heiden@kboeng.enet.dec.com (Matthias Heiden) (12/10/90)
I would like to upgrade my original SH204 (with 20 MByte Tandon 262) with another drive. As far as I understand the hostadapter inside the SH204 understands SCSI. Therefore I would like to connect it directly to a 'genuine' SCSI drive instead of putting another MFM drive on the Adaptec 4000 SCSI -> MFM controller. Does anybody has experience with this solution ? What sort of problems could I run into ? Any help is appreciated. Thanks Matthias Heiden
apratt@atari.UUCP (Allan Pratt) (12/11/90)
heiden@kboeng.enet.dec.com (Matthias Heiden) writes: [Edited] >I would like to upgrade my original SH204 with another drive. >As far as I understand the hostadapter inside the SH204 understands SCSI. >Does anybody has experience with this solution ? What sort of problems could I >run into ? This works for some SH204's. However, the power supply in the SH204 is not beefy enough for some drives. The only way to tell is to see if it dies. Therefore this is not recommended practice. In addition, the host adapter might have the "old" PAL, not the "new" one, which won't return some errors from the SCSI controller. This bit me recently: the "old" PAL didn't return "write protected" from my Syquest drive, and boy was I confused! The writes seemed to work, but the cached directory etc. didn't match what was actually on the disk. The "old" PAL has the number 60AC on it. If the little board in your SH204 has a chip with that number on it, it won't return some errors from the drive. I don't know how to get the "new" PAL - maybe dealers can order it. Since the SH204 is not in production any more, this might be hard. ============================================ Opinions expressed above do not necessarily -- Allan Pratt, Atari Corp. reflect those of Atari Corp. or anyone else. ...ames!atari!apratt
tony@tacky.cs.olemiss.edu (Tony Reynolds) (12/11/90)
In article <1990Dec10.110739@kboeng.enet.dec.com> heiden@kboeng.enet.dec.com \ (Matthias Heiden) writes: >I would like to upgrade my original SH204 (with 20 MByte Tandon 262) with >another drive. >As far as I understand the hostadapter inside the SH204 understands SCSI. >Therefore I would >like to connect it directly to a 'genuine' SCSI drive instead of putting another >MFM drive on the >Adaptec 4000 SCSI -> MFM controller. >Does anybody has experience with this solution ? What sort of problems could I >run into ? >Any help is appreciated. >Thanks Matthias Heiden Well, I can tell you that I have had nothing but failure with this. I used two mechanisms, the ST-157N and ST-296N from Seagate. I can make a ST-251-1 work fine (using HDX 3.01) but have never, despite repeated attempts, succeeded in making a 'genuine' SCSI drive work. Now, if you're gonna take a stab at it, be sure to have an editor on the disk with HDX on it so you can modify your 'wincap' file, or else have another disk with the editor, etc. on it. If you get this to work, please let the world now. I do have one comment: MFM/ST-506 type drives are cheaper than SCSI drives. If you're looking for price/performance, consider some of the drives made by Maxtor/Colorado. They make a 70MB 19ms drive that really must work at about 5ms. (model 3085?) Good Luck! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-+-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= _ _ _ |This space for rent.No opinions| Anthony P. Reynolds / | | \ | \ +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+ BITNet:CHTONY \_| |_/ | | @UMSVM | Ole Miss Rebels: 9-2 | Inet: tony@tacky.cs. ' Look for us at the Gator Bowl! | olemiss.edu Now every Mississipian is a | USSnail: Box 1356, Rebel Fan | Oxford, MS 38655 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Roger.Sheppard@bbs.actrix.gen.nz (12/13/90)
In article <2773@atari.UUCP> apratt@atari.UUCP (Allan Pratt) writes: > heiden@kboeng.enet.dec.com (Matthias Heiden) writes: > > [Edited] > >I would like to upgrade my original SH204 with another drive. > >As far as I understand the hostadapter inside the SH204 understands SCSI. > >Does anybody has experience with this solution ? What sort of problems could I > >run into ? > > This works for some SH204's. However, the power supply in the SH204 is > not beefy enough for some drives. The only way to tell is to see if it > dies. Therefore this is not recommended practice. In addition, the > host adapter might have the "old" PAL, not the "new" one, which won't > return some errors from the SCSI controller. This bit me recently: the > "old" PAL didn't return "write protected" from my Syquest drive, and > boy was I confused! The writes seemed to work, but the cached > directory etc. didn't match what was actually on the disk. > > The "old" PAL has the number 60AC on it. If the little board in your > SH204 has a chip with that number on it, it won't return some errors > from the drive. I don't know how to get the "new" PAL - maybe dealers > can order it. Since the SH204 is not in production any more, this > might be hard. > > ============================================ > Opinions expressed above do not necessarily -- Allan Pratt, Atari Corp. > reflect those of Atari Corp. or anyone else. ...ames!atari!apratt Did not Berkeley Microsystems produce a replacement PAL, or some other company did, as this would be some time back... -- Roger W. Sheppard 85 Donovan Rd, Kapiti New Zealand...
