vahe@math.ucla.edu (10/03/89)
We've just bought a Ciprico Rimfire (RF3223) controller for evaluation. The Sun we want to put it in is a 3/180 with a Fujitsu Super-eagle (M2361), which we bought assembled as a unit. The controller currently in the system is a Xylogics 451. Cabling has become a stumbling block. The 2361 has a metal wall in the back (presumably for RF protection) from which a shielded cable goes to the edge of the controller. (All connectors are large D-type jobbies.) The only catch here is that the connectors aren't large enough to support all the pins in an SMD A cable, so they've split the "logical" A cable into two "physical" A cables. The Rimfire has a large plug for a D-type connector on the edge of the card. But Ciprico doesn't make a cable that goes from their controller to the "split" A cable connectors on the 2361. As far as we've been able to determine, nobody else does either. I'm certain our situation isn't unique, so I'd like to ask anybody that has been faced with this: what did you do? Did you find somebody who makes the cables? Build your own custom ones? You can use ribbon cables from the surface of the board -- did you go that route? Any problems getting the metal wall off the back of the 2361? Please mail replies directly to me, as we're eager to get this thing going one way or the other as soon as we can. Thanks. --Vahe Sarkissian, UCLA Math. Sci. vahe@math.ucla.edu
poffen@sj.ate.slb.com (Russ Poffenberger) (10/04/89)
In article <1875@brazos.Rice.edu> vahe@math.ucla.edu writes: >X-Sun-Spots-Digest: Volume 8, Issue 149, message 2 of 10 > ...stuff deleted >Cabling has become a stumbling block. The 2361 has a metal wall in the >back (presumably for RF protection) from which a shielded cable goes to >the edge of the controller. (All connectors are large D-type jobbies.) >The only catch here is that the connectors aren't large enough to support >all the pins in an SMD A cable, so they've split the "logical" A cable >into two "physical" A cables. The Rimfire has a large plug for a D-type >connector on the edge of the card. But Ciprico doesn't make a cable that >goes from their controller to the "split" A cable connectors on the 2361. >As far as we've been able to determine, nobody else does either. > I know that Sun uses those cables and should be available from them. The SMD-4 has the same configuration, and especially if you cable form an SMD-4 to the expansion chassis with SMD disks, is uses this kind of cable. Russ Poffenberger DOMAIN: poffen@sj.ate.slb.com Schlumberger Technologies UUCP: {uunet,decwrl,amdahl}!sjsca4!poffen 1601 Technology Drive CIS: 72401,276 San Jose, Ca. 95110 (408)437-5254
mark@tektronix.tek.com (10/13/89)
If you remove the panel with the D connectors you'll find standard SMD ribbon connectors on the drive. I hooked these up to our Ciprico and it worked fine. Make sure you have Ciprico's latest drivers; I spent three weeks chasing down a race condition leading to system crashes. The latest drivers have this and possibly other problems fixed. Mark Mason Prime/Computervision, Beaverton OR