Introduction

The Open Driver Program from Alteon Networks, Inc., is provided for
partners that require the latest Software Release information and a
sample Driver for the Alteon Networks ACEnic Adapter.  This is a
cooperative program where Alteon and partners work together to deliver
Gigabit Ethernet products with a rich feature set, while remaining the
highest performing Gigabit Ethernet products in the industry.

The enclosed release, Version 12.3.6 of the Host/NIC Software Interface
Definition, has the Solaris Release 2.2.x driver as the reference
driver is a minor release.  The CDROM includes (in addition to this
readme file) the following files: opendrv.tar, pcinic.pdf, and
pcinic.ps.

The opendrv.tar file is a Unix tar file that contains all of the
source files and the firmware files.  There are six firmware files
included.  There are three separate firmware files: standard firmware
named alt_fw.h, firmware with tracing enabled named alt_fw_trace.h,
and firmware with profiling enabled named alt_fw_profile.h.  These
firmware files are all for the original Tigon ASIC.  There are
equivalent files for all versions of the Tigon 2 ASIC (including Tigon
Revision 5 with asynchronous memory and Tigon Revision 6 with either
synchronous or asynchronous memory), alt_fw2.h, alt_fw2_trace.h and
alt_fw2_profile.h.  The API document is provided in both postscript
(pcinic.ps) and Adobe Acrobat (pcinic.pdf) format.

Open Driver Kits are distributed with each major software release
(Version 12.0 API, for example).  Minor releases (such as Version
12.2, which include simple bug fixes, performance enhancements, and
minor features) and fix releases (such as Version 12.2.1, which
include only bug fixes) will be made available as needed.  The next
major release has not been determined at this time.

In order to make it easy for partners to enter enhancement requests,
ask questions, and file bug reports, an email account has been
established at Alteon.  This account, opendriver@alteon.com, is used
for all communications between partners and Alteon Networks.
Engineering, Support and Marketing representatives receive the mail
that is sent to this account.  Technical questions and bug reports are
handled by Engineering.  Feature enhancement requests are handled by
Marketing.

All members of the Open Driver team at Alteon Networks work together
to resolve your issue as fast as possible.  If you are filing a bug
report, you can expect acknowledgement in no less than 24-hours,
including a bug number that you can use for tracking.  Enhancement
requests are discussed in weekly product team meetings.  Feedback will
be sent out no later than immediately following the next scheduled
meeting.  Alteon Networks Engineering will also participate in a code
review of the partner's completed driver, which typically takes 1/2
day.  Your account team will arrange previews of future code releases.

Your account team, Sales and System Engineer, will continue to work
with you to resolve open issues.  Please contact your them if you have
any questions about this program.  We would appreciate any feedback
you have about this program, as well as ideas on how you think it can
be improved.