kamath@reed.UUCP (Sean Kamath) (10/03/88)
In article <1451@netmbx.UUCP> blume@netmbx.UUCP (Heiko Blume) writes: >well...i think it might be good to make a complaint AND a praise ! A good way of communication -- praise where praise is due, criticism where criticism is due. . . >praise: the (old? is it still the same?) manual for the SSC. wonderful docu. > suited for the first time user as well as for the more technical users. I've got two of them, and I don't know if they are *old* or *new*. They have the rom listing in both. . . >complaint: the 'manual' for the scsi card. awful. its what we here call a > 'dumb-user-manual'. Beyond dumb. It's like, look, the manual for the computer will tell you how to put card in, and the *cable* book tells you how to connect it. Why do you bother me with this scrap paper? The answer is, you *have* to put *something* in there with the card, even if it's beyond useful. One thing that bothers me a tad about the new apple manuals is there little "This document was written completely on an apple macintosh. . ." Wee. How come they didn't tell me what the old ones were typeset on? I didn't care then, and I don't care now. >solution: how about making two manuals for each card, one for the only-users >and a more technical one for the want-to-know-how-it-works-users... > >btw: does someone know where detailed info about the scsi bus system is >available ? any pointers would eb appreciated ! They do and there is. It's called the Apple SCSI Card Technical Reference Manual. It's from APDA, and costs $17.50. Interestingly enough, the little bit on code they give to show how to use it is for the CD-ROM device, and even so, it has a bug in it (I forget exactly what, but it's like a call to the smartport before (or without ever) getting the smartport entry point.). I don't mind, I buy things from APDA with this in mind. What bothers me is that the Ref says: "The disk you got contains a program to partition you disk." It then has the format of partitioning info, and other good stuff, but not quite enough. Needless to say, I didn't get the partioning software with the card, and when I finally did, I was told it wouldn't make a partition bigger than 20 megs. Well, since I don't actually have a harddisk just yet, and I will probably have to write low lever formatting software for it anyway, this doesn't bother me too much. I enjoy disassembling other people's code. The SCSI disk test is a really fun-filled piece of code. BTWL Keith, was it compiler output? I'll have to send you this little nugget of code to illustrate my point. . . >Heiko Blume | smart : blume@netbmx.UUCP Sean kamath -- UUCP: {decvax allegra ucbcad ucbvax hplabs ihnp4}!tektronix!reed!kamath CSNET: reed!kamath@Tektronix.CSNET || BITNET: kamath@reed.BITNET ARPA: kamath%reed.bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu US Snail: 3934 SE Boise, Portland, OR 97202-3126 (I hate 4 line .sigs!)