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Date:      Tue, 23 Oct 2001 12:03:59 -0700
From:      Darryl Okahata <darrylo@soco.agilent.com>
To:        Mike Smith <msmith@FreeBSD.ORG>
Cc:        "Plucker, Prentice" <prentice.plucker@lodgenet.com>, "'freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org'" <freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG>
Subject:   Re: New Pormise ATA raid controller 
Message-ID:  <200110231904.MAA15156@mina.soco.agilent.com>
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 23 Oct 2001 11:17:23 PDT." <200110231817.f9NIHNI01584@mass.dis.org> 

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Mike Smith <msmith@FreeBSD.ORG> wrote:

> > Promise just anounced a new ATA raid controller , the Supertrak SX6000, that
> > looks like a good solutuon with 3ware no longer producing there ATA cards.
> > From what I understand Promise has this controller running on Linux and the
> > source code is available.
> 
> I'm not seeing any sources or documentation.  The usual deal applies, 
> though; if someone can supply enough reference material to develop a 
> driver, and a sample card, I'll take a crack at it.

     The linux sources appear to be in the "Alan Cox tree", and the
linux SX6000 driver is described as using an "i2o_block interface".
See:

	http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=lang_en&threadm=linux.kernel.E15vKkf-0006o5-00%40the-village.bc.nu&rnum=1&prev=/groups%3Fhl%3Den%26lr%3Dlang_en%26selm%3Dlinux.kernel.E15vKkf-0006o5-00%2540the-village.bc.nu

It's unclear if the monitoring tools will work with linux, though
(Promise's object-only drivers do not support monitoring).

     The press announcement looks interesting: dedicated i960 processor,
parity HW, and up to 128MB cache RAM.  However, for some reason, the
fact that they're hyping their ASIC bothers me.  From the press
announcement:

	SuperTrak SX6000 uses Promise Technology's best-selling Ultra
	ATA/100 ASIC chip to automatically recognize and configure the
	optimal speed for most Ultra ATA/100, Ultra ATA/66, Ultra
	ATA/33, and EIDE drives. The ASIC has been used in more than one
	million controllers and PCs worldwide through OEMs and
	distribution channels.

Isn't this the same chip that's used in their low-end "raid"
controllers?

-- 
	Darryl Okahata
	darrylo@soco.agilent.com

DISCLAIMER: this message is the author's personal opinion and does not
constitute the support, opinion, or policy of Agilent Technologies, or
of the little green men that have been following him all day.

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