SMC Turbo II Drivers
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Contents:
1. Introduction to SMC ARCNET ODI & Turbo II Driver Diskette v3.0
2. Improvements / fixes found in this Software release
3. New Universal ODI Drivers
4. ARCNET Driver Classification
5. Driver Installation Instructions
6. General Information
Type 1 to 6 to select a particular section or use keys as defined below to
move the screen forward/backward.
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Introduction to SMC ARCNET ODI & Turbo II driver diskette v3.0
1) Introduction to SMC ARCNET ODI & Turbo II driver diskette v3.0
This SMC driver diskette v3.0 contains the latest ARCNET Turbo II server
drivers for Novell NetWare version 2.XX and NetWare 3.XX. Also included are
IPX and ODI workstation drivers. Several of the drivers on this disk are
Novell certified, and others are currently in the Novell certification queue
and will be certified by 2/92.
SMC TurboII drivers comply to the newest ARCNET Packet Header Definition
Standard Rev 3.0, and are compatible with other drivers written to this
standard. They are also compatible with Novell's RXNET and TRXNET drivers.
However, they are not compatible with SMCs' original High Performance (TurboI)
drivers. Therefore, TurboII and TurboI drivers cannot be mixed on a network.
This disk includes a program named OPTION which configures the drivers
according to the ARCNET hardware type, NetWare version, etc. The OPTION
program generates only those drivers for the LAN board selected, copies them
into the destination directory, and removes any previously configured drivers.
NOTE: NetWare 2.0x support is not available on this release.
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Improvements Found in this Software release
2) Improvements Found in this Software release
Several new features and fixes listed below, are now included in this
driver diskette release:
* ODI compliant drivers for workstations and 3.11 servers are now included.
* The dropped workstation connection problem has now been solved through
a change in the driver and Novell 3.11 SPX.
* Problems with running a NACS have been corrected.
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New Universal ODI Drivers:
3) New Universal ODI Drivers:
A New type of driver is available on this disk for workstations and 3.11
servers. They are the universal ODI drivers. The workstation driver named
SMCARCWS.COM will run on the PC100, PC130, PC600, PC500L, and PS110 boards.
The 3.11 server driver named SMCARC.LAN supports the PC600, PC500L, and PS110
boards.
ODI drivers incorporate Novell's new MSM (Media Support Module)
architecture. This architecture enables SMC to quickly make all future new
Novell protocol stacks available to users of SMC LAN cards. When Novell issues
a new protocol stack, SMC ODI drivers are simply re-compiled with the new
Novell MSM. The re-compiled SMC ODI drivers which now operate with the new
protocol can be quickly distributed via Compuserve, put in our standard
products, and made available from Tech Support.
ODI Server Driver
The NetWare 3.11 ODI server driver named SMCARC.LAN is loaded in the same
manner as other NetWare 386 server drivers. The driver can be loaded with or
without command line parameters (I/O port address and Interrupt). The
driver will also prompt for I/O port address and Interrupt if loaded without
parameters. For more information about loading ODI server drivers please
consult the "NetWare Version 3.11 installation" manual
ODI Workstation Driver
The new ODI workstation driver is not generated in the same manner as
an IPX driver. There is no longer any need to perform a WSGEN. Instead
the driver consists of three loadable modules that are all resident
together at runtime. A login script would contain the directives to load
each of the necessary modules. A sample network startup file is shown below.
Sample network startup file for the SMC ODI workstation driver.
LSL ;Loads the Novell Link Support Layer.
SMCARCWS ;Loads the SMC ODI workstation driver.
IPXODI ;Loads the Novell IPX stack support.
NETx ;Loads the Novell workstation shell NETx.COM.
Additionally, workstation configuration parameters such as I/O port,
Interrupt, and Memory address are no longer set through the DCONFIG utility
or by running the WSGEN or SHGEN utilities. The ODI driver reads the board
configuration information from the NET.CFG file located in the same directory
as the SMCARCWS.COM driver. Users can easily modify their configuration in
the NET.CFG file using a ASCII text editor. A sample NET.CFG file is provided
in the root directory of this release disk. The LSL.COM, IPXODI.COM and
NETx.COM shells are distributed by Novell. For more information about ODI
workstation drivers please consult the "NetWare ODI SHELL for DOS" manual.
NOTE: When using Diskless Workstations (i.e. Boot Prom) an additional step is
needed in the login sequence. The file RPLODI.COM needs to be loaded after
the LSL (Link Support Layer) but before loading the SMCARCWS.COM workstation
driver. This module supports remote program load and is available from Novell.
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ARCNET Driver Classification
4) ARCNET Driver Classification
ARCNET boards are categorized into five major software groups:
1. PC100 (Generic 8-bit driver): Early 8 bit boards with SMC9026 or 90C65
ARCNET controller chips use the PC100 family workstation driver. RXNET and
TRXNET drivers can also be used. Boards in this group include the PC100,
PC100M, PC110, PC200, PC200M, PC210, PC250 and many SMC compatible clones.
The PC100 driver is a workstation only driver. If you wish to one of these
boards in the server please use the RXNET or TRXNET drivers.
2. PC130 (SMC 8-bit driver): Newer 8-bit SMC boards with SMC90C63 controller
chips use the PC130 family workstation driver. RXNET and TRXNET drivers
can also be used. Boards in this group include the PC120, PC130, PC130E,
PC220, PC260, and PC270E. The PC130 driver is a workstation only driver.
If you wish to one of these boards in the server please use the RXNET
or TRXNET drivers.
