Hardware, drivers, and the Solaris OS

If you are running the Solaris OS on a system that is not built by Sun, please go to the HCL (the Solaris OS Hardware Compatibility List) and check whether the system is listed there. If your system is listed, are all the major components of your configuration listed? Click on Browse the Solaris HCL, and look for your system or component.

If hardware that you are using with the Solaris OS is not listed on the Solaris OS HCL, please add it to the list. At the top of any HCL Browse page, click Submit Component or Submit System. Or on the HCL home page, click Submit a System to the Solaris HCL or Submit a Component to the Solaris HCL. Answer "No" to the question "Test Suite Run?" and your system or component will be listed on the HCL as Reported to Work.

To get more attention from other HCL users (for example, if you want them to buy your hardware), certify your hardware as compatible with the Solaris OS by testing your hardware with the HCTS (the Hardware Certification Test Suite). After you have completed HCTS testing, answer "Yes" to the question "Test Suite Run?" on the HCL submission form, and your system or component will be listed on the HCL as Test Suite Certified.

The HCL is, of course, dependent on device drivers. To add hardware to the HCL or to use hardware listed on the HCL, you need to make sure the required drivers are available in the Solaris OS, or you need to find a third-party driver, or you need to modify or create your own driver and make it available.

If you want to use a component with your Solaris system but you do not have a driver for that component, click on Sun and Third-Party HCL Resources on the bottom of the HCL home page. This resources page contains links to several sites where you can get third-party drivers. If you do not find exactly what you need there, try to get the source for something close, and consult the Writing Device Drivers manual (the WDD) and the Device Driver Tutorial to try to modify the driver to make it work for you. Then please tell me how I can make the tutorial more helpful to you.

Speaking of driver source, watch for more source to appear on opensolaris.org.

Technorati Tag: OpenSolaris
Technorati Tag: Solaris

Posted at 06:36PM Jun 04, 2005 by alta in Device Support  |  Comments[2]