paul@boop.UUCP (Paul Palacios) (11/02/88)
There still may be some hope for us 3b1 owners. A while ago, I had called IDT about the SCSI card they had been promising for several months to find that it may never get released. This wasn't something I wanted to hear, especially when I already had went out and bought a SCSI drive. Some time ago (after the IDT discovery), I ran into an old friend that happens to be one of the major decision makers at a semi-well-known development agency. Somehow we got on the discussion of peripherals, when all of a sudden, I blurted out "SCSI!" Well, I went back and explained the IDT situation and about all us "poor 'ol 3b1 users out here in net land". After my "tear reaping" story, he said that maybe his company might be interested in some sort of development, but wasn't *real* sure. After a few phone conversations with him, he finally said that he had been "tossing around the idea" with others at work and that if I could demonstrate a genuine interest that could possibly warrant development (I have no idea what kind of numbers they're really looking for), the possibilities of them developing the SCSI card were pretty good. So here I am now, asking the net for its help and support. Incidentally, he asked me not to reveal him or his company at this time, since nothing is definite yet (I didn't want to argue; I'm glad enough to had found someone interested in development for the 3b1). He said the more "ammunition" I could give him for convincing those with scepticism, the better. The proposed SCSI board will follow the SCSI-I specification as close as possible (all 8 devices supporting both target and initiator is implied) under the circumstances that the project may encounter. It is also proposed that it may have both a 50 pin connector as well as a Mac-25 pin connector. I'm sure any suggestions are welcome. These are the points that I think that he'd be interested in: 1) Interest - how many people are really interested in this SCSI card 2) acceptable price - what is an acceptable price-range for a SCSI card as briefly described above (with and/or without source code to the driver -- yes probably with source) 3) supported devices - what kind of devices/manufacturers will people be trying to use most commonly. If you are interested in this at all, **PLEASE** send me mail reflecting your interest. If possible, please note responses to points 2 and 3 above. Of course, all comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated. I'm sure we all want something that is useful to us. I'll post any information regarding this situation as soon as I become aware of it. Thank you very much in advance for your response. -- <This space was left blank intentionally> -- Paul Palacios UUCP: {cbosgd, hplabs!hp-sdd, sdcsvax, nosc}!crash!boop!paul P.O. Box 842 ucsd!elgar!boop!paul INET: paul@boop.cts.com Bonita, CA 92002 ARPA: crash!boop!paul@nosc.mil ORG: The C-Group U.S.A. VOICE: +1 (619) 420-5776 ORGTEL: +1 (619) 297-8811