We have a number of computer hardware where we want to evaluate under Linux - windows desktops, windows notebooks, apple mac mini , bare-bone motherboard+disk systems .
We want to test on all of them.

Linux distributions offer full versions based on one or more DVDs, and 'live' / single CD based bootable versions.
A 'live' distribution boots the operating system and load programs directly from the CD, without the need of installing to a hard disk.

In order to preserve the pre-installed operating system and programs on the variety of computer hardware where we want to evaluate under Linux, we select getting and using a 'live' bootable CD Linux.

In addition, downloading time for a single CD is about 1 hour on a basic DSL line, versus several hours to download one or more DVDs on the same DSL line.

The only requirement of using 'live' bootable CD is that the hardware we test on allows booting from CD.
This feature is available on all modern systems, however not present on 5+ years old systems.

If a particular system does not boot from CD after power on, please enter BIOS and check settings - adjust, if needed.

2. Which distribution?

Linux, under the common name contains a wide variety of distributions. To select a particular one we put the requirements -

be mainstream - popular, have frequent releases, use latest kernels

free - anyone can download and test without conditions and limits

be fast on boot - optimized/minimized time for CD boot

has tools - gcc compiler, headers, allow building of applications and drivers

We did download and evaluate a number of distributions including - CentOS, Fedora, OpenSuse, Ubuntu .

The only one distribution which matches all of our requirements is - Ubuntu.

Starting from around kernel 2-6-20 and later , distributions offered 32bit versions - i386/i686... , and 64bit versions - x86_64/AMD64...

3. 32bit or 64bit?

The next question is - which version?
The 32bit version covers all the hardware you want to test on - we recommend getting it.

After evaluating with a 32bit , you can download and run a 64bit version. At the point of the initial boot screen, the 'live' CD will analyze the hardware and stop booting - if the processor is not 64bit capable.

4. Where to get Ubuntu 'live' CD from?

Ubuntu distributions can be downloaded directly from the web site, or from a number of mirrors -
http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/downloadmirrors

We have got images from kernel.org , which has both - trusted, and a fast connection -
http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu-releases/9.04/

We have selected getting release 9.04 / 32bit image -
ubuntu-9.04-desktop-i386.iso
and burn it on a single CD.

5. Boot, initial steps

Different systems have different video cards. After power on, and at the time of the initial boot screen, you can select using standard video settings. This will prevent getting dark screen, and insure success in starting the graphical mode.

To do this, press 'F4' and select 'safe video mode' .

After booting, we recommend -

copying of our install software to a usb drive

then, creating a folder '/arstech' under the '/' root or '/home' folder

then, copying the '/32bit' folder of our install software under '/arstech' folder

then, doing 'Unmount' of the usb drive;

You can insert the usb drive at a later point to copy file, if needed.

6. Building, running, initial testing

To build a driver go to -
/arstech/32bit/drv/2-6-28-ubuntu-9-04 folder and there run -
./drv-build.bat

To load the newly build driver, while in the same folder type -
sudo insmod arstech.ko

To run the enumerator go 2 levels up to -
/arstech/32bit
and there run -
sudo ./arsenum

Then you can -
- check for USB2 or SSI2 hosts detected on the system
- insert / remove USB2-ISA/PCMCIA and SSI2-ISA/PCI/PCMCIA cards
- check what resources were detected - i/o ports, memory areas, irq and/or dma channels

The enumerator allows manual access - read/write to i/o ports and memory areas of a peripheral card.
Type - '0'-'7' to select acess type, type the address, and data (if write type of access).

We have the 'dosbox' environment allowing running binaries of DOS programs for peripheral cards mounted on USB2-ISA/PCMCIA and SSI2-ISA/PCI/PCMCIA cards.
If the peripheral card has DOS software, you can test with it right away.

More on our DOS support is available on - www.arstech.com/dosbox-rel.zip .

7. Next steps

Chapter 5 and 6 describe testing / evaluating under one computer system.
You can repeat the steps under as many computer systems as you like - desktops, notebooks, windows, mac os ... etc. systems.

You can use our basic API set included in our install software to build an application for the ISA/PCI/PCMCIA peripheral card, or port an existing application, as well.
The description of the basic API set is in the 'readme.txt' and there are 2 folders including samples - '/sample-st' and '/sample-dyn' .

We offer an extended API set in our 'sdkbus' product. More on it is available in - www.arstech.com/sdkbus.htm .

Working under Ubuntu is a good choice, considering that it has the support from a company like Google.
However you, or the company you work for may have a preference for a specific Linux distribution.

Based on the knowledge and experience gained under the quick and easy evaluation on Ubuntu, you can make a software build and then test on this specific Linux distribution.

Copyright © 2010 ARS Technologies, Inc
All Rights Reserved
Customer Login - Order Tracking - View Cart - Advanced Search - ARS Tech Product Update List - Warranty/Refund Policy - Privacy Policy - Terms of Use - Contact Us - SiteMap