On 8/18/10 3:33 PM, Doc Shipley wrote:
This is a bit off topic, I guess, and a repeat,
but ClassicCmp is still
probably the best place to ask.
My company runs a bunch of HP83000 mainframes (F330 models) in product
testing. We're tied to Agilent SmarTest v5.x-6.03 running on HP/UX
v10.20 for test vectors.
SmarTest interfaces with the test frame via an Agilent-branded fiber
optic PCI adapter. The card is marked E2777B, p/n A3850-0583. It's a
buffered serial adapter on a PCI bridge and that's all we know about it.
SmarTest will run on HP/UX 11i, but the interface drivers will not
load. We don't have source to the drivers in question, the card itself
is, as far as we can discover, entirely undocumented, and neither HP nor
Agilent has any interest in maintenance or further development.
My company will pay a fair boatload of cash for an 11i-compatible
driver. If you're interested and have the background& skills to tackle
this, contact me off-list.
I looked into this at length when you mentioned it about a year ago,
and I concluded that you're basically screwed. :-(
Your only option, as far as I can see, is to try to reverse-engineer
that drivers and fix whatever's preventing it from loading under 11i.
That's the general idea. Jonathan's the only one here that possibly
could do that, and he's already working 70-hour weeks....
One option we've discussed and that would be perfectly acceptable is
ditching the Agilent adapter altogether. The comms protocol for the
HP83000 is well-documented, and the transport looks to be standard 25Mhz
multi-mode FC. If we could make some other FC adapter look right to the
software, that would be even better than a new driver for an aging
adapter that costs $5k on eBay....
Doc