filbo@gorn.santa-cruz.ca.us (Bela Lubkin) (09/08/89)
[line eater????????] In <16.filbo@gorn.santa-cruz.ca.us>, I wrote: > [What is this "line-eater"? A bug in some news >sender< or >reader?<] (I still don't know -- I've never seen a missing first line, what's the deal?) > Does a later version of the Supra software support 256-byte hard sectors? > (It would probably have to do this by translating AmigaDOS' requests for > single sectors into double physical sectors; I don't see any big difficulty > in this except that someone would have to go to the trouble of implementing > it). Answer: no. I called Supra tech support and spoke to Clark. He said that the current version of the Supra software doesn't support 256 byte/sector drives. He also said that "1.4 (or maybe 1.5)" would support them. That sure helps me a lot. He thought it would be quite difficult to implement -- I don't know WHY he thought so, it ought to be quite easy with the driver and formatter sources at hand, but that the news from On High. (In point of fact, whether or not 1.4 supports 256 byte sectors is basically irrelevent -- the Supra formatter STILL won't work on this drive unless the go to the trouble of fixing it). > Finally, if Supra can't do it, are there any other A1000 controllers that > will support such a setup? Transfer rate and other factors would be > important, but getting it to work is primary! I received two mail replies about this. Significant parts are quoted below: -> From: arthur walker <roadman@portia.stanford.edu> -> -> Get a C-LTD controller. Their 3.x software, which works with controllers -> for all three amigas, supports 256 byte sectors. At worst, if their low -> level formatters don't work with the 4520 in 4520 mode, you can probably -> get the older drivers/formatter to work with it in 4000 mode. I don't -> see how you can expect the supra software to work with it. I doubt that -> 4000 mode will hide the 256 byte sectors from the host, the host will have -> to know the size of a sector. (I don't see why I >shouldn't< expect the Supra software to work with it -- C. Ltd. just adds evidence that it's possible, if that was ever in question. I wasn't expecting the Adaptec to hide anything, I was expecting the Amiga driver software -- the formatter and vendor-specific harddisk.device -- to do the hiding). -> From: Dale Larson <dlarson@blake.acs.washington.edu> -> -> CLtd. controller software documentation claims that it supports 256 byte -> sectors by simply setting one flag. -> -> I have not had the opportunity to use this feature. I now ask: are there any other controllers that support this? More importantly, is there ANYONE out there who is actually using a C. Ltd. (or any other) controller with a 256 byte/sec. hard-sectored drive? AtDhVaAnNkCsE, >Bela< Bela Lubkin * * filbo@gorn.santa-cruz.ca.us CIS: 73047,1112 @ * * ...ucbvax!ucscc!gorn!filbo ^^^ REALLY slow [months] R Pentomino * Filbo @ Pyrzqxgl (408) 476-4633 & XBBS (408) 476-4945
mikes@lakesys.UUCP (Mike Shawaluk) (09/08/89)
(stuff about C LTD vs. Supra controllers, etc.)
I've been following the discussion about these various controllers and hard
drives, and the inability of certain controllers to handle 256-byte sectors.
What nobody has said is whether it's just 256-byte sectors that are the
problem, or whether the controllers ONLY handle 512-byte sectors. Why do I
ask? Well, I have access to a brand-new Sony SMO-D501 magneto-optical drive,
with the removable 650 megabyte platter (well, it's a flippable 325 Mbytes
per side, if you wanna get picky), and the blank platters that were shipped
with it are 1024 bytes per sector. The unit has an ESDI interface, but also
was shipped with a SCSI controller, and I'm trying to figure out if the unit
will work with an Amiga (just for testing purposes, tho; I don't have the
$3400 bux or so to buy one for myself, but it would be interesting to play
with, until it's needed for the project at work that I bought it for).
So, my question is, are any sector sizes other than 512 (i.e., 1024) bytes
supported by the popular A1000 controllers (I currently have a Supra 4x4, but
I am toying with upgrading to the C LTD Kronos unit, when it becomes
available "RSN")?
aTdHvAaNnKcSe
--
- Mike Shawaluk
(mikes@lakesys.lakesys.com OR ...!uunet!marque!lakesys!mikes)
"If spirit == essense, then spiritual == essential!" - mejesup@cbmvax.UUCP (Randell Jesup) (09/11/89)
In article <1065@lakesys.UUCP> mikes@lakesys.UUCP (Mike Shawaluk) writes: > Well, I have access to a brand-new Sony SMO-D501 magneto-optical drive, >with the removable 650 megabyte platter (well, it's a flippable 325 Mbytes >per side, if you wanna get picky), and the blank platters that were shipped >with it are 1024 bytes per sector. The unit has an ESDI interface, but also >was shipped with a SCSI controller, and I'm trying to figure out if the unit >will work with an Amiga (just for testing purposes, tho; I don't have the >$3400 bux or so to buy one for myself, but it would be interesting to play >with, until it's needed for the project at work that I bought it for). I know they work with A590's. However, they have both 512 byte/ sector and 1024 byte/sector disks. I'm not certain about the 1024 b/s disk working (Steve Beats was testing it). I am certain about the 512 b/s disk working. Not horribly fast, but works nice IMHO. -- Randell Jesup, Keeper of AmigaDos, Commodore Engineering. {uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!jesup, jesup@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com BIX: rjesup Common phrase heard at Amiga Devcon '89: "It's in there!"