weber@brand.usc.edu (Allan G. Weber) (03/28/90)
I have a MicroVAX-II (Ultrix 2.2) system that I am considering updating to Ultrix 3.1 or whatever is the latest version. My problem is that the system has two non-DEC device drivers for handling some laboratory peripherals. For one I only have an object file and it was written by a vendor who has since decided to not support Unix systems any more. The other driver is for a DRV11W and I have sources to it. Both drivers had to be changed when we went from Ultrix 1.2 to 2.2. Does anybody know if the rules for writing drivers changed again between version 2.2 and 3.x? If so, I could use some advise on how to make the one I have sources for compatible with Ultrix 3.x. By the way, is there any Ultrix document on writing device drivers? I've seen a similar document for VMS, but I've never seen one for Ultrix. Thank you. Allan Weber University of Southern California Signal and Image Processing Institute weber%brand@usc.edu
grr@cbmvax.commodore.com (George Robbins) (03/28/90)
In article <23750@usc.edu> weber@brand.usc.edu (Allan G. Weber) writes: > > I have a MicroVAX-II (Ultrix 2.2) system that I am considering updating to > Ultrix 3.1 or whatever is the latest version. My problem is that the > system has two non-DEC device drivers for handling some laboratory > peripherals. > For one I only have an object file and it was written by a > vendor who has since decided to not support Unix systems any more. The > other driver is for a DRV11W and I have sources to it. If the vendor isn't interested in unix, then hopefully you can talk them out of the sources. Object modules aren't healthy, though you might luck out. > Both drivers had to > be changed when we went from Ultrix 1.2 to 2.2. Does anybody know if the > rules for writing drivers changed again between version 2.2 and 3.x? If > so, I could use some advise on how to make the one I have sources for > compatible with Ultrix 3.x. I believe the major things that changed are 1) change over to a single memory allocator (macro) for all kernel level memory allocation and 2) addition of the "get device characteristics" IOCTL. It may be that if your driver is stupid enough (doesn't allocated memory) you can simply ignore these things. > By the way, is there any Ultrix document on > writing device drivers? I've seen a similar document for VMS, but I've > never seen one for Ultrix. I'd check with DEC on this. There *should* be some kind of internal document or other describing the changes needed to convert drivers, but I've never seen anything in the user documentation beyond little cryptic notes about the "register declarations in probe routines" and "memory allocater changes". -- George Robbins - now working for, uucp: {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!grr but no way officially representing: domain: grr@cbmvax.commodore.com Commodore, Engineering Department phone: 215-431-9349 (only by moonlite)