uhclem@trsvax (09/11/85)
[There is an "EAT ME" cake here.] > I called IOMEGA last week, and they told me the Bernoulli Box can't handle > Xenix right now, but they're working on a controller board that will do both > Xenix and DOS. Should be about 2 months, and be available as upgrade as well > as new equipment. > -- >Eh? The Bernoulli box can't handle XENIX? This is assinine. The IOMEGA >uses a brain damaged version of the SCSI standard and the main problem I >had in implementing it under XENIX 286 was that the SCSI Host Adapters >on the Market today all bite the big one. It took me forever to get through >several broken cards and cryptic (and sometimes blatently wrong) manuals. Yes, Xenix can talk to the Iomega box. I just completed writing drivers for that sucker for the Tandy 6000, and you can find the offering in the latest Tandy Computer Catalog (1986, RSC-15, Page 19). It is written so that it can be used as a backup or a filesystem-type device. He (above) is quite correct. Their interface card (PC and non-PC version) does almost nothing to run the Scuzzi bus. The board consists mainly of some latches and the circuitry needed to detect a host read or write of the on-board data latch, and assert-then-drop ACK on the bus. The other SCSI signals (SEL, MSG, IO, CD, REQ) are just wired into a tri-state bus driver so that the host processor can read their status. It is totally up to software to perform idle-check, bus acquisition, device selection, command, data, status and message phases. Multiple host-bus arbitration does not need to be performed, because they don't support it yet. Their doc does need some help, but you should read the ANSI SCSI standard. It has a little more information on the events of the bus, and that is very useful if you plan to use this interface. What Iomega may have been talking about is a fancy card that you hand the command to and an address of where the data is to go, and it interrupts you when it is done. That certainly takes the burden off the host processor, and would likely be a must if you planned to use the Iomega as an online filesystem or swap area. Be warned, I hear that it is quite expensive, since it has an onboard processor to take care of the Scuzzi duties. <This information is provided by an individual and is not nor should be construed as being provided by Radio Shack or Tandy Corp. Radio Shack/Tandy Corp has no obligation to support the information provided in any way. Since color dyes may, in time change, this film will not be replaced for, or otherwise warranted against, any change in color. So there.)> "Thank you, Uh Clem." Frank Durda IV @ <trsvax!uhclem>