3. PC500 (SMC 16 bit driver): SMC PC500 and PC550 long boards (13.4 inches/
34 cms. long) use the SMC I/O mapped PC500 long drivers. I/O mapped
drivers simplify the installation procedure since the potential for memory
conflicts with other devices is avoided. These boards come in both file
server and workstation models. The file server model includes Nodal
Priority for a major performance improvement. Drivers for both file
servers (2.xx and 3.11) and workstations (IPX and ODI) are provided
on this diskette.
4. PS110/210 (16 bit MCA driver): The PS110/210 boards use SMC PS110 micro-
channel driver. RXNET/2 and TRXNET drivers can also be used. Drivers for
both file servers (2.xx and 3.11) and workstations (IPX and ODI) are
provided on this diskette.
5. PC600 (SMC 16 bit driver): SMC PC600 and PC650 boards (6.25 inches/
15.9 cms. long) use the SMC I/O mapped PC600 drivers. I/O mapped drivers
simplify the installation procedure since the potential for memory
conflicts with other devices is avoided. These boards come in both file
server and workstation models. The file server model includes Nodal
Priority for a major performance improvement. Drivers for both file
servers (2.xx and 3.11) and workstations (IPX and ODI) are provided
on this diskette.
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Driver Installation Instructions
5) Driver Installation Instructions
Floppy Disk Method:
Make a working DISKCOPY of this disk. Enter the OPTION program from the
root directory of the working copy. The first menu table specifies the
NetWare version and the workstation driver type (i.e. ODI or IPX). The next
menu table allows selection of board model, and the last menu table will
select buffer size for NetWare 2.X servers. Press F10 to save the
configuration and write the requested files to the root directory.
Hard Disk or Network Drive:
Create a subdirectory under the NetWare directory titled LAN_DRV_.ARC.
XCOPY the entire contents of this disk, including all subdirectories, into
the LAN_DRV_.ARC directory. From the LAN_DRV_.ARC directory, enter OPTION.
The first menu table specifies the NetWare version and the workstation
driver type (i.e. ODI or IPX). The next menu table allows selection of board
model, and the last menu table will select buffer size for NetWare 2.X
servers. Press F10 to save the configuration and write the requested files
to the LAN_DRV_.ARC directory.
The OPTION program generates and places the required files in the root
directory so WSGEN, SHGEN, or NETGEN can access the appropriate driver.
Note: in the case of the ODI workstation driver, the file SMCARCWS.COM
is placed directly in the root.
Buffer Sizes:
Variable buffer sizes are provided so that NetWare 286 server performance
can be balanced against available "Service Processes". NetWare 2.x servers
have a fixed block of memory which must be shared by many items configured
into the server. After Server generation, all remaining memory in the block
is used for Service Process Buffers. If the remaining memory is not
sufficient, the File Server can not operate efficiently (A minimum of 2 FSP's
are required). Conversely, with too much left, the file server will have
unused resources. In the latter case a larger packet size may be able to
provide higher LAN performance. For more information on service processes,
please see "File Service Processes, the Final Word" (FSP.ZIP Dated April 1990;
This was previously available on the CompuServe netwire NOVA forum).
NOTE: Buffer size on the IPX workstation drivers is always set to LARGE
because the workstation will arbitrate buffer size with the server and always
use the largest common buffer size. Buffer size on NetWare 386 servers is set
via the "set maximum physical receive packet size" parameter in the
STARTUP.NCF file. Other packet size drivers (medium, small, and tiny) are
available upon request from technical support or can be downloaded from our
CompuServe forum (GO SMC).
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General Information:
6) General Information:
LANPATCH:
A potential installation problem may surface on older pre 2.15C NetWare 286
networks that are now being updated with new drivers. Novell initially
assigned LAN card manufacturers a unique one byte hardware ID number to encode
into each LAN card driver .LAN file. Upon recently consuming all 256 numbers,
they expanded the ID number to two bytes. Some of the drivers on this disk use
the newer style two byte hardware ID. The two byte ID can conflict with
NetWare versions previous to 2.15c. Novell provides a 'LANPATCH' utility to
correct this problem. LANPATCH converts the newer style two byte ID to the
older style one byte ID allowing drivers that use the new ID style to function
correctly with older versions of NetWare. This condition exists with both the
SHGEN and NETGEN utilities. Syntax for applying the LANPATCH fix is as follows:
LANPATCH driver_name.LAN <new ID byte>
Where: driver_name.LAN= the file name of the driver to be modified.
new ID byte= any decimal number between 1 and 254 that is not already
in use by another LAN driver on that network. (note: this is a hit or
miss operation, your chance of success is 255 to 1!).
NetWare 2.2 Driver RAM space allocation:
Novell has reduced the amount of RAM space allocated for drivers in
NetWare 2.2. The impact is that you may not have enough RAM space for multiple
(3 or 4) LAN cards if you are also using a very large SCSI or ESDI disk drive
or subsystem. SMC is working on and will soon have drivers available that will
alleviate this condition.
EGA / VGA Hardware Conflicts:
On some ARCNET NIC's there is a possible hardware conflict using a base I/O
port address of 2E0H. Standard EGA and VGA controllers use a base I/O port
address of 9AE0H. The lower ten bits of this address is 2E0H. Since many
NIC's decode only ten bits of I/O address space, using 2E0H as an I/O base
address may cause unreliable operation in the ARCNET NIC. Therefore it is
strongly recomended that users configure their NIC's for some other I/O port
address when running with either EGA or VGA controllers. A good choice is 300H.
A reminder...For your convenience, SMC maintains a Forum on CompuServe.
Just type GO SMC at any CompuServe prompt for the latest driver and product
information...Thank You for using SMC products!
