) (03/16/90)
I am puzzled from the inconsistancy I see in SCSI controlers. I seem to hear of many problems with the ICD controler, and that the BMS controler handles more and better commands (group 1). With that in mind, I look in most ads and postings and see that ICD predominates... What am I missing? They seem even to be listed for the same price, which confuses me even more. On a side note: Will someone give me the list of GOOD drives or rather ones to keep away from (I am thinking about the N series of Seagate). Concerning Personal Pascal: I was told that the reason for the mouse screw-ups were because of improper order of calls... I have no experience with this, whether this is internal to PP or was caused by the individuals I have no idea. Of course I have no connection with Seagate, Berkley Micro Systems, or ICD... Blaine Lee blee @ plains.nodak.edu
saj@chinet.chi.il.us (Stephen Jacobs) (03/17/90)
In article <3790@plains.UUCP> blee@plains.UUCP (Blaine Lee CME4FUN! ) writes: > >I am puzzled from the inconsistancy I see in SCSI controlers. I seem >to hear of many problems with the ICD controler, and that the BMS controler >handles more and better commands (group 1). With that in mind, I look >in most ads and postings and see that ICD predominates... What am I missing? >They seem even to be listed for the same price, which confuses me even more. > >On a side note: Will someone give me the list of GOOD drives or rather >ones to keep away from (I am thinking about the N series of Seagate). > I'll say what I've gathered. The only SCSI controller for any personal computer that handles the Seagate 296N at 1:1 interleave is the BMS-200. That's the most finicky drive around, as far as timing of commands and responses is concerned. There are lots of nice things about the BMS-200. ICD makes a line of products incorporating their own host adapter, and which work best with the controller software that ICD writes. Their host adapter allows the longest cable run between it and the hard drive. So the BMS card is a better reduction to practice of the 'ideal' SCSI concept, while the ICD card is the cornerstone of a system of available accessories. You get what you need more, I guess. Steve J.
hyc@math.lsa.umich.edu (Howard Chu) (03/17/90)
In article <1990Mar16.224434.10948@chinet.chi.il.us> saj@chinet.chi.il.us (Stephen Jacobs) writes:
%I'll say what I've gathered. The only SCSI controller for any personal
%computer that handles the Seagate 296N at 1:1 interleave is the BMS-200.
%That's the most finicky drive around, as far as timing of commands and
%responses is concerned. There are lots of nice things about the BMS-200.
%
%ICD makes a line of products incorporating their own host adapter, and which
%work best with the controller software that ICD writes. Their host adapter
%allows the longest cable run between it and the hard drive.
%
%So the BMS card is a better reduction to practice of the 'ideal' SCSI concept,
%while the ICD card is the cornerstone of a system of available accessories.
%You get what you need more, I guess.
% Steve J.
Just an offhand question - do either of these cards allow the DMA system
to continue to function if the attached SCSI bus is powered off? My old
Supra card did, but my current one (smoked the old one - oops!) doesn't.
(So if the hard drive is plugged in but turned off, the floppy drive is
no longer usable.)
Does the ICD card support enough of the SCSI command set to plug in
exabyte tape drives or SCSI ethernet boards?
--
-- Howard Chu @ University of Michigansaj@chinet.chi.il.us (Stephen Jacobs) (03/18/90)
In article <11434@stag.math.lsa.umich.edu> hyc@math.lsa.umich.edu (Howard Chu) writes: > >Just an offhand question - do either of these cards allow the DMA system >to continue to function if the attached SCSI bus is powered off? My old >Supra card did, but my current one (smoked the old one - oops!) doesn't. >(So if the hard drive is plugged in but turned off, the floppy drive is >no longer usable.) > > When I upgraded from the BMS-100 to the 200, Vance warned me that I'd no longer be able to boot my ST with the power to the drive turned off. If you need that ability, I think the BMS-100 boards are still available. Alternatively, Vance may have mumbled something about the possibility of adding some expensive fast line drivers if I was into hardware projects (I don't need to boot my ST with the drive off but connected, and I'm not into hardware projects, so I wasn't paying attention). Steve J.
andyc@hplsla.HP.COM (Andy Cassino) (03/20/90)
| Just an offhand question - do either of these cards allow the DMA system | to continue to function if the attached SCSI bus is powered off? My old | Supra card did, but my current one (smoked the old one - oops!) doesn't. | (So if the hard drive is plugged in but turned off, the floppy drive is | no longer usable.) | | -- Howard Chu @ University of Michigan | ---------- My ICD host adaptor allows this. Seems like an essential feature if you play games that can't be put on the hard drive! Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are those solely of the author, who has no pecuniary interest in the companies, products, or publications mentioned above. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % Andy Cassino % % uucp: hplabs!hplsla!andyc domain: andyc%hplsla@hplabs.hp.com % % Hewlett-Packard Lake Stevens Instrument Division % % 8600 Soper Hill Road Everett, WA 98205-1298 % % (206) 335-2211 % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu (L.J.Dickey) (03/20/90)
In article <11434@stag.math.lsa.umich.edu> hyc@math.lsa.umich.edu (Howard Chu) writes: >Just an offhand question - do either of these cards allow the DMA system >to continue to function if the attached SCSI bus is powered off? My old >Supra card did, but my current one (smoked the old one - oops!) doesn't. >(So if the hard drive is plugged in but turned off, the floppy drive is >no longer usable.) I can turn off the power switch on my ICD FA*ST drive and then boot the Mega ST2 from the floppy. Several times I have installed accessories on the C drive and/or programs in C:\AUTO that did not get along with things I already had there. One recent problem was infinite looping. It was easy to solve the problem... Turn off the HD, re-boot from any suitable floppy, (even a blank one), pop in the ICD boot disk, then install the C: icon. At that stage I could remove the offending accessory or program. >Does the ICD card support enough of the SCSI command set to plug in >exabyte tape drives or SCSI ethernet boards? Dunno. I hope yes. -- Leroy J. Dickey, Faculty of Mathematics, University of Waterloo. ljdickey@water.UWaterloo.ca ljdickey@water.BITNET ljdickey@water.UUCP ..!uunet!watmath!water!ljdickey ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu
bms@bdt.UUCP (Vance Chin) (03/21/90)
In article <1990Mar16.224434.10948@chinet.chi.il.us> saj@chinet.chi.il.us (Stephen Jacobs) writes: - stuff deleted... >ICD makes a line of products incorporating their own host adapter, and which >work best with the controller software that ICD writes. Their host adapter >allows the longest cable run between it and the hard drive. The longest SCSI cable that we have put on a BMS-200 is 20 feet, this is the maximum length allowed by the SCSI specs. The DMA cable supplied is 37 inches measured end to end, this is about the same length as the ICD dma cable. - more stuff deleted... > Steve J. Vance Chin Berkeley Microsystems