More specifics on Bell Tech ACE problem

[maurice.r.baker]

Hello Again ---

Conor of Virtual Technologies, and Dave of WINCO were kind enough to reply
to my original posting.  I thought that I would repost a more detailed
account of the problem in the hopes of stimulating some discussion:

	I have an application program which uses the ACE card to talk
	with several modems.  Specifically, the modems run as auto-answer
	and wait for incoming calls.  The program itself issues a "blocking
	open" on the appropriate ports.....i.e., it waits for DCD to be
	asserted before continuing.  Once DCD has gone active, the open
	returns a positive non-zero file handle through which to read/write/
	ioctl, etc.

	Now this all works fine....until I start seeing the "ACE: Card 0,
	req. before init, cmd...." messages on the console.  At the same
	time, the program's error log file reveals that the blocked open
	begins returning some value less than zero (presumably -1 but the
	person who wrote the program just checks for <0).  Errno is set to
	128.  Repeated attempts to reopen fail likewise.  

Nowhere can I find an explanation of errno 128 (no flames if I'm looking in
the wrong places) in this situation.  I called the Bell Tech support number,
and got a recording referring me to 1-800-FOR-UNIX now that they are part of
Intel.  So far so good...I called the 800 number and got an answering
service (message center) of some sort.  The courteous operator handling my
call took the message, but said she wasn't sure who to pass it on to...in
any event, I was promised a call back within hours.  Haven't heard from them
yet; I may try again today but it sure doesn't sound promising.

Any suggestions, pointers (no pun intended), tips, caveats, etc. would
be appreciated.  Meanwhile, have a Happy Thanksgiving holiday!!

M. Baker
AT&T Bell Labs
Holmdel, NJ
201-949-7935
email to hoqub!mrb, and I'll watch newsgroups for reply(ies)