trj@phoenix.llnl.gov (Terry R. Jones x39834) (03/16/91)
Hello,
We're interested in connecting some scsi devices (optical disk jukebox
and very high quality color printer) to a DEC 5830. This brings up
several questions:
(1) Does anyone know of a BI-card that talks scsi? (Note: the 5830
doesn't have a Q-bus or Uni-bus.) Any experience with it?
(2) Some people have said that finding a scsi card is only half the
battle because scsi isn't very well defined. Is this true?
Put another way, if I get a scsi compliant card and a scsi compliant
device--are they guaranteed to interface properly? (One would
sure hope so...)
Thanks for any help.
regards,
terry jones
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
terry jones |
lawrence livermore lab |
POB 808 MS: L-67 | Susan: A real woman could stop you from drinking.
Livermore, CA 94550 | Arthur: She'd have to be a real big woman.
trj@ocfmail.ocf.llnl.gov|
trj@lll-crg.llnl.gov | - from the motion picture "Arthur"
(415) 423-9834 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------grr@cbmvax.commodore.com (George Robbins) (03/16/91)
In article <795@llnl.LLNL.GOV> trj@phoenix.llnl.gov (Terry R. Jones x39834) writes: > > Hello, > > We're interested in connecting some scsi devices (optical disk jukebox > and very high quality color printer) to a DEC 5830. This brings up > several questions: > > (1) Does anyone know of a BI-card that talks scsi? (Note: the 5830 > doesn't have a Q-bus or Uni-bus.) Any experience with it? There is one board sold as a direct BI->Exabyte SCSI interface, I think it was originally designed by Megatape and is now being marketed by Clearpoint or both. While I suspect the basic board could handle any SCSI peripheral, it is probably set up with controller "microcode" to provide TMSCP emulation, so providing MSCP emulation might require additional software development. I don't know if they are interested in pursuing this option, I'd certainly snap up one of their boards if I knew I could use it for SCSI hard drives and CD-ROM. -- George Robbins - now working for, uucp: {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!grr but no way officially representing: domain: grr@cbmvax.commodore.com Commodore, Engineering Department phone: 215-431-9349 (only by moonlite)
mike@UC780.UMD.EDU (Mike Santangelo) (03/16/91)
In article <795@llnl.LLNL.GOV>, trj@phoenix.llnl.gov (Terry R. Jones x39834) writes: > >Hello, > >We're interested in connecting some scsi devices (optical disk jukebox >and very high quality color printer) to a DEC 5830. This brings up >several questions: > > (1) Does anyone know of a BI-card that talks scsi? (Note: the 5830 > doesn't have a Q-bus or Uni-bus.) Any experience with it? Try DILOG and CMD, the latter in particular. They both are now licensed for the BI bus, as well as the MSCP and TMSCP protocols (DU and MU drivers ala VMS). CMD does not but make SCSI stuff, they seem pretty good. For the BI bus, be prepared to pay top dollar though. Controllers for this bus are $10K and up per board. If you want phone #'s, send mail to me at address below and I'll send them to you (not at work now). > > (2) Some people have said that finding a scsi card is only half the > battle because scsi isn't very well defined. Is this true? > Put another way, if I get a scsi compliant card and a scsi compliant > device--are they guaranteed to interface properly? (One would > sure hope so...) > To some degree yes. Try for SCSI-2 devices, they are much more well defined. The best thing, of course, is to see if the manufacturer of the SCSI controller has tested their board with the device you want to use, it would surprise you that alot of them have been tried. Ask the manufacturer about this. >Thanks for any help. > >regards, >terry jones >----------------------------------------------------------------------------- >terry jones | >lawrence livermore lab | >POB 808 MS: L-67 | Susan: A real woman could stop you from drinking. >Livermore, CA 94550 | Arthur: She'd have to be a real big woman. >trj@ocfmail.ocf.llnl.gov| >trj@lll-crg.llnl.gov | - from the motion picture "Arthur" >(415) 423-9834 | >----------------------------------------------------------------------------- +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Michael F. Santangelo + Inet: mike@uc780.umd.edu VMS / UNIX Systems + mike@socrates.umd.edu Academic Computing UMUC + Bnet: MIKE@UC780 (The University of Maryland, + MIKE@UMUC (not visited often) University College) +<Your clever net-phrase here>