raja@frith.egr.msu.edu (02/02/90)
I got the following request for info from a
friend in India. Any help would be deeply
appreciated. Please *EMAIL* my friend at:
murthy%betaal%shakti.uucp@uunet.uu.net [This is I.I.T., Bombay]
I would be very grateful if you could also
*EMAIL* me a copy at:
raja%frith.egr.msu.edu@uunet.uu.net
Thanks in advance!
Narayan Sriranga Raja.
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Query on the Intel Pclink2/iNA960 environment: ---Begin
Background:
We have been using Intel's PCLINK2 ethernet cards in our campus
LAN consisting of one Intel 320 System and several PC/XT/ATs.
The 320 system (file server) and the PCs are connected in OpenNet environment --
an interworking of MSNET on PCs and XenixNet on file server
(running Intel Xenix 3.5). We have Intel's iNA960 ( Rel. 3.0
on DOS end and Rel. 2.0 on 320 end) transport s/w running on
both sides giving the virtual circuit communication services to
session layer services: viz. NETBIOS on DOS and Intel's proprietory
session on the System 320. The PClink2 card is an intelligent
card based on 80186/82586 and has firmware that facilitates running
any communication software loaded onto the card by the host. It currently
supports upto OSI Transport.
Our Goal: Provide OSI Transport Services for PC/AT running
SCO Xenix and demonstrate interworking between MSDOS
and Xenix System.
We have taken two approaches :
1. Load the PClink2 iNA software onto the card and develop drivers
under Xenix to access transport/External Datalink (EDL) layers.
2. Port a stack of OSI software we bought from Retix Inc. to the
card and develop suitable interfaces for the applications on
the host (be it DOS/Xenix).
First, I shall discuss the progress made on both these lines and
highlight the problems encountered later.
Progress: .... On 1
We have disassembled the Netbios.exe to study how Int 5Bh ( through
which DOS applications access Transport/EDL on card) accesses these
services on card. The aim was to simulate Int 5Bh behaviour on Xenix.
Although we got an idea of the host-card interface through command
block interface, frankly the disassembled code was too cryptic to
comprehend anything. So we gave a pause hoping Intel guys wd give us
some info on the interface.
.... On 2
The situation is much better on the second approach. Initially, we
had to develop several utilities to start off. One utility to convert
absolute code generated by the translators (viz., CC86, LINK86 and
LOC86 available under DOS-based development system) to a format
compatible with .mem files to be loaded onto the card. Another utility
to load a program onto the card and give a go. Simple trace of the code
running on the card; a mechanism to display debug messages from the card
onto the screen.
We have developed datalink driver and linked with the Retix's Class I
LLC and tested the LLC interface to the host. It worked fine. Encouraged
by this we had linked network code with the LLC. Unfortunately, the
work had not progressed much in this direction because we started getting
strange problems while the program is running on the card. The program
used to hang at arbitrary locations without a consistent behaviour; you
put a debug message at one place and the program hangs altogether
different place. Essentially, we lacked the interactive debugging tools
for the card environment. We have tried I2ICE with 186 probe but
it had always problems while loading and moreover, it had no symbolic
support for C language that we wanted.
Information needed:
To summarize, we need comments on aforementioned approach we had
taken. We also need the following information which I feel is the
bottleneck in the development process:
1. How to access the iNA960 software on PCLINK2 card directly --
how to format the command block, where to write, etc.
(without having to use Int 5Bh the intel provided Request Block
interface).
2. Info on Symbolic debugging support under I2ICE environment under
MSDOS. What are the latest versions of the Intel utilities:
viz., CC86, LINK86 and LOC86 ?
---End
---Murthy (Ph.D. student, Indian Inst. of Tech., Bombay, INDIA)