asr and the modern era

[Scott Long]

Jon Noack wrote:
> Hey all,
> I have an Adaptec 2100s, a spare machine (i386), and no lif^H^H^H 
> project at the moment.  It seems that the asr driver is rather unloved. 
>  I would like to rectify that in my awkward, teenage boy 
> coming-into-his-own way...
> 
> I'm not familiar with any of the code in question, so this will be a 
> learning experience for me.  I hope it will be beneficial for me and 
> others.  What I would greatly appreciate is any help/pointers to get me 
> on my way.  My (admittedly uninformed) goal is to complete the steps 
> outlined on the busdma page 
> (http://www.freebsd.org/projects/busdma/index.html).  I contacted David 
> O'Brien about any progress he's made but have not heard back from him (I 
> assume not much has happened here).  I would especially appreciate 
> comments from those who have performed these same steps for other 
> drivers.  I hope to acquire an amd64 machine at some point to help test 
> these changes.
> 
> Given my lack of experience, this is a bit overwhelming, but I plan to 
> dive right in.  Direction to the deep end of the pool would be very 
> helpful ;-).
> 
> Thanks,
> Jon Noack
> 

This driver needs bus_dma love, bus_space love, style(9) love, and a
general audit and cleanup of it's use of kernel APIs.  I recommend
taking a canary with you and evacuting the room when the driver starts 
sucking the oxygen out of the room =-)  Barring that, I'm happy to
answer questions.

Scott