The Alpha Development Phase is a prototyping phase for new I/O boards and is free.  Yes, you read that right, Alpha development is FREE !  The driver prototype is produced entirely from engineering specifications.  No development hardware is required for this phase.  A driver template is the final product of the Alpha development phase, containing real code and data.  The Alpha release is used to insure the correct product is being developed and to jumpstart Beta development  Alpha device driver package release numbering uses the R0.x tag to identify incremental Alpha releases, i.e. amag_apc341.R0.1.tar.bz2 is the _second_ alpha release of the device driver for the  Acromag APC341 PCI DAQ I/O board.

Beta Phase - $19.00/ Hr

The Beta Development Phase extends the latest alpha release to a working driver with minimal functionality.  This functionality typically includes full access to the board configuration and I/O registers via the standard POSIX compliant ioctl() API.  Development hardware, loaned out by the manufacturer or procured for the project,  is required for this phase.  Beta device driver package release numbering uses the R1.x tag to identify the incremental Beta releases, i.e. dti_dt300.R1.0.tar.bz2 is the _first_ beta release of the device driver for the  Data Translation DT300 Series PCI DAQ I/O boards.   Development of Beta Drivers range from 80 to 160 engineering hours depending on board complexity.

The Production Development Phase produces a driver that is worthy of mission critical application.  The production driver is produced in increments as critical board functions are identified and implemented.  The Production phase is usually conducted in 40 hr. increments.  Production device driver package release numbering uses the R2.x tag to identify incremental production releases, i.e. adac_pci550x.R2.0 is the _first_ production release of the device driver for the  Acromag APC341 PCI DAQ I/O board.

Support Phase - $19.00/ Hr

The Support Development Phase is the support phase for the latest production releases.  This phase resolves problem reports and addresses missing/needed functionality that was not identified during earlier development phases.  Support device driver package release numbering uses the R3.x tag to identify the incremental Support releases, i.e. mcc_pcidas1000.R3.2.tar.bz2 is the _third_ support release of the device driver for the  Measurement Computing PCIDAS1000 Series PCI DAQ I/O boards.