ojala@cs.hut.fi (Petri Ojala) (05/04/90)
We have here one Sun 3/260 with internal 60Mb tape drive and external SMD disk via Xylogics 450/451 controller. Yesterday we did some research inside the machine and found out that the tape drive seems to be ordinary 60Mb Wangtek SCSI tape connected to an card called as MT-02 tape controller in the manuals. The card has a text "Emulex ASSY MT 0210403 Rev M" on it. The card is quite small and is located near the tape drive, not in the VME slots. The card is connected to the machine via 40 pin cable, which also continues from card and has an empty connector. The controller is defined as controller sc0 in the GENERIC kernel configuration file. However additionally to two tapes the GENERIC file defines several sd disks that could be connected to the sc0 controller. Also the case seems to be designed for disk(s), there is room for at least one disk and several free power cables. So the big question is: Can I put SCSI disks to this controller ? If yes, how (any dip changes required?) ? If not, is it possible to replace the current card (or add a new card to the free connector mention above) with a better Emulex card that would also support disks and would be supported by the Sun kernel ? Have Sun sold any 3/260 models with internal SCSI disk(s) which are _not_ controlled via SCSI card in a VME slot ? Cheers, Petri Ojala Helsinki University of Technology Computer Science Laboratory e-mail: ojala@cs.hut.fi
leadley@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Scott Leadley) (05/08/90)
In article <7404@brazos.Rice.edu> ojala@cs.hut.fi (Petri Ojala) writes: > >Yesterday we did some research inside the machine and found out that the >tape drive seems to be ordinary 60Mb Wangtek SCSI tape connected to an >card called a MT-02 tape controller in the manuals. > >So the big question is: Can I put SCSI disks to this controller ? If yes, >how (any dip changes required?)? Yes, you can add disks to this SCSI controller. However, the stock cable in the Sun 3/260 is rather short and unless the disk fits into the cabinet and can be powered from the system power supply, you are going to have to make a custom cable (or easier yet, have it made for you). You will find (if you open up the front panel and swing the power supply out of the way) that the stock ribbon cable has a 96 pin connector that is connected to the controller by plugging it into the backplane (not elegant, but it works). What you want is a cable just like the one that is there now, but with a lot more cable between the the 50 pin connector that plugs into the MT-02 and the 50 pin connector dangling free at the end of the cable. Don't make the cable longer than 15 feet (just to be safe) and I recommend that you use twisted pair ribbon cable. To get the cable out of the cabinet, run the free end with the 50 pin connector down to the floor under the left sidepanel. I don't think that Sun terminates the MT-02, and instead relies on the short cable length to prevent problems. This means that you may not have to remove any termination resistors from the MT-02 (don't take my word for it though, have somebody who knows what to look for check your controller). However, since this procedure extends the cable considerably, you'll need to make sure that the drive(s) that you add (is/are) properly terminated. Keep the original cable. If you have problems that can be reproduced with the original cable in place, it stops finger-pointing. Scott Leadley - leadley@cc.rochester.edu