Note: Some people with motherboards based on non-Intel chipsets have encountered problems with the FlashPoint driver. In some cases, the following patch has corrected the problems. Because this patch potentially changes the timing of the SCSI bus, it will not be incorporated in the standard driver until it has had substantial testing.
General instructions for recompiling the Linux kernel are in the file "linux/README" in the kernel source distribution. Instructions for installing the BusLogic driver into the kernel source tree are towards the end of the file "README.BusLogic" in the driver release. Please see the release notes for a more complete description of the changes in this version of the driver.
Note: The parsing of driver options from the kernel command line has been changed incompatibly as of version 2.0.11; be sure to read the updated documentation before installation.
In October 1996 Mylex/BusLogic issued a press release announcing support for the FlashPoint SCSI Host Adapters on Linux. BusLogic has provided me with the FlashPoint Driver Developer's Kit, which comprises documentation and freely redistributable source code for the FlashPoint SCCB Manager. The SCCB Manager is the library of code that runs on the host CPU and performs functions analogous to the firmware on the MultiMaster host adapters. Thanks to BusLogic's release of the SCCB Manager, the Linux BusLogic driver now supports the FlashPoint Host Adapters as well.
If you are planning to install Linux on a SCSI disk controlled by a FlashPoint, you will need to start from a boot kernel or other installation media that has FlashPoint support. If the distribution you wish to install is not listed below, please contact them and inquire about FlashPoint support. Once the basic system installation is completed, be sure to update the BusLogic driver to the latest version.
Please be advised that I cannot assist with general installation problems for Slackware, Red Hat, or other Linux distributions. My personal systems are not based on any specific Linux distribution and hence I have no experience installing them.
Be sure to join the BusLogic Announcements Mailing List to be informed of new driver and firmware versions.
The 1.2.6 version of the driver for Linux 1.2.13 is still available, though no further development is planned since 2.0.x kernels have now been around for quite a while.
To join, send a message to buslogic-announce-request@dandelion.com with the line "subscribe" in the message body. (ED: This may now be defunct; the text is included here for search reasons.)
My personal philosophy is that I'd rather run an unreleased version that has fixes for bugs that I or other Linux users have encountered, than a formally released version that has known bugs. It is believed that any firmware version available here would pass formal testing, but that cannot be verified without completing the full testing procedure. If you have a similar philosophy in this regard, then BusLogic has allowed me to make available to you the same firmware I am running on my own systems. The choice is yours.
Firmware 5.07B and BIOS 4.96I completed testing and were officially released on 6 August 1997.
Note: There have now been several reports of timeout and miscellaneous problems with firmware 5.07B that were not present with 5.06J. If you encounter any problems with 5.07B, please revert to 5.06J and report the problems to Mylex HBA Technical Support.
The procedure for updating the Firmware and BIOS on a BT-948/958/958D is quite simple:
If you should need to restore the previous released (5.06I) or unreleased (5.06J) firmware versions for any reason, they are still available for retrieval via these links: