bill@twg.bc.ca (Bill Irwin) (06/02/90)
On a standard 386 PC AT running SCO XENIX System V/386 2.3.2, one can use the Chantal (San Diego) Subsystem Software which takes over low level system management of SCSI devices, controllers, file systems etc. through a linking with the kernel. It works very well and we endorse the Chantal product as software to handle a wide list of new SCSI devices becoming available such as DAT tape units, etc. In our case, we use it to connect Exabyte 8200S 8mm tape drives with an Adaptec 1540 controller to PC ATs hosting SCO XENIX V/386 2.3.2. Texas Instruments has an Intel 386 based UNIX system, which runs TI System V, which is essentially a PC AT running SCO XENIX V/386 2.3.2, without modification to SCO but supposed OS enhancements and additions, along with some serious proprietary hardware changes. The ROM BIOS is apparently written from the ground up. Also, they saw it fit to create a proprietary nonstandard primary SCSI controller in the interests of speed optimization. As a result, they had to write a custom device driver and add it to SCO's offering to address their proprietary controller. This also allowed them to boot from a SCSI device WITHOUT requiring the "GT" version of SCO XENIX. We thought our problem would be that the Chantal subsystem would get confused with the proprietary controller, so we undertook a strategy to replace the proprietary controller all together and make an Adaptec 1540 the primary controller, so when the Chantal subsystem tried to take over control, it would see a device in knows and supports. Further, to boot from a SCSI device now which did not have TI's custom controller and supporting device driver, one requires the GT version of SCO. It turns out that we are unable to get the TI to recognize the Adaptec 1540 as the primary boot device down at the hardware level. All interrupts and addresses along with he DMA channels are confirmed set accurately along with confirmation that the 1540 is a fully working board. Senior technical staff at our organization, TI design engineers and Chantal have all attempted to solve the situation without success. Thus, we seek a solution to get the TI model 1300 to recognize the Adaptec 1540 as the primary controller, or in the alternative, a simple device driver for the Exabyte 8200S under SCO XENIX V/386, non GT, 2.3.2. If responses are emailed I will summarize. -- Bill Irwin - TWG The Westrheim Group - Vancouver, BC, Canada ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ uunet!van-bc!twg!bill (604) 431-9600 (voice) | UNIX Systems bill@twg.bc.ca (604) 431-4629 (fax) | Integration