Xref: utzoo comp.unix.ultrix:6417 comp.sys.dec:5165
Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!munnari.oz.au!yoyo.aarnet.edu.au!sirius.ucs.adelaide.edu.au!augean!sibyl!ian
From: ian@sibyl.eleceng.ua.OZ (Ian Dall)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.ultrix,comp.sys.dec
Subject: Adding 3rd party peripherals to a DecStation 5xxx.
Message-ID: <897@sibyl.eleceng.ua.OZ>
Date: 3 Mar 91 00:02:06 GMT
Reply-To: ian@sibyl.eleceng.ua.OZ (Ian Dall)
Organization: Engineering, Uni of Adelaide, Australia
Lines: 21

We are getting a DecStation 5xxx (not sure which one here) but it
hasn't arrived yet so I can't "look and see" what comes as standard in
Ultrix. I want to put a QIC-24 compatable SCSI interface tape drive on
the system. In the future we might want to put other 3rd party SCSI
devices on it.

What I want to know, is whether Ultrix device drivers allow this.  On
at least one other SCSI based system I know of, the minor device no.
is mapped into SCSI unit numbers so that adding a new tape is just a
matter of mknod'ing the correct entry in /dev.  We will have one (non
QIC-24) DEC tape drive so a tape driver will be there.

How difficult is it to add new device drivers? Is the interface
between the SCSI interface and the tape and disk drivers well defined?
Is source for the device drivers supplied?

-- 
Ian Dall          I'm not into isms, but hedonism is the most
                  harmless I can think of. -- Phillip Adams
  ACSnet: ian@sibyl.eleceng.ua.oz
internet: ian@sibyl.eleceng.ua.oz.au