*BSD News Article 33178


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From: hcubed@news.delphi.com (HCUBED@DELPHI.COM)
Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions
Subject: Re: Support for AHA-2740/T SCSI
Date: 25 Jul 1994 04:44:52 -0000
Organization: Delphi Internet Services Corporation
Lines: 37
Message-ID: <30vg04$m2j@news.delphi.com>
References: <CstyJ0.5AC@on.bell.ca> <2vup9e$787@csugrad.cs.vt.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: news.delphi.com

I'd like to added my $.02 worth.

Against the advice of the newsgroup, I'd thought that I'd like to write a 
driver for the 2742. So, I bought the card (with a 30 day return 
agreement), and proceeded to get the documentation from Adaptec. The 
first 2 weeks were spent waiting for them to not send the requested 
documentation. Then, I got indignant, (actually the trick to getting docs 
from Adaptec is to get righteously indignant), and the hardware 
description of the board was sent overnight. Unfortunately, I found that 
2 other documents are needed to write a driver, a MORE detailed hareware 
description, and the 7770 chip description were needed. So, after more 
indignation, they were sent overnight (although it took a week to get 
them). Well, after reading all 3 books, I figured out that yet another 
bit of documentation was needed, the description of the chip firmware 
that resides on the card (I don't mind writing a Unix device driver, but 
I draw the line at writing a firmware download). anyway, I had about 2 
days left on the return policy for the card, I returned it instead of 
getting even more indignant (I only have so much indignation, and I would 
prefer not to waste it). I did ASK them for the manual, I've yet to hear 
back from them, it's been about 4 weeks. 

So, if anyone else would like to swim upstream for a while, I've got 3 of 
the manuals that you'll need to write the driver. And I got them without 
signing the dreaded non disclosure agreement. Also, 2 things you should 
know about dealing with Adaptec Support: 1) Get righteously indignant 
with them, not rude, but let them how put out by this problem, 2) As soon 
as they answer the phone, tell them that you're writing a Unix device 
driver, not an ASPI driver. I found that they were setup to work with 
ASPI developers.

Thats about all, BTW, I now have a BT742 card which I'm having trouble 
with, but see the other note for that problem

Thanks,
grant
(hcubed@delphi.com)