don@andante.att.com (Don Mitchell) (01/06/91)
Our center's computing environment is primarily based on SUN's, and we use many of them to support laboratory equipment. I am very annoyed by the fact that the device driver interface seems to change in every point release (4.0, 4.0.3, 4.1 ...). This is a major problem for some of us. We have to support scanners, GPIB devices of various sorts, DR11 devices, and strange frame buffers. A lot of these guys don't keep up with current SunOS very fast, but I think SUN must be blamed for gratuitous changes to the kernel in this area. If it were some other workstation, I wouldn't even bother to complain. But Sun seems committed to open systems and good support for UNIX. I hope they will keep our plight in mind.
jbm@eos.arc.nasa.gov (Jeffrey Mulligan) (01/08/91)
don@andante.att.com (Don Mitchell) writes: >We have to support scanners, GPIB devices of various sorts, DR11 devices, >and strange frame buffers. A lot of these guys don't keep up with current >SunOS very fast, And even when they do, you have to shell out more bucks for the new software. Oh, and by the way, that old version of the hardware that you have is no longer supported in this software release, so that will be another $2000 for to bring your hardware up to the current revision. >but I think SUN must be blamed for gratuitous changes to >the kernel in this area. It would at least be nice if there were a document distributed with the new releases detailing the changes to the interface, making it easier to fix software for which one has the source. (I would not be surprised to learn that this document exists, and if so, how do I get a copy?) We are struggling with with this problem now. Tired of upgrading OS's instead of doing research, Jeff Mulligan (jbm@eos.arc.nasa.gov) NASA/Ames Research Ctr., Mail Stop 262-2, Moffett Field CA, 94035 (415) 604-3745