allred@ut-emx.UUCP (Kevin L. Allred) (02/20/90)
In article <2870@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov>, C43CJK%ENG4.gm@hac2arpa.hac.com (Craig Keithley) writes: > I am looking for experiences/advice on the selection of a SCSI drive adapter > to use on my 386. I currently have a WD1006(?) MFM controller w/ a Micropolis > 1325 drive, running DOS and ESIX. > > I am considering one of the following: > Seagate, > Future Domain > Adaptec > SCSI adapter to use as the controller for additional hard disks. I have the Seagate ST-02 SCSI host adaptor and the ST296N drive running only DOS at the moment. I haven't purchased any version of Unix yet, because I haven't figured out who supports the ST-02. According to the ESIX documentation, they only support the Adaptec. When I find out who and how much, I will make the decision as to whether it is most cost effective to buy the adeptec (This would certainly be the high performance option) and say ESIX or to buy a different (probably more expensive) Unix and keep the ST-02. I know an ST-02 device driver was posted to the net several months ago, but as I understand it, the kernel could not be rebuilt to support the ST-02 as the boot device. (Can anyone comment on this point?) The next point to note is that the BIOS chip in the ST-02 has a Future Domain copy write notice on it. Is the ST-02 a repackaged Future Domain SCSI host adaptor? Is it compatible with drivers that support the Future Domain adaptors? -- Kevin Allred allred@emx.cc.utexas.edu allred@ut-emx.UUCP
jeg7e@watt.acc.Virginia.EDU (John E. Gefaell) (02/21/90)
Junk the ST02! IT is a $30 adapter! I've spent more for lunch on occasion The fact is, if you want to play with UNIX, you can certainly be serious about your hardware. Penny Wise and Pound Foolish if you ask me. I bought the ST296N and ST02 combo a while back for use W/ DOS. Immediately I knew that this was a suboptimal situation. Data Transfer averaged only 45oK/BPS and that was pathetic, considering this was SCSI and not ST412/MFM! So, I went about researching things. Future Domain made the ST01/02 for Seagate to allow a low cost entry point for SCSI. The drives after all, are quite inexpensive (a 80Meg SCSI disk for $500!) I bought ESIX, so I opted for the AHA1542A and I love it. Anyways, don't skimp, get the better adapter, you'll bew glad you did.