
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE:  See also README.arcnet-jumpers in this directory for jumper-setting
information if you're like many of us and didn't happen to get a manual with
your ARCnet card.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since no one seems to listen to me otherwise, perhaps a poem will get your
attention:
			This is alpha software
			If it works I DO CARE.
			
Hmm, I think I'm allowed to call that a poem, even though it's only two
lines.  Hey, I'm in Computer Science, not English.  Give me a break.

The point is:  I REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY want to hear from you if
you test this and get it working.  Or if you don't.  Or anything.

ARCnet 0.32 ALPHA first made it into the Linux kernel 1.1.80 - this was
nice, but after that even FEWER people started writing to me because they
didn't even have to install the patch.  <sigh>

Come on, be a sport!  Send me a success report!

(hey, that was even better than my original poem... this is getting bad!)

Anyway, enough complaining.  Let's get started:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
			
These are the ARCnet drivers for Linux.

We're now back to more ALPHA releases after the 1.01 release which made it
into Linux 1.2.2, so please 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.

Once again:  DO send me success reports!  I want to know if this is working!
(You know, it might be argued that I'm pushing this point a little too much. 
If you think so, why not flame me in a quick little e-mail?  Please also
include the type of card(s) you're using, software, size of network, and
whether it's working or not.)

My e-mail address is:
	apenwarr@foxnet.net


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

There is a mailing list specifically for discussion of the ARCnet drivers
for Linux, and anything you might want to interface them with (ie. DOS). 
I'll also post new versions of the Linux-ARCnet distribution to the list in
tar-gzip-uuencode format.

To subscribe to the list, send a message to listserv@807-city.on.ca
with the following line in the BODY (not the SUBJECT) of your message:
	subscribe linux-arcnet YOUR REAL NAME
Remember to remove your signature, or you'll get an error back.

Send all bug (or success) reports to me or to the list.

The people on linux-net@vger.rutgers.edu have also been known to be very
helpful! :)


Other Drivers and Info
----------------------

Also, SMC (one of the companies that makes ARCnet cards) has a WorldWideWeb
site you might be interested in, which includes several drivers for various
cards including ARCnet.  Try:
	http://www.smc.com/
	
Performance Technologies makes various network software that supports
ARCnet.
	http://www.perftech.com/ or ftp to ftp.perftech.com.
	
Novell makes a networking stack for DOS which includes ARCnet drivers.  Try
ftp'ing to ftp.novell.com.

You can get the Crynwr packet driver collection (including arcether.com, the
one you'll want for arcnet cards) from oak.oakland.edu:/simtel/msdos/pktdrvr.
It won't work perfectly on a 386+ without patches, though, and also doesn't
like several cards.  Mail me if you want a fixed version.  (Ahem:  I may or
may not have a 100% fixed version by the time I get your mail!)


Loadable Module Support
-----------------------

This is a available starting with 0.42 ALPHA.

Configure and rebuild Linux.  When asked, say NO to "arcnet support" if you
want loadable module support.

	make config
	make dep
	make clean	
	make zImage
	make modules
	
	
Booting into your "ARCnet" Kernel
---------------------------------

If you're using a loadable module, you need to use insmod to load the
module, and you need to specify various characteristics of your card on the
command line.  For example:
	cd /usr/src/linux/modules
	insmod arcnet.o io=0x300 irqnum=2 shmem=0xd0000
You can also add a num=1, num=2 etc for additional arcnet cards that will
use arc1, arc2 etc for their device names (instead of the default, arc0).
	
Otherwise the driver will load and probe for your card automatically.
	
Now go read the NET-2-HOWTO and ETHERNET-HOWTO for Linux; they should be
available where you picked up this driver.  Think of your ARCnet as a
souped-up (or down, as the case may be) ethernet card.

By the way, be sure to change all references from "eth0" to "arc0" in the
HOWTOs.  Remember that ARCnet isn't a "true" ethernet, and the device name
is DIFFERENT.


How do I get it to work with...?
--------------------------------

NFS: Should be fine linux->linux, just pretend you're using ethernet cards. 
        oak.oakland.edu:/simtel/msdos/nfs has some nice DOS clients.  There
        is also a DOS-based NFS server called SOSS.  It doesn't multitask
        quite the way Linux does (actually, it doesn't multitask AT ALL) but
        you never know what you might need.

