henry@uunet.uu.net (03/24/89)
>I have heard a rumour that there is an internal scsi adapter on the CPU >boards of machines like 3/160, 3/75's (same cpu), and all you need to make >scsi peripherals work with this card is a special cable that plugs into >the cpuboard. If there's anything like that on the 3/180 (rack-mount 3/160), it's awfully well hidden. I inspected our CPU board at length when we first got it; there is no SCSI chip. (And for what it's worth, the SCSI tape drive on our 3/180 is connected via a SCSI controller board.) I think somebody is confused. Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu
weber@harvard.UUCP (Jeff Weber) (04/05/89)
The only Sun CPU boards that have a SCSI port built in are those in the 3/50, 3/60, 4/110. All other CPU boards 3/100, 3/200, 4/200 and the various versions of those do not have a SCSI port built in. SCC chip yes, but not a single SCSI chip between the lot of them. Jeff
bet@orion.mc.duke.edu (Bennett Todd) (05/11/89)
> I have heard a rumour that there is an internal scsi adapter on the CPU > boards of machines like 3/160, 3/75's (same cpu), and all you need to make > scsi peripherals work with this card is a special cable that plugs into > the cpuboard. That isn't quite my understanding; I think that only the desktop machines like the 3/50 and 3/60 come with SCSI ports on the CPU board. However, there is a similar situation that someone might have been confused by. Sun 3/160 and 3/260 machines (that I have seen, no doubt other models as well) can be purchased with internal SCSI tape or disk drives. When such a configuration is purchased, there is a SCSI controller (not on the CPU, but a separate board) which cannot be accessed outside the machine. Sun claims that you still have to buy another SCSI adaptor to attach extra SCSI peripherals to such a configuration; my experience suggests otherwise. A special cable is desirable for an attractive installation, though not necessary if you are prepared to make up your own SCSI cabling. I used, and was very happy with, a SCSI cabling kit specially for the purpose (shipped complete with instructions, which I found quite valuable) from Delta Microsystems. I purchase Delta Microsystems stuff through Peripheral Devices, at (407) 487-1880. -Bennett bet@orion.mc.duke.edu
matt@srs.uucp (05/20/89)
>> I have heard a rumour that there is an internal scsi adapter on the CPU >> boards of machines like 3/160, 3/75's (same cpu), and all you need to make >> scsi peripherals work with this card is a special cable that plugs into >> the cpuboard. Not that I know of. Our 3/75 needs a separate card that mounts inside the 4Mb expansion board. Note that you can mount ANY standard VME card in it -- except for things like power consumption and heat. We have a Burr-Brown A/D converter in ours. >Sun 3/160 and 3/260 machines (that I have seen, no doubt other models as well) >can be purchased with internal SCSI tape or disk drives. When such a >configuration is purchased, there is a SCSI controller (not on the CPU, >but a separate board) which cannot be accessed outside the machine. Sun >claims that you still have to buy another SCSI adaptor to attach extra >SCSI peripherals to such a configuration; my experience suggests >otherwise. Indeed, when we attended a conferance in CA a few months back, Sun loaned us a 3/260 with an internal 1/4" tape drive for demonstrating our software. I assumed that there would be some sort of SCSI board that I could attach our Exabyte tape drive to. Well, it turns out that the tape drive hooks up to a permanently wired SCSI board via the 7th slot's P2 (?) connector on the backplane. A 50 pin ribbon cable runs from the SCSI board up to the top portion of the 3/260 enclosure, where it attaches to a SCSI to QIC adaptor board. Fortunately for us, there was (and perhaps always is) a 50 pin tap in the cable, presumably for attaching an internal SCSI disk. Our Exabyte tape drive is a Delta Microsystems unit, and inside its little enclosure there is a (surprise!) 50 pin ribbon cable that runs from the external connector (the standard Sun SCSI connector) to the Exabyte guts within. By removing the cases from the Sun and the Delta Micro tape drive, and turning the tape drive upside down (!!), we were able to get the tap from the Sun cable snaked up through an opening in the top of the 3/260 far enough to hook straight to the Exabyte. Naturally, I wouldn't recommend this for those of you watching from home, but it worked great (loading tapes, however, was a bit tricky, but once in, no problem). Matt Goheen uucp: {rutgers,ames}!rochester!srs!matt, matt@srs.uucp internet: matt%srs.uucp@harvard.harvard.edu
simon%hhb@princeton.edu (simon chan) (05/22/89)
In article <8905102011.AA06951@orion>, bet@orion.mc.duke.edu (Bennett Todd) writes: > > I have heard a rumour that there is an internal scsi adapter on the CPU > > boards of machines like 3/160, 3/75's (same cpu), and all you need to make > > scsi peripherals work with this card is a special cable that plugs into > > the cpuboard. If you open the Sun3 cage then you should able to find a backplane connector type cable; which attachs the SCSI board slot and cabling into the tape controller (for the new Sun) or SysGen 1000 board. This is the SCSI cabling. All you need to do is to extend this cabling to other SCSI devices and you can save youself $100. hope this help! p.s. Watch out the PIN 26 of the SCSI devices! If don't know what is the PIN 26 for then don't do it yourself! Simon Chan princeton!hhb!simon