john@moncol.UUCP (05/28/87)
Please forgive me if I'm causing a rehash of the recent discussion on larger disks for the 3B2. Here's my problem... We were recently given (loaned) two used 3B2/300's for use in various research work. One is equipped with a 30meg disk which is adequate for its intended application. The other 300, however, is only equipped with a 10meg disk (it must have originally been on a networked file system) which is woefully inadequate for its intended use. When my Director checked with AT&T about the availability of a lager capacity drive, they suggested two options: 1) Add an expansion box at approx. $9000 2) Purchase a SCSI interface and use it to hook the 300 to a spare CDC 80meg washtub we have. (~$4000) As a result, I am left with several questions of my own: 1) Can you really hook a CDC washtub up to a SCSI interface? If so, will you need any extra hardware/software. 2) Why can't the 10meg in the 300 just be replaced with something larger (like a 70meg Priam)? Is there some limitation to what the controller can handle? 3) If you can just drop in the larger (SASI?) drive, then what hardware/software changes will need to be made? Any information would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. -- Name: John Ruschmeyer US Mail: Monmouth College, W. Long Branch, NJ 07764 Phone: (201) 571-3557 UUCP: ...!vax135!petsd!moncol!john ...!princeton!moncol!john ...!pesnta!moncol!john "If the nemesis in this movie can be a giant roll of aluminum foil, then I can name our ship after a super absorbent paper towel."
dklann@gmwi1.UUCP (06/03/87)
in article <476@moncol.UUCP>, john@moncol.UUCP (John Ruschmeyer) says: > > Please forgive me if I'm causing a rehash of the recent discussion on > > As a result, I am left with several questions of my own: > > 2) Why can't the 10meg in the 300 just be replaced with > something larger (like a 70meg Priam)? Is there some > limitation to what the controller can handle? I can't respond to question 1, or 3, but I'll take a shot to #2. You may be able to drop a larger disk into the 300 iff the system board is an "AM 6" or later. The "AM" number is indicated at the rear of the system board near the console/contty connections. The way I understand it, the system board controller on earlier machines were not set up to handle the larger disks. I hope this helps a bit. -- David Klann AT&T BMG
authorplaceholder@tiger.UUCP.UUCP (06/04/87)
> The other 300, however, is only equipped with a 10meg disk (it must have > originally been on a networked file system) which is woefully inadequate > for its intended use. > > When my Director checked with AT&T about the availability of a lager > capacity drive, they suggested two options: > > 1) Add an expansion box at approx. $9000 > > 2) Purchase a SCSI interface and use it to hook the > 300 to a spare CDC 80meg washtub we have. (~$4000) > > As a result, I am left with several questions of my own: > > 1) Can you really hook a CDC washtub up to a SCSI interface? > If so, will you need any extra hardware/software. > > 2) Why can't the 10meg in the 300 just be replaced with > something larger (like a 70meg Priam)? Is there some > limitation to what the controller can handle? > > 3) If you can just drop in the larger (SASI?) drive, then > what hardware/software changes will need to be made? Well, I can't say much about other vendor's drives, but you can simply unplug that 10 meg drive and plug in a 30 meg drive like your first 3B2. (By the way, the 10meg is not put into a 3B2 anymore and we, the factory, have not built any with any less than 30 meg in years.) I do not know if it is easy to get that 30 meg drive (it is made by CDC), but it is the exact same cable and interface as on your other 3B2. You may be able to get the drive by buying an expansion kit that converts a single 30 meg disk model 400 to a dual 30 meg model 400, it also is the same disk. I am unaware of how to buy the disk from CDC directly or if you would get the right one if you did. I would get the 30 meg disk first, if possible, before going to the expansion module. You can change to a 72 meg disk in the same manner. We build models of 3B2's that use 72 meg formatted (86 unformatted) drives, so your controller should be able to handle it but the software only knows about a few different types, you will have to check to see which ones. My 3B2 (I am running 3B2 Unix Sys V, release 2.0.4) shows these in the /etc/vtoc directory: Seagate 10M Hitachi 72M CDC Wren 32M CDC Wren II 72M Micropolis 72M Priam 72M Fujitsu 72M Hitachi 43M But I am sure that it will talk to more, these are just the ones that have vtoc's already determined for them, of course I do not know if AT&T supports them, you will have to check with your sales rep to find out. If your CDC washtub has a single ended SCSI interface (as opposed to a differential SCSI), it WILL talk to the 3B2 SCSI bus, but it may be up to you to get it operational software-wise. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Randy Davis UUCP: ...(ihnp4!)3b2fst!randy 3B2 System Test Engineering AT&T Oklahoma City Works All opinions and/or advice stated above are MY OWN, not those of AT&T. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
brunner@sdsioa.UUCP (Rob Brunner X42020) (06/05/87)
In article <1239@gmwi1.UUCP>, dklann@gmwi1.UUCP (David Klann) writes: > in article <476@moncol.UUCP>, john@moncol.UUCP (John Ruschmeyer) says: > > As a result, I am left with several questions of my own: > > 2) Why can't the 10meg in the 300 just be replaced with > > something larger (like a 70meg Priam)? Is there some > > limitation to what the controller can handle? > I can't respond to question 1, or 3, but I'll take a shot to #2. You > may be able to drop a larger disk into the 300 iff the system board is > an "AM 6" or later. The "AM" number is indicated at the rear of the > system board near the console/contty connections. > > The way I understand it, the system board controller on earlier > machines were not set up to handle the larger disks. Didn't AT&T replace all the old AM 5's with AM 6's... I seem to remember that when the X/M and similar devices (Absolute had one also) came out that they (at least the Absolute) wouldn't run with the old AM 5 system board's.. AT&T came out and replaced our sys-board... was this just because we were under maintenance or did they do everyone's? "I hate inews" Rob Brunner "Use more honey. brunner@sdsioa.UUCP Find out what she knows." brunner%sdsioa@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu - John Whorfin, TAOBBATED {backbone}!sdcsvax!brunner