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VideoPlex Xpress Drivers for Linux
VPXpress Linux drivers use big physical area interfaces that are not a
part of the standard kernel. Therefore, Optibase provides modified kernel
packages for VPXpress Linux users. Optibase kernel packages are based on
the 2.2.18 kernel release that was modified to include:
Big physical area patch (required for VPXpress support)
Optibase i2c patch (required for multi-board support)
VPXpress Linux driver (version 0.5a)
dpt_i2o driver version 2.2.16-114 from Adaptec (required to support
our reference platform)
Latest NFS patches from maintainer (for RedHat
compatibility and HA)
Bonding (trunking) driver fixes for HA link monitoring ? version
020901
ext3 journaling filesystem version 0.0.7a
LVM 0.9.1_beta7 (allows SuSe compatibility)
reiserfs 3.5.33 (allows SuSe compatibility)
IBM jfs filesystem version 1.0.0
ip virtual server patch version 1.0.5 (for RedHat
compatibility)
More about big physical area interfaces.
If
you want to compile the driver in your own environment, click here.
Optibase offers the following RPM packages:
The Kernel
package is a custom configured Linux kernel with most drivers
built as modules. The VPXpress Linux driver is part of this package. This
is the only package that is necessary to operate the board.
Kernel-headers
and kernel-source
contain header and source files of the modified Linux kernel.
These files are necessary to recompile the kernel, VPXpress Linux driver,
or build other drivers compatible with Optibase Linux kernel
configurations.
Kernel source rpm
can be used to rebuild and modify kernel, kernel-headers, and
kernel-source packages.
These packages maintain RedHat compatibilty
for kernel packaging. We have also added multiple enhancements to allow
easier installation, removal, reconfiguration, and driver development.
Installation Instructions
Step 1 (Required)
If you have installed an older version
of the driver and you do not intend to use it, you can remove it using the
rpm command. For example, running the command
rpm
-e kernel-2.2.18-VPXpress0.5aUPlvm
will remove the
previously installed VPXpress package version 2.2.18- VPXpress0.5aUPlvm.
You can also uninstall using the RPM GUI package manager (gnorpm or
krpm).
 To
use the VideoPlex XPress Linux driver, download the kernel package and
install it using the following rpm command:
rpm
-ihv kernel-2.2.19-VPXpress1.2JFSlvm.i686.rpm
Installing the kernel package modifies the lilo
configuration and runs lilo, making VideoPlex Xpress the default image.
You do not have to modify lilo.conf, create ramdisk, or run lilo unless an
error occurs or you wish to change the default configuration. The original
lilo.conf will be backed up. Since this kernel package can coexist with
other kernel packages already installed on your system, we do not
recommend that you erase or upgrade your default kernel. However, if rpm
command warns that there are "newer packages already installed", please
use the following '--force' option to complete the
installation:
rpm -ihv --force \
kernel-2.2.19-VPXpress1.2JFSlvm.i686.rpm
After
installation, reboot your computer. The driver is called VPXpress.o. To
load the driver, use the following modeprobe command:
modprobe VPXpresss
To load the driver automatically, add
the following lines to the /etc/conf.modules (or /etc/modules.conf if you
use this file):
alias char-major-61
VPXpress
alias char-major-81 VPXpress
The driver
will automatically load when you access any of the /dev/decoder* devices.
You can now use the
sample applications.
Step 2 (Optional)
If you wish to
build other drivers that will run under the VideoPlex Xpress kernel, you
will need to install the kernel-headers and kernel-source packages.
Installing these packages will also allow you to recompile the kernel and
the VPXpress Linux driver. However, for driver or kernel recompilation, we
recommend that you use the source RPM package. Install these packages
using the following rpm command:
rpm -ihv
\
kernel-headers-2.2.19-VPXpress1.2JFSlvm.i686.rpm
rpm -ihv
\
kernel-source-2.2.19-VPXpress1.2JFSlvm.i686.rpm
Unlike
stock RedHat packages, our kernel-headers and kernel-source packages
contain VPXpress kernel configuration information. Compiling third-party
drivers should be easy since you don't have to guess how the kernel has
been configured in order to build the drivers.
Our kernel-headers
and kernel-source packages can co-exist with other instances of these
packages already installed on the system. So there is no need to erase or
update your default kernel sources. However, if the rpm command warns that
there are "newer packages already installed", please use the following
'force' rpm command:
rpm -ihv --force \
kernel-headers-2.2.19-VPXpress1.2JFSlvm.i686.rpm
rpm -ihv
--force \
kernel-source-2.2.19-VPXpress1.2JFSlvm.i686.rpm
If you
have installed previous versions of kernel-headers and kernel-source, you
can remove them using rpm command. For example, running
rpm -e kernel-source-2.2.18-VPXpress0.5aUPlvm \
kernel-headers-2.2.18-VPXpress0.5aUPlvm
will
remove previously installed kernel-source and kernel-headers packages
version 2.2.18-VPXpress0.5aUPlvm. You can also uninstall using the RPM GUI
package manager (gnorpm or krpm).
Uninstall Instructions
To remove the packages, use the rpm command. If you have also installed
the kernel-headers and kernel-source packages, use the following command
to uninstall:
rpm -e
kernel-source-2.2.19-VPXpress1.2JFSlvm \
kernel-headers-2.2.19-VPXpress1.2JFSlvm
Remove kernel drivers using rpm command:
rpm -e kernel-2.2.19-VPXpress1.2JFSlvm
Removing the kernel will update the lilo configuration
and run boot loader. The original lilo.conf file will be backed up.
Uninstall will set the "linux" boot label as default; if a "linux" label
does not exist, the first label on the list will be chosen.
Note: You do not have to modify lilo.conf, create ramdisk,
or run lilo unless an error occurs or you wish to change the default
configuration.
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