and were unable 107 to return it. 108 109 In the middle of December, I asked to meet with BusLogic's senior 110 management to discuss the issues related to Linux and free software support 111 for the FlashPoint. Rumors of varying accuracy had been circulating 112 publicly about BusLogic's attitude toward the Linux community, and I felt 113 it was best that these issues be addressed directly. I sent an email 114 message after 11pm one evening, and the meeting took place the next 115 afternoon. Unfortunately, corporate wheels sometimes grind slowly, 116 especially when a company is being acquired, and so it's taken until now 117 before the details were completely determined and a public statement could 118 be made. 119 120 BusLogic is not prepared at this time to release the information necessary 121 for third parties to write drivers for the FlashPoint. The only existing 122 FlashPoint drivers have been written directly by BusLogic Engineering, and 123 there is no FlashPoint documentation sufficiently detailed to allow outside 124 developers to write a driver without substantial assistance. While there 125 are people at BusLogic who would rather not release the details of the 126 FlashPoint architecture at all, that debate has not yet been settled either 127 way. In any event, even if documentation were available today it would 128 take quite a while for a usable driver to be written, especially since I'm 129 not convinced that the effort required would be worthwhile. 130 131 However, BusLogic does remain committed to providing a high performance 132 SCSI solution for the Linux community, and does not want to see anyone left 133 unable to run Linux because they have a Flashpoint LT. Therefore, BusLogic 134 has put in place a direct upgrade program to allow any Linux user worldwide 135 to trade in their FlashPoint LT for the new BT-948 MultiMaster PCI Ultra 136 SCSI Host Adapter. The BT-948 is the Ultra SCSI successor to the BT-946C 137 and has all the best features of both the BT-946C and FlashPoint LT, 138 including smart termination and a flash PROM for easy firmware updates, and 139 is of course compatible with the present Linux driver. The price for this 140 upgrade has been set at US $45 plus shipping and handling, and the upgrade 141 program will be administered through BusLogic Technical Support, which can 142 be reached by electronic mail at techsup@buslogic.com, by Voice at +1 408 143 654-0760, or by FAX at +1 408 492-1542. 144 145 As of 14 June 1996, the original BusLogic FlashPoint LT to BT-948 upgrade 146 program has now been extended to encompass the FlashPoint LW Wide Ultra 147 SCSI Host Adapter. Any Linux user worldwide may trade in their FlashPoint 148 LW (BT-950) for a BT-958 MultiMaster PCI Ultra SCSI Host Adapter. The 149 price for this upgrade has been set at US $65 plus shipping and handling. 150 151 I was a beta test site for the BT-948/958, and versions 1.2.1 and 1.3.1 of 152 my BusLogic driver already included latent support for the BT-948/958. 153 Additional cosmetic support for the Ultra SCSI MultiMaster cards was added 154 subsequent releases. As a result of this cooperative testing process, 155 several firmware bugs were found and corrected. My heavily loaded Linux 156 test system provided an ideal environment for testing error recovery 157 processes that are much more rarely exercised in production systems, but 158 are crucial to overall system stability. It was especially convenient 159 being able to work directly with their firmware engineer in demonstrating 160 the problems under control of the firmware debugging environment; things 161 sure have come a long way since the last time I worked on firmware for an 162 embedded system. I am presently working on some performance testing and 163 expect to have some data to report in the not too distant future. 164 165 BusLogic asked me to send this announcement since a large percentage of the 166 questions regarding support for the FlashPoint have either been sent to me 167 directly via email, or have appeared in the Linux newsgroups in which I 168 participate. To summarize, BusLogic is offering Linux users an upgrade 169 from the unsupported FlashPoint LT (BT-930) to the supported BT-948 for US 170 $45 plus shipping and handling, or from the unsupported FlashPoint LW 171 (BT-950) to the supported BT-958 for $65 plus shipping and handling. 172 Contact BusLogic Technical Support at techsup@buslogic.com or +1 408 173 654-0760 to take advantage of their offer. 174 175 Leonard N. Zubkoff 176 lnz@dandelion.com
Linux® is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States and other countries.
TOMOYO® is a registered trademark of NTT DATA CORPORATION.