jeff@u02.svl.cdc.com (Jeff Needham) (01/17/91)
This is a forward.
Responses can be forwarded to me.
I am looking for advice on suitable SCSI controllers for the following
environment:
MS DOS 3.31 and MS DOS 4.01
Windows 3.0
(1) Imprimis Wren VI SCSI Drive (.5 Gigabyte)
no additional drives planned (SCSI or MFM)
Standard AT Bus
No network connection (network access is by modem using proprietary
and standard PC software)
I have concerns about controllers that require a device driver. According
to one vendor, a device driver is required for DOS 4.01 but not 3.31. I
assume from this that controllers would thus fall into 3 categories:
controllers that require device drivers for all versions of DOS; controllers
that require device drivers for specific versions of DOS (i.e. DOS 4.01);
and controllers that do not require a device driver (WD 1003 emulation).
It appears that the last type of controller would be best.
There are some controllers that require device drivers if more than one
SCSI device is used, and some that require device drivers if more than
two SCSI devices are used. Some controllers require a device driver if
there is another non-SCSI disk controller. Although it would be useful
to have this information, these are not considerations in the environment
we are intending to use. We are however, considering adding a CD-ROM and/or
tape backup. I realize that these would require device drivers.
My concerns about using device drivers are:
a) the drive may not be usable as a boot drive (in some cases ?)
b) device drivers don't work well with Windows 3.0 (or in the
case of drives with > 1027 cylinders - they don't work at all)
c) device drivers use up valuable memory
d) using relocation software (e.g. QEMM) for device drivers can
cause problems
Disk cache is another issue. The Imprimis drive has its own cache. I
don't know if this would cause conflicts with a caching controller.
Also, I have heard about problems using caching controllers with
Windows 3.0. I think it might be better to avoid a disk controller
with its own cache.
Does anyone know of any disk controllers that meet the above criteria?
Thanks.
--
Disclaimer -- Waiting for the Oracle port to the Prophet-5
| Jeff Needham
| Oracle Performance Group
| Control Data - Santa Clara, CA - INTERNET jeff@hawk.svl.cdc.com