Cothrell@DOCKMASTER.ARPA (11/17/87)
ICD puts out their MIO adapter...which has what I am told is a SCSI port on it for HD controllers...Adaptec 4000 and 4070A...which allow you to use a "standard IBM-type" Hard drive (or RLL Drive depending on controller). What I want to know is: if the port on the MIO is truly Scuzzy? and if so, could you then just plug in a hard drive with an embedded SCSI controller? answers (speculation too) requested...and dont send me ICD's phone number, I tried them, they were as friendly as a turtle, and about as competent...or maybe I got them on a rough day!?
knutsen@aramis.rutgers.edu (Mark Knutsen) (11/17/87)
> ICD puts out their MIO adapter...which has what I am told is a SCSI port > on it for HD controllers...Adaptec 4000 and 4070A...which allow you to > use a "standard IBM-type" Hard drive (or RLL Drive depending on > controller). What I want to know is: if the port on the MIO is truly > Scuzzy? and if so, could you then just plug in a hard drive with an > embedded SCSI controller? > > answers (speculation too) requested...and dont send me ICD's phone > number, I tried them, they were as friendly as a turtle, and about as > competent...or maybe I got them on a rough day!? You got them on a rough day. Usually, they're very helpful. I do not own an MIO, but know many BBS SysOps who do. All of them are very satisfied with its performance as a hard drive interface. As far as I understand, the MIO has a "real" SCSI port on it. Let it be known, however, that software problems prevent usage of the MIO as an effective printer buffer/interface. IE, don't buy this unit for your printer, buy it for you hard drive. -- \ Yow! I finally got \ Jersey \ GEnie GE Mail: M.KNUTSEN \ ||| \ around to changing \ Atari \ The JACG BBS: (201)298-0161 \ / | \ ||| \ my .signature file! \ Computer \ NetLand: knutsen@rutgers.edu \ / | \ \ --Mark Knutsen \ Group \ or: {...}!rutgers.edu!knutsen \
striepe@muscat.UUCP (Harald Striepe) (11/18/87)
In article <871117030010.624828@DOCKMASTER.ARPA> Cothrell@DOCKMASTER.ARPA writes: >ICD puts out their MIO adapter...which has what I am told is a SCSI port >on it for HD controllers...Adaptec 4000 and 4070A...which allow you to >use a "standard IBM-type" Hard drive (or RLL Drive depending on >controller). What I want to know is: if the port on the MIO is truly >Scuzzy? and if so, could you then just plug in a hard drive with an >embedded SCSI controller? > >answers (speculation too) requested...and dont send me ICD's phone >number, I tried them, they were as friendly as a turtle, and about as >competent...or maybe I got them on a rough day!? The MIO comes in 256K and 1 meg versions. It attaches to the parallel port on XL's and 130XE's (the latter require an adapter). The driver software is in ROM in the new parallel device space. A configuration program is selected during boot or reset by pressing the select button simultaneously. The MIO features a parallel, serial, and SCSI/SASI port. Serial and parallel port can be configured for printers, optionally using the available RAM as spoolers. Any remaining RAM can be configured as RAM disk (with drivers in software). On repartitioning the RAM the system will initialize the pseudo disks in SpartaDOS format. If the serial port is not used, it can function as a regular R: device. Current ROMS seems to have a bug causing printed output to be lost during spooling while concurrent serial IO is active. An additional RGB and NTSC port are awaiting an 80 column board currently on hold (heat problems). Since the RAM has its own refresh and powers supply, it can be non-volatile (while the AC power lasts). All drive assignments (serial, RAM, and HD partitions) are interchangable through the menu (e.g. you can make your old 810 set to be #1 appear as #8). The SCSI appears to be fairly standard, it definitely supports 4000A and 4070, and should have no problems with SCSI drives like Seagate (I have heard of people using it). I have used XEBEC 1410A and am now using Adaptec with no problems. The MIO is the best things that ever happened to the 130XE (even if it does have a few bugs). However, you should use a DOS that can handle the larger drives. I have used all, and find SpartaDOS to be the best by far. ICD's Flashback backup utiltity is a must (no redundant disk structures, you can clobber your disk on an unprotected system without too much oif a problem). Hardback fails on large drives, and does not preserve creation dates (SpartaDOS has time and date stamping). I am waiting for a field test copy of ADOS... The winchesterss are almost as fast as the ramdisk... -- Harald Striepe Digital Equipment Corp., SPG Mktg, Sunnyvale, CA decwrl!muscat!striepe, decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-canvas!striepe, CANVAS::STRIEPE