> now though, I noticed that you can (and I have) downloaded the drivers for
> free from ftp.cerf.net:/pub/vendor/magma/sun, though they do me no good at
> the moment - they are for SunOS or Solaris naturally, but I'm wondering if
> there is anything I can do to disassemble or poke through the bits and bytes
> to discover how to twiddle the bits of the card directly.  I tried with gdb
> but it just says that the files (lkm's they are) are not in executable format
> - maybe this is because they are not NetBSD executable format? 

It might also help to have a look at the actual hardware.  If it has mostly
common chips (UART's, TTL logic), you might be able to find the data sheets
for those IC's and find out how the board works and how to program it.  Of
course, if the board has lots of programmable gate arrays, this won't help
much..

> I asked a few months ago at Magma if anybody else running NetBSD had
> expressed an interest in one of their boards, and nobody had since I asked
> the year before apparently..  are there not any other NetBSD/sparc users 
> who need faster serial ports?

I would use my Sparc has a router if I had fast serial ports.  However, when
I was thinking of the Magma cards, I felt they were too expensive.. don't
know if the price has changed since then.  It looks I either need fast
serial ports for the Sparc - or have to switch it off because there's no use
for it any more :-(

  -jm

-- 

                     ---> http://www.jmp.fi/~jmarin/ <---