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Date: 25 Jun 1997 01:00 EDT
To: hackers@freebsd.org
From: "Andrew Atrens" <atrens@nortel.ca>
Subject: newbie device driver question.
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Hi Folks,

You may have answered this one many times, but I couldn't find exactly the
info I needed in the mail archive (laziness+slow link), so I thought I'd
ask it here. Besides, its short :)

I'd really like to buy a hand scanner that I can use under FreeBSD ( rebooting
into Windows is a hassle ). Since Logitech is the only hand-scanner vendor in
my neck of the woods, and no Logitech drivers exist for FreeBSD, I gather this 
means that I need to write a device driver for it.

Now, Logitech appears to have two models to choose from. The newest model 
connects via parallel port and communicates via a proprietary protocol with
the PC. The second, older variety has its own ISA card. A partially complete
(alpha quality) linux driver already exists for this beastie.

So, to get to the point, I suppose the older model ( the one with the 
proprietary ISA card ), would require a (standard) ISA device driver much
like what one of Julian's scripts would produce. BUT the newer model, requiring
only a parallel port connection, would that need an ISA dev driver, or else
a `pseudo device' driver? Or perhaps just a simple userland program? As I
said, this is a *newbie* question.

Regardless, I think I've resigned myself to buying the older model, since
I'm not sure how to begin to reverse-engineer the newer's port protocol.

Thanks in advance.

Andrew Atrens   ( opinions are mine, not Nortel's )
Nortel