+ COMEDILIB
+ The Linux Control and Measurement Device Interface Library
+ David Schleef <ds@schleef.org>
- Linux Control and Measurement Device Interface (comedi)
-
- David Schleef
- <ds@stm.lbl.gov>
-
-
-A new minor version of comedi, 0.6.0, is now available at
-<ftp://stm.lbl.gov/pub/comedi/>. The change in minor version
-level to 6 represents a complete redesign and rewrite of
-the kernel interface. Because of this, 0.6.0 is almost
-completely incompatible with previous versions.
-
-This redesign was necessary for current and future growth
-of comedi. The current needs that have been addressed are
-SMP and RT compatibility, the need to be more friendly to
-high-level programming, and an overall simplification of
-the interface. Using the 0.6 series should eventually be
-easier and more understandable.
-
-The major changes from the 0.5 series are:
-
- - Comedi devices are now divided into "subdevices",
- such as a A/D subsystem or D/A subsystem, instead
- of channels. This eliminates much of the redundant
- information and coding that was present in the 0.5
- series, and also allows proper locking of devices
- necessary for proper SMP and RT performance.
-
- - The 0.6 series will allow multiple methods for
- data transfer from hardware to your user-level
- process, including read()/write(), ioctl(), and
- mmap(), giving users needed flexibility.
-
- - Hardware drivers that are real-time compatibile will
- now be able to perform RTLinux tasks timed by device
- interrupts.
-
-Upgrading to 0.6 should not be too difficult, although it
-will require editing and recompiling all programs that use
-comedi, since the interface has changed.
-
-Comedi includes hardware drivers for many boards. See ./drivers
-for details.
+* About Comedi:
+
+Comedi is a collection of drivers for data acquisition hardware.
+These drivers work with Linux, and also with Linux combined with
+the real-time extensions RTAI and RTLinux. The Comedi core, which
+ties all the driver together, allows applications to be written
+that are completely hardware independent.
+
+Comedi supports a variety of data acquisition hardware; an
+incomplete list can be found in the Comedi source.
+
+This distribution contains only the user-space library. You will
+almost certainly also want to download the Comedi kernel modules.
+
+* Installation:
+
+Installation instructions are found in INSTALL.
-If you want to add support for another hardware device, you
-will want to look at the comedi hardware driver writing HOWTO
-in the doc directory. It is fairly simple to write a new hardware
-driver for comedi, but I am always willing to answer any questions
-you might have.
+* Mailing List:
+
+Comedi has a mailing list. Send "subscribe comedi" to
+comedi-request@stm.lbl.gov to subscribe. Traffic is light, and mainly
+questions/answers about comedi installation, bugs, and programming.
+General questions about data acquisition are also welcome.
+Alternatively, you can subscribe and unsubscribe at
+http://stm.lbl.gov/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/comedi.
+You can always unsubscribe by sendinging "unsubscribe" (spell
+it correctly!) to comedi-request@stm.lbl.gov.
+
+* More Information:
+
+Comedi also has a web page, at http://stm.lbl.gov/comedi. New versions
+of comedi can be found on the ftp site ftp://stm.lbl.gov/pub/comedi.
+
+Often bugfixes and new features that are not in the current release
+can be found in the CVS repository. Instructions for anonymous CVS
+access to the Comedi and Comedilib repositories are found at
+http://oss.lineo.com/cvs_anon.html.
+
+Comedilib may be freely distibuted and modified in accordance with
+the GNU Lesser General Public License. Portions of the Comedilib
+distribution fall under different licenses; see the individual files
+for details.
-Comedi may be freely distibuted and modified in accordance with the
-GNU General Public License.
+The person behind all this misspelled humor is David Schleef
+<ds@schleef.org>.