SX linux driver installation instructions. Please get the new (2.2.x) linux kernel. The driver has also been backported to 2.0. I recommend getting the most recent kernel. That means that you can skip the "apply the patch" part. Please use something more recent than 2.2.13pre15, as that includes an important fix. If you really have to stick with an older (e.g. vendor-supplied) kernel, please just apply the most recent patch-version to the kernel that you have. If you don't use the exact right kernel, it becomes even more important that you check for rejects. Officially only the most recent kernels are supported, so officially you'll get the answer: "Please update to the most recent kernel" if you can't resolve rejects in an older kernel yourself (but it is entirely do-able). You will have to install the kernel in /usr/src/linux and compile it there. The sx.patch-[version]-[kernelversion] file is a kernel patch that you can apply by cd-ing into /usr/src/linux and then typing: patch -p1 < sx.patch-[version]-[kernelversion] Then check if there are any rejects: find . -name \*.rej if this gives any output, please contact me, as the patch either is incompatible with your kernel or there is something wrong with the patch. You will then have a kernel that offers you support for the Specialix SX cards. For information about compiling and configuring your kernel from this point onward, I recommend that you read the Kernel-HOWTO. It is a good document specifically about this subject. On my system it is in the /usr/doc/howto directory. On Red Hat systems that is /usr/doc/HOWTO . Some people run into trouble after they've compiled their new kernel. For example their system might not boot anymore. If that's the case, we recommend first getting the kernel to compile and installed before trying to include SX support. Neither Specialix nor BitWizard can provide generic Linux-support for free on this issue. At first I recommend that you use the "module" version. That way if something goes wrong, we can (hope that we can) debug the driver without having to reboot your machine all the time. Also for example the debugging flags are not available when you compile the driver into the kernel. After you've insmod-ed the driver, you will need to run the "sx_firmware" program, which will download the firmware to the card. It will report the number of channels found. It needs a device, and how to create it is described in the sx.txt file in the linux/Documentation directory. I appreciate it if you tell me if you experience any problems. I can (will!) add stuff to this file to help you and others prevent those problems in the future. Roger Wolff. R.E.Wolff@BitWizard.nl