Tracy writes:
> 1) I'm given to understand that HP is releasing portions
> of MPE/iX source code to the public.
>
> 2) I'm given to understand that HP is going to drop usage
> of HP-IB as of MPE/iX release 6.5.
>
> SO, if someone wanted to continue development and support
> of HP-IB, they could have the code NOW (soon) that supports
> HP-IB, tweak it so it becomes a bolt-on, then be able to SELL
> back as a 3rd Party utility for MPE/iX 6.5 and above?

The problem in this case is that HP is throwing out the HP-IB support
as part of eliminating an entire I/O architecture (CIO) from the MPE
source code.  It's not like there's just a single little driver
program that some 3rd party could continue to maintain, as the code
required to support the CIO I/O subsystem is likely pervasive throughout
MPE.  So continuing to support HP-IB in MPE the way it is today is
probably just not practical, since the "genetic code" that is needed is
being ripped out by the roots.  CIO and HP-IB are not just going to
be unsupported, they are going to be extinct.  MPE itself won't even
be able to boot on a CIO machine anymore.

There may be other ways of interfacing old HP-IB devices with post-6.0
MPE/iX, but continuing to maintain the existing MPE support is not one
of them I suspect.

G.