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Date:      Thu, 22 Feb 1996 20:43:51 +0100
From:      se@zpr.uni-koeln.de (Stefan Esser)
To:        "Stephen P. Burch" <sburch@comput.cs.mci.com>
Cc:        questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Does the Flashpoint LT SCSI Adaptor by  BusLogic inc. have a FreeBSD driver?
Message-ID:  <199602221943.AA12077@Sysiphos>
In-Reply-To: "Stephen P. Burch" <sburch@comput.cs.mci.com> "Does the Flashpoint LT SCSI Adaptor by  BusLogic inc. have a FreeBSD driver?" (Feb 22,  9:57)

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On Feb 22,  9:57, "Stephen P. Burch" wrote:
} Subject: Does the Flashpoint LT SCSI Adaptor by  BusLogic inc. have a Free
} I ordered a system and it came in with  a FlashPoint LT Host SCSI
} Adapter, manufactured by BusLogic Inc.  You can get to their home page
} at http://www.buslogic.com/.  I want to install FreeBSD on my system but
} apparently there is not a driver for the FlashPoint LT card yet?
} I this true or is there a driver for FreeBSD?

The Flashpoint won't be a good choice for any 
system running a free OS for quite some time 
to come, since BusLogic is not giving away the
necessary information to write device drivers.

Seems they are following the bad precedent set
by Adaptec :(

Try to complain to the dealer that sold you that 
system, or call BusLogic for a replacement by a
BT948C which is supported by free operating systems
(according to some article I read the 946C driver
will work with very minor modifications, if you do
not want to take advantage of Fast-20, which the
948 supports over the 946).

It has been announced on some Linux newsgroup, 
that BusLogic will charge you $45 for that upgrade,
if you claim to be running Linux :)

Quoting from a message to "Comp.os.linux.announce"
by "Leonard N. Zubkoff" <lnz@dandelion.com>:

% BusLogic is not prepared at this time to release the information necessary
% for third parties to write drivers for the FlashPoint.  The only existing
% FlashPoint drivers have been written directly by BusLogic Engineering, and
% there is no FlashPoint documentation sufficiently detailed to allow outside
% developers to write a driver without substantial assistance.  While there
% are people at BusLogic who would rather not release the details of the
% FlashPoint architecture at all, that debate has not yet been settled either
% way.  In any event, even if documentation were available today it would
% take quite a while for a usable driver to be written, especially since I'm
% not convinced that the effort required would be worthwhile.

% BusLogic asked me to send this announcement since a large percentage of the
% questions regarding support for the FlashPoint have either been sent to me
% directly via email, or have appeared in the Linux newsgroups in which I
% participate.  To summarize, BusLogic is offering Linux users an upgrade
% from the unsupported FlashPoint LT (BT-930) to the supported BT-948 for US
% $45.  Contact BusLogic Technical Support at techsup@buslogic.com or +1 408
% 654-0760 to take advantage of their offer.

Regards, STefan
-- 
 Stefan Esser, Zentrum fuer Paralleles Rechnen		Tel:	+49 221 4706021
 Universitaet zu Koeln, Weyertal 80, 50931 Koeln	FAX:	+49 221 4705160
 ==============================================================================
 http://www.zpr.uni-koeln.de/~se			  <se@ZPR.Uni-Koeln.DE>



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