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eComStation PC: PCMCIA/Cardbus/Expresscard

Started by Glenn, 2008.07.24, 20:25:59

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Glenn

http://www.os2world.com/content/view/18225/2/
QuotePosted by Martin Iturbide - Thursday, 24 July 2008


Are you in. .. .

For those who do not read the newsgroups: Names are being collected for those who would like to buy from APSoft an UPDATED version of their drivers. APSoft needs 30 people to register for the drivers to be produced.

Please also list the adapter you would like to get support for so that the minimum requirements can be sent to APSoft.

AyPP

BigWarpGuy

http://www.tssc.de/web/forms/buy_now.htm?PCMCIA%20ATAPI%20CD-ROM%20Driver%20for%20OS/2
"PCMCIA ATAPI CD-ROM Driver for OS/2"
http://www.tssc.de/web/forms/buy_now.htm?Socket%20Services%20for%20OS/2
"Socket Services for OS/2"
Which one would be better? or perhaps get both?

Perhaps if one would to purchase the current ones for OS/2 and also signed up/suggested newer versions, they see they there are those who are willing to pay for and be motivated to produce newer versions?  ???

http://ecomstation.ru/support.php I sent an e-mail about an OS/2-eCS version of their CardWare 7.0.  8)

cytan

#2
Just out of curiosity, will this help with my  PCMCIA USB2.0 card? Right now our usb drivers don't see the USB 2.0 slots on this PCMCIA card. I've also paid a bounty for getting this to work.

cytan

Glenn

I think that the PCMCIA CD driver can only be used for connecting external PCMCIA CD-ROM drives, which are quite rare now but used to be more common in the past for notebooks when USB was not around.

As for the Socket Services, its function is not to add USB compatibility to PCMCIA, but to have PCMCIA support for those who do not have any support at all. I could maybe ask APSoft if they know anything about the compatibility of their drivers with USB over PCMCIA and if they can do anything for that (or if this has to be done by someone else). This request will be forwarded to them as soon as we reach the level of 30 interested people, so that they see they may get even more customers if they work on USB.

What I would like everyone to tell me is the chipset that needs to be supported by a possible version 8. For instance, my mom's laptop (Sony VGN-AR21S) has an unsupported PCMCIA chip:

0a:03.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 Cardbus Controller (as seen on http://gentoo-wiki.com/HARDWARE_Sony_Vaio_VGN-AR21S)

which I would like support for.

Glenn

Here is an answer to a few of the questions that have arisen lately:

Q: full list of supported chips:

A: http://www.tssc.de/download/docs/List%20of%20Supported%20Controller%20Chips.pdf

(Note that the list is dated August 2007, so hopefully they will add some more this August. Consequently, if we reach the 30 orders, we should wait until the the start of September and a possible new list to send the order)

Q: Is it possible to produce a driver that is ACPI/APIC compliant ?

A: No. Nobody will pay for such development. 30 licenses is our cost for re-release, QA and archive new driver only. Adding of features will create more costs.

Q: Any possibility of an agreement between SSI and TSSC/APSoft to decrease the price of the driver for eComStation users ?

A: We cannot reduce price on our side. Very few people are paying for license. It's not worst for us to maintain such driver.
It will be more logical if Serenity buy OEM license, however they never asked us for it.

Q: Any tips to the OS/2 community as to how to get USB through PCMCIA supported?

It's not possible because there is no standard for such devices (like it is for PCMCIA). Therefore it's not possible to write driver that supports multiple devices. We have the same problem under Windows.

I hope this answers your questions too.

AyPP

Radek

(a) My unsupported cardbus controller: TI 6411, it should be supported in ver. 7.05, TI 6411 isn't supported by anything else.
(b) The ACPI problem: AFAIK, SMP kernel will not run without ACPI. Therefore, problems with ACPI will result in problems on all multi-CPU machines, that means, on a majority of machines today. IMO, making the cardbus driver "not fighting" with APIC at least seems to be necessary.

MrJinx

I have a Dell Latitude D410. It has the TI7515 CB controller.

Per the Apsoft Support PDF,

Note 3:   Texas Instruments TI1515/4515/6515/7515 are not supported in any CardWare release prior to Feb
          02, 2005
        • CardWare for Windows NT 7.00.005 and prior
        • CardWare for DOS/Windows 7.00.005 and prior
        • OS/2 Socket Services driver released prior to Aug 07, 2004.
And the fact I purchased the Apsoft Driver in 2004 + the upgrade in 2006,

This cardbus has never been functional. The Supported list does not show this device but the notes do reference it.

Will the device work if a purchase a 3rd upgrade? I bought the driver upgrade for this specific Cardbus controller.

I can't tell you how many hours and combination of switches I have tried to get this controller working.