Are hardware vendors starting to bail on FreeBSD ... ?

[Nikolas Britton]

On 7/26/06, User Freebsd <freebsd at hub.org> wrote:
> On Tue, 25 Jul 2006, Tamouh H. wrote:
>
> >>
> >> On Jul 25, 2006, at 8:16 PM, Nikolas Britton wrote:
> >>
> >>>
> >>> ICP Vortex is an Adaptec company and Adaptec doesn't
> >> support FreeBSD.
> >>> We've already been over this once.
> >>
> >> Not to disagree with you, but Adaptec put new drivers for 5.3
> >> and 5.4 for their 2420, 2820, 2320SLP, 2130SLP, and
> >> 4800/4805SAS driver back in April 06 up on their website.
> >>
> >> Their support could be a lot better, but these are new cards
> >> and new FreeBSD drivers...  There is no storage manager
> >> aaccli like there was earlier :-( (maybe a Linux one,
> >> assuming there is one, will work like the Linux aaccli
> >> program works on FreeBSD?)
> >>
> >
> > I've 2130SLP and the drivers Adaptec posted caused server reboots almost
> > immediately, the documentation were lacking (device name has changed
> > which would cause a failed boot) and as you said aaccli is not working,
> > not even the new linux ASM.
> >
> > On that point, do you still have the linux aaccli file ? I've been
> > looking for it with no luck. Just updated the 2130SLP firmware and its
> > no longer accepting the aaccli utility.
> >
> > Advise.....stay away from Adaptec on FreeBSD and especially RAID
> > controllers.
>
> Stupid question, but has anyone actually email'd Adaptec support?  I'm
> having issue with the iir driver, I've email'd ICP Support about it, since
> its one of hte ICP Vortex cards that is causing the problem ... I got a
> response back to the effect of "We do not officially support FreeBSD 6.x,
> but can you give us details on the problem" ...
>
> How many ppl out there are running FreeBSD with an iir device?  that
> includes the ICP/Adaptec cards, as well as Intel RAID controllers ... how
> many are running them on FreeBSD 6.x?  How many are getting "odd problems"
> with their servers that they can't really trace to anywhere, but aren't
> posting about it either?
>
> The point is, if we keep acting as "individuals", vendors will treat as
> unimportant ... if we start acting like an organization, and actually
> *lobby* these vendors for better support, maybe they will start to listen
> to us ...
>

We need an Internet store that only stocks compatible hardware. It
should include all the BSDs as well as Linux, Mac OS X, and any other
non Microsoft OS. On the site they can just list whats compatible with
what and customers can leave compatibility feedback. Other part
requirements could be:

* Open documentation.
* No binary blob drivers.
* Source code for company developed drivers.

I would not limit the store to just parts that interact with the OS, I
want everything needed to build a system; this includes desktops,
workstations, rackmount servers, and embedded systems. I also want
networking gear.

If anyone knows of a vendor that already does this let me know.



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