[comp.sys.nsc.32k] SCSI Controllers

des@musashi.wpd.sgi.com (Des Young) (07/10/90)

Hi,
  I am in the (very slow) process of writing a SCSI driver for the MINIX
port for the PC532. This is a pretty big upgrade to the great driver
currently supplied by Bruce Culbertson. I would like some information.
  Can you email me details of your controller, both hard disk and floppy.
I am specifically interested in the following info:
	1. Is it SCSI-2 ?
	2. Is it SCSI-1 ? (what rev, the two most popular are 14 & 17B).
	3. Does it have vendor-specific initialization/configuration
	4. What floppy formats do you want supported ?
	5. How many partitions do you want on a hard disk ?

  The area of real concern is how to initialize your controller for the
drive/media type you have, and how to get it initialized (at reset). For
instance, my OMTI controller needs to be told the floppy drive character-
istics in a vendor-specific manner.
  We can achieve this in two ways:
	1. email me the details (not so good)
	2. fax me the required pages of your controller manual
	3. snail-mail me a photocopy of your controller manual.
  For those with the group-buy drive I will get the details from Dave.

  Just to fill in some background, the driver will coordinate operations
on the 8490 and 6250. It will provide multiple threads (concurrent
accesses). The first version will support SCSI-1 (and the OMTI controller).
I will add support for ADAPTEC controllers then (I have these). Currently
my planned partition table format for hard disks specifies up to 8 partitions.
Oh, it will be a while coming, I go away every weekend in summer, so do not
have much time to devote.

My email address:    des@pei.com
My fax #        :    (415) 969-6966    (CA, USA)
My smail address:    231 N San Tomas Aquino, Campbell, CA 95008 USA.

Cheers, Des.
trademarks abound, usual disclaimers apply, opinions are mine
des@pei.com	Des Young	(415) 335-1888
		Protocol Engines Inc., Mountain View, CA