This document describes the changes which have been made to my vxWorks/EPICS CANbus driver as it has evolved since first release. The earliest version appears at the bottom, with more recent releases above it.

Version 2.6

Added:

• A drvTip810Registrar routine and iocsh command tables for use with EPICS Base R3.14.4 and higher. It should be possible to initialize this driver from iocsh as well as from the vxWorks shell. This does not include the OSI modifications that would be needed for use with RTEMS though.

Version 2.5

Changed:

• This version is intended for use with EPICS Base R3.14.x, and has been built against Base R3.14.2 (but not actually tested before release as I don't have a TIP810 module). There were a few minor changes to the code, but these were just to get it to build properly. The only supported operating system is still vxWorks - the EPICS OSI layer does not currently provide API equivalents for vxMemProbe() or intConnect(). There is a reasonable chance of porting this code to run on RTEMS once the OSI layer is sufficiently functional, but other operating systems are not likely to be easy targets.

Added:

• Code to mark the IP slot as active using the ipmIrqCmd() command ipac_statActive at initialization, and inactive again when the rebootHook routine is run. This will be ignored by most IP carrier drivers.

Version 2.4

Changed:

• Added char* paramStr; to the canIo_t structure and ammended canIoParse() to return any remaining address string in this pointer.

Added:

• Support for float and double message values in the ai and ao device support layers.

Version 2.3

Changed:

• Removed IPAC-specific comments from the CANbus Release Notes.
• Added a new parameter to the t810Create routine to set the interrupt vector number to be used. Existing applications must be changed to add this parameter (probably only in the startup script), which appears before the busRate parameter.

Added:

• Carl Lionberger's String In device support for use with the Wiener VME crate. Note that this is not generic stringin support, and has been renamed from his original to devSiWiener.c. In deference to the existing applications that are using this I have retained the "CANbus" device type string, although I'd really rather have changed it.
• The drvTip810.h header file is now installed into the $(TOP)/include directory so applications can get at the t810Status() routine.

Version 2.2

Changed:

• Copyright and license terms. drvTip810 (and ipac) is now licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), which enables it to be used in commercial software, although any binary distribution containing it or a derivative of it must make the source code available under the LGPL terms.
• Various other small modifications to fix compiler warnings and such under EPICS Release 3.13.2.

Version 2.1

Incorporated changes from Carl Lionberger that move the receive message callbacks into a fairly high priority task, rather than doing them in the ISR itself. This allows a higher peak message rate to be handled, although the average rate should be essentially unchanged.

Added:

• ISR funnels incoming CAN packets into a Message queue rather than run the canMessage callbacks directly. NB: The canSignal callbacks are still run from the ISR so must be interrupt-safe.

Version 2.0

First version since I joined APS, now restructured in an EPICS R3.13.1 <supporttop> application. drvIpac module and carrier drivers were split off into a separate application directory.

Bug fixed:

• Gcc compilation warnings attended to.

Version 1.1c

Final release from the RGO. CVS repository transferred to APS.

Bugs fixed, courtesy Carl Lionberger at LBL:

• Reinstated Bus Errors causing records to go into alarm state with an INVALID_ALARM severity. A Bus Off transition is very rarely if ever seen, even pulling the cable only causes a Bus Error.

Version 1.1b

Added:

• Carl Lionberger's code to canIoParse which allows message IDs to be calculated as the sum of several numbers. This makes it possible to use templates and text substitution to generate IDs for many device types.
• These release notes.

Bugs fixed:

• Changed the alarm severities for Bus Off events and Timeouts to use the EPICS standard INVALID_ALARM severity. A Bus Error now does not affect record alarm state or severities at all, but now all Bus Status transitions cause a message to be logged giving the bus name and the new status.
• ao, bo, mbbo and mbboDirect records which have a constant value in their DOL field will now initialise properly to this value - the DOL values copied into the VAL field by the record initialisation routines were being overwritten as the CAN device support init_record routine was returning OK => 0 => CONVERT, rather than the correct DO_NOT_CONVERT => 2.

Version 1.1a

Bugs fixed:

• Removed a change introduced in V1.1 to when input records are processed on the receipt of interrupts. Carl Lionberger discovered this change had been a mistake...

Version 1.1

Added:

• devBoTip810 device support to allow CANbus status bits to be tested from within the EPICS database.
• Support files for EPICS R3.13 (.dbd, LIBOBJS). Not tested though.
• canMsgDelete routine which allows message callbacks to be unregistered.
• canBusReset, canBusStop and canBusRestart routines to allow resetting and halting bus operations.
• Usage instructions output by canTest if no bus name given.
• HTML Documentation distributed in the release.

Bugs fixed:

• Significantly reduced the number of callbacks used in the event of a Bus Error or Bus Off event, by only using one per device support type rather than one per record. This solves the large number of "callback ring buffer full" messages which would occur whenever a CANbus with a lot of I/O on it was disconnected.
• RTR messages are now sent with length 8 rather than 0 as some CAN devices use the RTR length field to indicate how long a message to return.
• Tip810 Interrupt was not enabled using correct drvIpac call and would not work on some carrier boards.
• A Bus-Off event sometimes caused all further transmissions to be disabled forever because transmit semaphore was not released when resetting the error.

Version 1.0

First full release.