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>Return-Path: <Norma.Adamson@East.Sun.COM>
>Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 11:25:43 -0400 (EDT)
>From: Norma Adamson <Norma.Adamson@East.Sun.COM>
>Reply-To: Norma Adamson <Norma.Adamson@East.Sun.COM>
I thought some of you might be interested in the following
note from Sun Solaris UNIX technical support regarding the
decision to abandon support for notebook systems. I would
hope a third party developer (perhaps even college student
or technical guru with some time on his hands might think
about writing a third party driver for Adaptec SlimSCSI).
The source code for the Linux and BSD versions of SlimSCSI
driver are readily available on the network. It should be
a relatively trivial matter to adapt these drivers to the
Sun Solaris system. PCMCIA socket services are already
implemented. There might even be a few bucks in spending
a few nights implementing a driver for Adaptec SlimSCSI on
notebook systems.
Cheers,
Alexander J. Annala
UCLA School of Medicine
p.s. Anyone interested in seeing Sun Solaris support for
IBM Thinkpads might consider writing to:
Norma.Adamson@East.Sun.COM
with a request for Adaptec SlimSCSI support and indicating
that at least some notebook users would be interested in a
Sun Solaris product usable on notebook systems.
>Subject: driver request: Adaptec SlimSCSI
>To: annala@ucla.edu
>Content-MD5: kvx+mC7I4XivILieJ29/qw==
>
>Thank you for your request for driver support. Unfortunately,
>Engineering has informed us that there will be no further driver
>development for notebook computers.
>
>SunSoft has indicated that further infomation explaining their
>position regarding the suspension of laptop support will be
>posted on access1.sun.com.
>
>Thank you,
>Sun Microsystems Technical Support
>
>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>Name: Dr. Alexander J. Annala
>>Email Address: annala@ucla.edu
>>Solaris X86 Version: Solaris 2.6
>>Device Type: SCSI Host Adapter
>>Device Manufacturer: Adaptec
>>Device Name: SlimSCSI
>>
>>Comments:
>>Do you have now -- or could you implement in the near
>>future -- Solaris 2.6 support for Adaptec SlimSCSI
>>adaptor -- and possibly SCSI CD-ROM and Tape Drives?
>>------------------------------------------------------------
>Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 11:15:53 -0700
>To: Norma Adamson <Norma.Adamson@East.Sun.COM>
>From: "Alexander J. Annala" <annala@ucla.edu>
>Subject: Re: driver request: Adaptec SlimSCSI
>
>Dear Norma,
>
>This decision is indeed a pity. I was remotely involved with
>SCO's decisionmaking regarding support for notebook computers.
>Basically, whether or not notebooks were the primary target
>market for delivery of UNIX system, SCO recognized that the
>people who acquired and installed UNIX on notebook systems
>were key decisionmakers (corporate executives, development
>managers, and technical gurus) who would be making decisions
>about which UNIX systems to deploy throughout their company.
>
>To totally abandon the notebook community is to put SCO in
>the lead position for the personal systems of decisionmakers
>who will likely select SCO's UNIX systems in preference to
>SUN's Solaris systems due to their intrinsic familiarity with
>SCO quality and their antipathy towards SUN's lack of support.
>
>You already support several notebook video systems. You have
>implemented PCMCIA socket services. You already have 3C589x
>networking support. Why not implement a SCSI driver to give
>support for generic DAT tape and generic CD-ROM drives? This
>would make your system usable on notebook systems. Without
>at least a generic means of loading your software and making
>system backups few decisionmakers are going to be impressed
>with SUN's support for their needs.
>
>I suppose I could write these drivers if necessary. But, I'm
>working on gene therapy for Fragile X mental retardation. I
>have the skills to do driver development. My future, support,
>and interests are now in the biomedical field.
>
>Alexander J. Annala, Ph.D.
>UCLA School of Medicine