DOS: If you're using the freeware arcether.com, you might want to install
        the source code patch.  It helps with PC/TCP, and also can get
        arcether to load if it timed out too quickly during initialization. 
        Mail me if you need a precompiled version of arcether.com. (ie. you
        if don't have a DOS assembler)
	
Windows:  See DOS :)  Trumpet Winsock works fine with either the Novell or
	Arcether client, assuming you remember to load winpkt of course.

LAN Manager and Windows for Workgroups: These programs use protocols that
        are incompatible with the internet standard.  They try to pretend
        the cards are ethernet, and confuse everyone else on the network. 
        However, v1.90 ALPHA and later of the Linux ARCnet driver support
        this protocol via the 'arc0w' device.  After setting up arc0 as
        usual, ifconfig and set up routes to your WfWg-protocol hosts
        through arc0w.
        
	Using the freeware Samba server and clients for Linux, you can now
	interface quite nicely with TCP/IP-based WfWg or Lan Manager
	networks.  In addition, the Linux host can be used as a router
	between the standard and WfWg protocols, so hosts that could
	previously never talk to each other should now be able to.

        This feature is still in early testing, so please e-mail with any
	comments/questions you might have.
	
OS2: Has not been tested.  The "correct" solution would be to buy either of
	IBM's "TCP/IP for OS/2" or "Warp Connect" packages.  However,
	ftp.microsoft.com also has a freeware Lan Manager for OS/2 client
	which should use the same protocol as WfWg does.  This has not been
	tested, however.  Please mail me with any results.
        
NetBSD/AmiTCP: These use an old version of the Internet standard ARCnet
	protocol which is incompatible with the Linux driver at present. 
	Work to support these is underway and should be available in a
	standard release soon.


It works: what now?
-------------------

Send mail describing your setup, preferably including driver version, kernel
version, ARCnet card model, CPU type, number of systems on your network, and
list of software in use to me at the following address:
	apenwarr@foxnet.net

I do send (sometimes automated) replies to all messages I receive.  My email
can be weird (and also usually gets forwarded all over the place along the
way to me), so if you don't get a reply within a reasonable time, please
resend.


It doesn't work: what now?
--------------------------

Do the same as above, but also include the output of the ifconfig and route
commands, as well as any pertinent log entries (ie: anything that starts
with "arcnet:" and has shown up since the last reboot) in your mail.

If you want to try fixing it yourself (I highly recommend that you mail me
about the problem first, since it might already have been solved) you may
want to try some of the debug levels available.  For heavy testing on
D_DURING or more, it would be a REALLY good idea to kill your klogd
daemon first!  D_DURING displays 4-5 lines for each packet sent or
received.  D_TX and RX actually DISPLAY each packet as it is sent or
received, which is obviously quite big.

You can run the arcdump shell script (available from me or in the full
ARCnet package if you got it) as root to list the contents of the arcnet
buffers at any time.  To make any sense at all out of this, you should grab
the pertinent RFC's. (some are listed near the top of arcnet.c).  arcdump
assumes your card is at 0xD0000.  If it isn't, edit the script.

Buffers #0 and 1 are used for receiving, and Buffers #2 and 3 are for
sending.  Ping-pong buffers are implemented both ways.

If your debug level includes D_DURING, the buffers are cleared to a constant
value of 0x42 every time the card is reset (which should only happen when
you do an ifconfig up, or when Linux decides that the driver is broken). 
This is to make it easier to figure out which bytes are being used by a
packet.

You can change the debug level without recompiling the kernel by typing:
	ifconfig arc0 down metric 1xxx
	/etc/rc.d/rc.inet1
where "xxx" is the debug level you want.  For example, "metric 1015" would put
you at debug level 15.  Debug level 7 is currently the default.

Note that the debug level is (as of v1.90 ALPHA) a binary combination of
different debug flags; so debug level 7 is really 1+2+4 or
D_NORMAL+D_INIT+D_EXTRA.  To reach D_DURING, you would add 8 to this,
resulting in debug level 15.


I want to send money: what now?
-------------------------------

Go take a nap or something.  You'll feel better in the morning.
