Re: Linux for VME devLiv, mca libSIS38XX.a

[Rong Huang via Tech-talk <tech-talk at aps.anl.gov>]

Hello Michael and Mark,

Thank you for the responses.

To answer Michael's question, I am trying to build a "simulated beamline", not for testing EPICS drivers, but to test beamline control software. I copied all VME IOCs and PC IOCs together to one PC, rebuilt them on linux, with all the hardware related fields inside databases removed, and hopefully somehow can be used to some degree for beamline software testing.

As for my question about libSIS38XX.a, it is for the SIS3820 multichannel scaler. Since I rebuilt it without vxWorks on a linux PC,  there is no libSIS38XX.a, and the normal IOC startup will have an error of missing sequencer "SIS38XX_SNL".

When I read the notes on mca/mcaApp/SISSrc/Makefile, I thought SIS38XX.a could be built on linux. Now I understand it is not simple. If so, I will think about where to "cut short" the simulation on this part.

Thanks,

Rong

On Wed, Jan 17, 2024 at 6:20 PM Mark Rivers <rivers at cars.uchicago.edu> wrote:

Hi Rong,

As I recall that SIS support on Linux was used by some sites that had an SIS PCI to VME adapter.  It let a Linux PC talk to VME.  I doubt if that is still in use.  The other way to do it is to run Linux on a VME CPU.  That has been done, but I don't know any site currently using it.

Mark


-----Original Message-----
From: Tech-talk <tech-talk-bounces at aps.anl.gov> On Behalf Of Michael Davidsaver via Tech-talk
Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2024 4:54 PM
To: Rong Huang <ronghuang at ls-cat.org>
Cc: tech-talk at aps.anl.gov
Subject: Re: Linux for VME devLiv, mca libSIS38XX.a

On 1/17/24 12:51, Rong Huang via Tech-talk wrote:
> Hello,
>
> May I ask what kind of Linux that has support for VME devLib? Can I install some software to make a normal Linux support VME devLib?

Unfortunately, I am not aware of anything I would describe as "normal"
about VME support in Linux.  You may have a lot more work than you expect here.  :(

To start with, can you describe your hardware?  What sort of VME cards are present in your crate(s) ?


> I would like to build mca/lib/liunx-x86_64/libSIS38XX.a. According to the notes in mca/mcaApp/SISSrc/Makefile:
>
> # If your version of Linux has support for VME devLib uncomment
> following line #LIBRARY_IOC_Linux += SIS38XX
>
> In my $EPICS_BASE/include directory, and I find files of:
> devLib.h
> devLibVME.h
> devLibVMEImpl.h
> But that seems not enough, and the make of mca with option of "LIBRARY_IOC_Linux += SIS38XX" has errors of:
> ../drvSIS3820.h:208:3: error: ‘DMA_ID’ does not name a type
>
> My system:
> EPICS_base-7.0.7
> mca-R7-9
> linux_x86_64: Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS
> devLib2-2.12
>
> Also tried:
> EPICS_base_3.14.12.8
> mca-7-8
> linux-arm; RHEL
> (no devLib2)
>
> Thanks a lot,
> Rong
>
>