| | 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. |