Yonderboy@cup.portal.com (Christopher Lee Russell) (12/14/90)
I just bought the PAL chip meantioned for my Atari SH204. I purchased the
chip from B&C Computer here in Sunnyvale, CA. The number of B&C is
408-749-1003. I think I paid $20 for it... I decided it was worth the
insurance. You might want to try San Jose computer as well. I think you
can find there number in the Atari Mags......
......Yonderboy@cup.portal.comheiden@kboeng.enet.dec.com (Matthias Heiden) (01/08/91)
Some time ago I was asking for help: In article <1990Dec10.110739@kboeng.enet.dec.com> heiden@kboeng.enet.dec.com \ (Matthias Heiden) writes: >I would like to upgrade my original SH204 (with 20 MByte Tandon 262) with >another drive. As far as I understand the hostadapter inside the SH204 >understands SCSI. Therefore I would like to connect it directly to a >'genuine' SCSI drive instead of putting another MFM drive on the >Adaptec 4000 SCSI -> MFM controller. >Does anybody has experience with this solution ? What sort of problems >could I run into ? >Any help is appreciated. >Thanks Matthias Heiden This is now an intermediate summary of my attempt to get information and practical experience of how to use the Atari SH204 hostadapter with 'genuine' SCSI drives. First, thanks to all who replied and provided useful information and experience. The basic answer to my question seems to be : YES, it can be done ... BUT Here a selected collection of answers: - From: ccicpg!paulm@uunet.uu.net (Paul Moreau) [edited] I have hooked a Maxtor XT-4380S , XT-4380E w/ Emulex SCSI->ESDI card, a Wren 6 SCSI drive and a Cypher 540 SCSI cartridge tape drive to my SH204 host adapter. I've only had problems with the Wren. - From: duke!sam.cs.olemiss.edu!tacky.cs.olemiss.edu!tony@mcnc.org (Tony Reynolds) [edited] Well, I can tell you that I have had nothing but failure with this. I used two mechanisms, the ST-157N and ST-296N from Seagate. I can make a ST-251-1 work fine (using HDX 3.01) but have never, despite repeated attempts, succeeded in making a 'genuine' SCSI drive work. - From: apratt@atari.UUCP (Allan Pratt) [edited] This works for some SH204's. However, the power supply in the SH204 is not beefy enough for some drives. The only way to tell is to see if it dies. Therefore this is not recommended practice. In addition, the host adapter might have the "old" PAL, not the "new" one, which won't return some errors from the SCSI controller. This bit me recently: the "old" PAL didn't return "write protected" from my Syquest drive, and boy was I confused! The writes seemed to work, but the cached directory etc. didn't match what was actually on the disk. The "old" PAL has the number 60AC on it. If the little board in your SH204 has a chip with that number on it, it won't return some errors from the drive. I don't know how to get the "new" PAL - maybe dealers can order it. Since the SH204 is not in production any more, this might be hard. - From: fernwood!portal!cup.portal.com!Yonderboy@uunet.uu.net (Christopher Lee Russell) [edited] I just bought the PAL chip meantioned for my Atari SH204. I purchased the chip from B&C Computer here in Sunnyvale, CA. The number of B&C is 408-749-1003. I think I paid $20 for it... I decided it was worth the insurance. You might want to try San Jose computer as well. I think you can find there number in the Atari Mags...... - Now my own experience so far: I tried with a Quantum P80S drive which was used before with a Future Domain SCSI board on a PC system. From there I know that it worked. The power supply of my SH204 is rated at 2 Ampere, the P80S consumes (according to spec.) at max 1.7. My SH204 has the "old" PAL - but anyhow. Using a single ended SCSI terminator at the P80S end, I got the drive finally alive. Using RATEHD from ICD, I'm getting the following average figures for my original and the Quantum setup: Reported Setup Transfer Rate Access Time SH204 Adapter with Adaptec 4000 and ADAPTEC 5000 306 Kbyte/sec 106 msec Tandon 262 - 20 MByte SH204 Adapter with P80S 980-80-94xx 673 Kbyte/sec 28 msec Quantum P80S This is in fact quite impressive (:-). By doing single sector reads, I can access 163545 sectors on the P80S and read all the information which was originally written while in use at the PC system. Spin down by software works as well. Well, so far so good. BUT, although I can read, I did NOT succeed until now to WRITE anything nor to get the drive REFORMATTED! Trying to do so causes the drives's busy light to go on and stay on forever (at least until I switch the drive off). Further attempts to read/write/spin down ... leave me alone with "drive not responding" or "drive not available - check cabling" messages etc. (:-(. Any further advise is very much appreciated. Matthias Heiden