Subject: EXTREMELY ALPHA ARCnet drivers ready for testing
From: [email-masked] (Avery Pennarun)
Date: Thu, 6 Oct 1994 14:56:55 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.announce

[Note: due to popular demand (gee, you people are fast!) I have put together
a kernel patch for Linux 1.1.51 that now makes it much easier to install the
drivers]

Yes, here it is... for those of us who have been waiting such a long time!

These are the ARCnet drivers for Linux.  The present testing level is ALPHA. 
That means KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN AND BE CAREFUL, and send all possible
success/failure reports to me.  If I don't know when/if/how it works, I
won't be able to answer people's questions.  Do we want that?  Of course
not.

NOTE:  If you are afraid of ALPHA drivers, then you should be especially
        afraid of this one.  It is in early stages, and while it works quite
        well for ME, no one else I know has made these work. (of course, no
        one else I know has ARCnet cards :)

NOTE:  There are various known bugs.  Please read the top of the arcnet.c
	file for more information.

NOTE:  This driver was tested only on kernels 1.1.45 and higher, so it may
        be in your best interests to upgrade to that if nothing seems to
        work. (v1.1.51 is highly recommended, since that's what this patch
	was built on)

      **** As of v0.11, these drivers work with ARCEther for DOS! ****

Where do I discuss these drivers?
---------------------------------

My news server is weird, so the NET channel of linux-activists may be the
best idea if you want to include me in the discussion :).  Send e-mail to me
at one of the addresses below (pick one!) if you want to send bug reports
straight to the author:
	[email-masked]
	[email-masked]

Obviously you're free to use the comp.os.linux.development newsgroup, but I
can't guarantee I'll see it there. (Hopefully, if my news server stays sane,
I will.)

When is a "real" release expected?
----------------------------------

When enough people have tried the alpha and verified the abscence of bugs. 
This isn't likely to happen soon, since even _I_ know of some bugs; however,
it does work reasonably well (ie. it IS usable for most things) and I know
there is a great demand for ARCnet drivers, so Alpha testing starts now.

Last warning:  This driver may be extremely dangerous, crash your computer,
or kill your dog!  (although I'm pretty sure that I've worked that last bug
out... poor Rover...)

How do I install this thing?
----------------------------
[snip]
(you probably don't care yet)

Availability
------------

Also due to popular demand, they have been uploaded to sunsite.  The LSM
entry follows:

Begin3
Title:          ARCnet drivers for Linux
Version:        0.12 EXTREMELY ALPHA
Entered-date:   October 2, 1994
Description:    The source code and kernel patch you need to use ARCnet
                cards with Linux 1.1.51.  As of 0.11, it will now talk to
                the DOS version of the ARCether packet driver.
Keywords:       arcnet, net, network, tcpip
Author:         Avery Pennarun ([email-masked])
Maintained-by:  Avery Pennarun ([email-masked])
Primary-site:   sunsite.unc.edu /pub/Linux/system/Network/drivers
		16k arcnet-0.12.tar.gz
Platform:       ARCnet cards (two or more) :)
Copying-policy: GPL
End

--
Avery Pennarun
  807-CITY - Technical Services / Information Provider Training Committee
  Internet: [email-masked] [OR] [email-masked]

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