friedman@porthos.rutgers.edu (Gadi ) (12/14/88)
Selected quotes from the Dec 1988 Open Apple (4.85) related
to SCSI drives on the Apple II. (They want $.15/page photocopy
charge on their articles.)
Open-Apple (A2-Central)
P.O BOX 11250
Overland Park, KS 66207
Gadi
Friedman@Aramis.Rutgers.Edu
---------------------------------------------------------------------
" External hard disks for the Macintosh can be used with the Apple II.
You need an Apple SCSI card (make sure you get the revision C ROM) for
the II and the System Utilities software.
If you have a IIgs, the Finder won't be able to find your disk
until you format it. I was able to format an Everex drive using
Apple's latest System Utilities software (no longer carried on the
GS/OS system disk, but still available on the ProDos 8 system disk)
Specifying the slot of your SCSI car produces a soothing whir from the
drive and in less than 60 seconds the format operation is done. The
drive has been reformatted from the Mac HFS with which it ships to
ProDOS. [This is a 'High level or O/S Format']
...
The GS/OS Advanced Disk Utility software, in combination with
Apple's Rev C SCSI card, allows you to partition the drive into two or
more volumes. You have great flexibility in setting the size of the
partitions.
I also have a Chinook drive with the Chinook SCSI card. This card
is not Apple Rev C SCSI compatible GS/OS seems to work flawlessly
from this drive, but the Advanced Disk Utility is unable to partition
it....
" Bruce Ristow
Rochester N.Y.
" You mention in the last months discussion of the Advanced Disk
Utilities that you hadn't been able to get the Partition Button
activated. This program uses a unique DPM (Device Partition Map) not
supported by third party SCSI host adapter cards. The partition
button will appear dimmed unless the signature byte $82 is found on
the host adapter card, meaning Apple's own SCSI card is present.
Similarly, the change to multiple-block READs and WRITE's in GS/OS,
which in itself is probably the greatest speed-up to the file access
on the IIgs, is typically not supported by third party adapters. Rev C
of the Apple SCSI card also supports the High-Sierra format (via
unique SmartPort CONTROL Commands), locking out any third party
suppliers that develop their SCSI adapter without fully 'cloning'
Apple's card. There are less major annoyances with non-Apple cards,
such as the missing or inaccurate "red thermometer" on startup and
non-slot sequential GS/OS device mapping.
However, the Apple II SCSI Card will work with just about any
integrated SCSI disk drive on the market, including most subsystems
designed for the Macintosh. All the software you need to format,
partition, and use the disk drive is included in System 4.0
If you already own an Apple II SCSI hard disk, open up the unit and
look at the drive. If its a seagate model ending in an "N such as
the ST255N or the ST277N(CMS SD60) you're in luck. Replace the host
adapter card that came with your unit with Apple's SCSI card. Other
SCSI drives besides Segate's will also work but we've tested the
Seagate drives and know they are fully compatible..."
Joe, Jaworski
Anaheim, Calif.
"If your choice of machine is an Apple II, you need a SCSI host
adapter card. We know of four manufacturers who build SCSI cards for
the Apple II -- Apple, C.M.S., Cirtech, and Chinook. Apple's card
sets the standard and can be used with Apple's CD-ROM drive as well ad
hard disks. The C.M.S. card is very different from the standard -- it
supports partitioning by moving jumpers on the card rather then by
software. Likewise, Cirtech's card isn't up to standard yet, but if
it gets there we'll have them, probably in $89-$99 price range.
Chinook tells us it had decided to phase out its SCSI card and will be
supplying Apple's card with its hard drives in the future.
...
Going for absolute bottom dollar, we bought a half-height floppy drive
cabinet and power supply for $60, but if we had it to do over again,
we would have paid the going rate of $120-$140 for a hard drive
cabinet and power supply -- this one gets too hot.
...
We've also heard, with varying degrees of certainty, that newer
versions of Copy II Plus, the GS/OS Advanced Disk Utility, and the
Macintosh system's HD Init/Test utility will put low-level formats on
SCSI disks.
If your disk comes pre-formatted, all you have to do is change the
operating system format. Almost any ProDOS formatting program can
take care of that for you."
Open Apple Staff.
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