tempest@ecst.csuchico.edu (Kenneth K.F. Lui) (01/12/91)
I have a NeXT Computer with an optical drive and a Quantum P105S
1/2-height 3.5" form-factor hard disk (for the near interrim...)
and am in the process of looking for a larger hard disk. At this
time, I'm eyeing at the 440MB Wren. It's a 1/2-height 5.25"
form-factor and would be ideal if it can be placed inside the
cube along with my Quantum.
When I swapped the Quantum P40S swapdrive for my P105S, I noticed
several things that worry me about future upgradability for NeXT
cubes:
1. There are only 2 power cables. They are connected to
the optical and hard drives. When I add the Wren, I
won't have power going to it. Can I get adaptors that
connect to one of the power cables and give me a total
of 3, like a Y-cable? Will these adaptors--if they
exist--introduce extra noise and make disk operations
unreliable?
2. The SCSI flat ribbon cable only has one connector, and
it's going into the P105S. Anyone know of the part
number for a NeXT internal SCSI ribbon cable that will
let you connect two disk drives? (Those clips on NeXT
cables sure are cool--I won't settle for anything
less :-) Note that the optical ribbon cable has two
connectors.
3. Finally, the mount screws seem very limited. The layout
of the drive bays look like this:
Slots ________________ CPU Slot
|| || | | || || The symbols <- and
|| || | | || || -> refer to screws;
|| || | | || || and there are four
|| || <-|=== ______ ===|-> || || per bay--I only drew
|| || || || || || || || two per as this
|| || | | P105S| | || || crude diagram is from
|| || |____|______|____| || || the NeXT's back.
|| || | | || ||
|| || | | || || The 3.5" form factor
|| || | Optical | || || of the Quantums need
|| || <- Drive -> || || brackets attached to
|| || | | || || them so they would
|| || | | || || fit in the cube.
|| || |________________| || ||
OK, so where would I mount my Wren? All mount points
are used up, although I haven't looked carefully at the
brackets used to hold the P105S--they do have a large
number of mounting holes. I suppose I can use Scotch(tm)
tape, but this is ridiculous. Incidentally, anyone know
how the floppy disk drive would go on a new cube?
If anyone out there has done what I'm about to do or are in the
know, I'd appreciate hearing from you. Post to comp.sys.next--it
would benefit everyone.
Ken
______________________________________________________________________________
tempest@ecst.csuchico.edu, tempest@walleye.ecst.csuchico.edu,|Kenneth K.F. Lui|
tempest@sutro.sfsu.edu, tempest@wet.UUCP |________________|