Virtual ASPI driver for OS/2

Version:

1.6

Release date:

Wednesday, 24 January, 2018

Home:

https://www.os2world.com/wiki/index.php/Virtual_ASPI_driver

Categories:

License:

GPL

Interface:

PMShell
Workplace Shell
VIO

Italiano

Authors/Port authors:

ARS Computer und Consulting GmbH

Kai Uwe Rommel

Virtual ASPI (VASPI) is a virtual device driver that will allow DOS applications to issue SCSI commands that will be handled by OS2ASPI.DMD. It is open source under the GNU GPL V3 license.

OS/2 2.x contains a driver architecture for SCSI host adaptors and peripheral devices. It consists of a host adaptor specific driver (ADD) and, based on this, device managers (DMD) which are either specific for common classes of devices (hard disks, CD-ROM drives) or which provide a universal interface for additional application specific device drivers.

One of these universal device managers in OS/2 2.x implements Adaptec's ASPI programming interface for OS/2. ASPI (Advanced SCSI Programming Interface) allows development of applications, which can communicate with peripheral devices, independent of the actual SCSI host adaptor. ASPI definitions exist for DOS, Windows, OS/2 and Novell NetWare 3.x and 4.x servers.

The ASPI programming interface in OS/2 2.x resides in the base device manager OS2ASPI.DMD (please refer to the OS/2 online documentation for more information about it). In this implementation, it supports only OS/2 device drivers which build upon the ASPI interface. Neither can OS/2 applications nor can DOS and Windows applications running under OS/2 2.x access the ASPI interface of OS/2 2.x directly.

Since many existing DOS and Windows applications use ASPI to communicate with SCSI devices (for example, backup software for SCSI tape devices or image scanning software for SCSI scanners), such applications could not be used under OS/2 2.x so far.

The included virtual ASPI driver (VASPI) for OS/2 2.x implements an ASPI interface for DOS and Windows applications running in DOS and WIN-OS/2 sessions under OS/2 2.x. Both the ASPI definition for DOS and the ASPI definition for Windows are implemented. In addition the driver contains an ASPI interface for OS/2 applications, since they can otherwise not directly access the OS/2 ASPI and would thus need their own device drivers for this purpose.

On 24/01/2018, the author, Kai Uwe Rommel, has released Virtual ASPI driver for OS/2 1.6 as Open Source software under GNU GPL License V3.

OS/2 and eComStation users would like to thank the author and the best wishes for a glorious future to Virtual ASPI driver for OS/2!

This software is distributed as compressed package. You have to download and manually install it; if prerequisites are required, you will have to manually install them too.

Manual installation

Program is distributed as ZIP package: download to temporary directory and unpack to destination folder. Read documentation. Add in CONFIG.SYS:

DEVICE=X:\OS2\VASPIDD.SYS
DEVICE=X:\OS2\MDOS\VASPI.SYS

where X: is OS/2 system disk. Reboot the system. See below for download link(s)

Following ones are the download links for manual installation:

Virtual ASPI driver for OS/2 v. 1.6 (24/1/2018, ARS Computer und Consulting GmbH, Kai Uwe Rommel)	Readme/What's new	It is open source under the GNU GPL V3 license.
hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/system/drivers/scsi/Virtual_ASPI_1-6.zip