How to install old drivers on a new kernel

[Jaylowblow]

Hi everybody!

I'm trying to install an old driver(1997) on a recent kernel but almost all the files needed are not there anymore. I paste the procedure I have to follow below(it is working well with mandrake 7.2 but I would want to know if it's possible to find a way to install this on a recent Fedora version):



------------------------------------------
How to install K2915 CAMAC Device Driver
------------------------------------------
( Revision 1.51 )

Configure hardware parameter
============================
You have to do nothing. You only insert the K2915 PCI card in your machine.
I/O Port Base Address, Interrupt Request Level (IRQ) and DMA Channel are
set automatically.

You can check the I/O address and IRQ, which are set automatically, by
typing;
# cat /proc/pci
You can look at the device "Vendor id=11f4. Device id=2915." if the card
is correctly insterted.

Install the driver
==================
1. Extract the driver package in /usr/local/camac/
# mkdir /usr/local/camac
# tar zxvf k2915_v1.51.tgz -C /usr/local/camac
# cd /usr/local/camac/k2915_v1.51

2. Make the device file
# mknod /dev/cc0 c 30 0
# chmod a+wr /dev/cc0

3. Prepare source files for remaking the kernel
a. copy the source files into the linux drivers directory
# cp drv/cc_2915.* /usr/src/linux/drivers/char/.

b. change the following four files;
/usr/src/linux/drivers/char/Makefile
/usr/src/linux/drivers/char/mem.c
/usr/src/linux/drivers/char/Config.in
/usr/include/linux/major.h

b-1. /usr/src/linux/drivers/char/Makefile
- Add the following three lines;

ifdef CONFIG_K2915
L_OBJS += cc_2915.o
endif

b-2. /usr/src/linux/drivers/char/mem.c
- Add the definition for K2915 after #include lines;

#ifdef CONFIG_K2915
void cc_init(void);
#endif

- Add the entry point for K2915 in the chr_dev_init function;

chr_dev_init(void)
{
:
:
#ifdef CONFIG_K2915
cc_init();
#endif
:
}

b-3. /usr/src/linux/drivers/char/Config.in
- Add the following two lines at the top of this file;

comment 'CAMAC'
bool 'CAMAC K2915 support' CONFIG_K2915

b-4. /usr/include/linux/major.h
- Define the major number for K2915

#define K2915_MAJOR 30

4. Make the kernel
# cd /usr/local/src/linux
# make config
* Answer the question
# make dep ; make clean
# make zImage
# make modules (if you use modules)


# mount /dev/fd0 /mnt
# cp arch/i386/boot/zImage /mnt/vmlinuz


# mv /vmlinuz /vmlinuz.old
# cp arch/i386/boot/zImage /vmlinuz
# /sbin/lilo
# /sbin/rdev -R /vmlinuz 1

4. Reboot the system
# /sbin/shutdown -rq now

When you install the driver correctly
"K2915 CAMAC Device Driver Installed."
will appear.
Or check and confirm /var/adm/messages (or syslog)

Compile CAMLIB examples
=======================
# cd /usr/local/camac/k2915_v1.51/examples/
# make

Enjoy!

# INSTALL (Revision 1.51)
# November 21st, 1997


Maybe someone very clever and smart could tell me how to find a way to install this thing on a recent kernel? Maybe those missing files still exist under new names and are in other directories?

Thanks a lot for any answers or advices!

[coopstah13]

Your hardware is not working under the current kernel you are using? What is this driver for, a lot have things have changed since 1997, it might be pretty hard to port.

[MikeTbob]

In addition to what coopstah said, have you tried modifying those files listed and try that?

[Rubberman]

Have you checked with the manufacturer about a driver update for more recent kernels? If they don't have that, then the only reasonable alternative is, provide the old source is available, to recode it as an installable kernel module. Not a trivial task, I think, but possible.

[Jaylowblow]

This is a driver for a CAMAC data acquisition system card. The card is hold. We can install it on mandrake 7.2 and it works well but all the kernels made after this do not contain the files needed for the installation. I already checked two times with the manufacturer and they answered that they don't support linux drivers for this card anymore.

I was hopping that someone could tell me a simple procedure to install it on a new fedora(ubuntu, opensuse, debian, wathever) kernel but accordingly to your answers, I see that the only way to do that is to recode the core of the driver(my skills are not good enough for that!).

Thank you for your reply. I think I will have to deal with this old OS to perform my experiments. Hold hardwares mean old softwares. We should use VME systems but money talk!

Does someone know where could I find a DVD burner software for mandrake 7.2? This is a problem because I can't burn my data on DVD with this old OS(only cd's).