*BSD News Article 13928


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Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.development
Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!saimiri.primate.wisc.edu!caen!batcomputer!cornell!uw-beaver!cs.ubc.ca!unixg.ubc.ca!kakwa.ucs.ualberta.ca!acs.ucalgary.ca!cpsc.ucalgary.ca!ajfcal!novatel!hpeyerl
From: hpeyerl@novatel.cuc.ab.ca (Herb Peyerl)
Subject: 3c509 partial driver.
Message-ID: <1993Mar31.203554.5253@novatel.cuc.ab.ca>
Sender: news@novatel.cuc.ab.ca (The UseNet USER)
Organization: "NovAtel Communications Ltd. Calgary, Alberta, Canada"
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL8]
Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1993 20:35:54 GMT
Lines: 53

Hi;

Our news is about 12 days behind due to some upstream monkeying so excuse
me if this is redundant...

I have started work on a 3Com Etherlink III (3c509) driver with every 
intention of completing the task...

However; I'm undergoing some pretty heavy personal problems and will be
unable to devote any time to this project for quite some time so I'm 
willing to offer what I have so far to any individual who feels that
they'll be able to intelligently continue the work.

Currently; I have ep_probe() and ep_attach() routines that appear to 
do their jobs in a sane manner; I also have an ep_ioctl() that seems
pretty sane... The card is seen by the kernel and reports it's hardware
address during config as well as the connectors that are on the back
of the card (BNC, AUI, 10Base-T).  It also sort of ifconfig's and that's
about as far as I've gotten.

What is needed is work on the interrupt handlers; the mbuf transfers; and
some minor cleanup.  There may also be quite a task in terms of opt-
imization ahead since the card apparently suffers under high-interrupt
latency's... 

I've put a fair bit into documenting the code that I have so far but
please don't bombard me with requests... I would suggest that anyone
who is seriously interested in undertaking this; write/fax/call 3com
and get the manual FIRST; then read it; and decide then whether you
want to continue... If you decide that you understand the manual and
can competently continue; then feel free to email me and I will send
what I have.

I've found the people at 3Com VERY willing to provide documentation for
their products; especially to people who have written prior drivers
for their cards... But please; out of kindness, don't inundate them with 
requests unless you are serious about this...

Also; please reply via Email since any news posting won't actually reach
here for close to 2 weeks...

Thanx.

--
"I was early to finish | hpeyerl@novatel.cuc.ab.ca <Reply-To>   | I brew |
I was late to start, I | peyerlh@cuug.ab.ca                     | there- | 
might be an adult, but | #define JANITOR "Network Anal-yst"     | fore I | 
I'm a minor at heart." |    JANITOR, NovAtel Communications Ltd.|   AM.  |
-- 
"I was early to finish | hpeyerl@novatel.cuc.ab.ca <Reply-To>   | I brew |
I was late to start, I | peyerlh@cuug.ab.ca                     | there- | 
might be an adult, but | #define JANITOR "Network Anal-yst"     | fore I | 
I'm a minor at heart." |    JANITOR, NovAtel Communications Ltd.|   AM.  |