spec - Local Sector 7 web page

Installing Driver sIn the early history of spec, much of the hardware communication was done throughdrivers. A driver is a piece of software that becomes part of the operating system andallows spec to communicate with the particular hardware the driver supports or performssome other function not available with the standard operating system. Mostcurrent configurations of spec do not require any CSS-provided drivers.Note that for many PC configurations where spec once required use of a driver, specnow supports driverless configurations. The hardware is controlled directly fromuser level using inb()/outb() type of calls. Frequent polling of status registersreplaces the use of interrupts. The performance of spec using polled mode seems tobe as effective as the interrupt-driven drivers. Those configurations that do requirespec drivers are described below.The files for spec drivers are in the drivers subdirectory of the standard distribution.If the file drive.tar.Z exists in the directory, run the TYPEME script to extract thedriver files. A README file in that directory contains up-to-date information aboutthe currently available drivers and instructions on installing them.Some hardware devices on some platforms, such as the National Instruments GPIBcontrollers on most platforms, require a vendor-supplied driver.spec drivers are available for the items in the following list.•The DSP 6001/6002 CAMAC crate controller with the DSP PC004 IBM PC interfaceon System V release 3.2 and 4.x, SCO XENIX 386 3.2.3 and SCO UNIX platforms.Note, this controller can also be used in a driverless configuration, whereall I/O to the CAMAC is through user-level inb()/outb() calls. Contact CSS todiscuss performance considerations.•The Kinetic Systems 3922 CAMAC controller and 2926 PC board on on System Vrelease 3.2 and 4.x platforms. Note, this controller can also be used in a driverlessconfiguration, where all I/O to the CAMAC is through user-level inb()/outb()calls. Contact CSS to discuss performance considerations.•The Kinetic Systems 3912 CAMAC controller on BSD and ULTRIX platforms.•The Kinetic Systems 3929 SCSI CAMAC crate controller on SunOS 4.1 andSolaris 2.x platforms. Note, this controller can be used on HP-UX platforms withspecial code built into spec ¢ £ odriver is necessary.•The Oregon Micro Systems PCX, PC38 or PC39 PC board motor controller on SystemV release 3.2 and 4.x platforms. It is also possible to use this board in adriverless, polled mode. Contact CSS to discuss performance considerations.INTERIM WORK-IN-PROGRESS (8/16/01) NOT FOR GENERAL DISTRIBUTION ADMINISTRATOR’S GUIDE 193