pturner@ese.ese.ogi.edu (Paul Turner) (11/26/90)
Sometime back I posted a request for SCSI cable info for the RS6000, this is the cable from the SCSI board to the first SCSI device. It turns out that these cables are made by AMP and consist of a mini centronics-like connector at the controller end, and a regular centronics at the device end. I would guess that the high cost ($330 from IBM) is due to the single source and price gouging by IBM. National Peripherals Inc. (NPI) lists the cable for $200 (also from AMP), they refused to sell us the cable alone (no big deal, see below). No doubt people have by now succeded in constructing cables, so prices and availability should improve. About third party drives (which is what prompted me to inquire about the cables) I wish to relate a very pleasant experience we had with NPI for those interested in purchasing third party drives. We took a chance on our last 2 RS6000s (320s) and ordered them with no SCSI drives (just the controller), this meant no pre-loaded OS (and at the time, no supplier for the necessary drives). The machines arrived and a phone call to the supplier from whom we originally ordered the drives indicated that while they could supply the drives, the cables would not be available for 4-6 weeks. A followup to my post concerning SCSI cables mentioned NPI, so a hasty call to NPI on a Tuesday got us drives and cables by Friday (2 CDC wren VIes). The installation of AIX went without a hitch (subtracting out the fact that I loaded it from 3.5 inch floppies), the machines were in use the day the drives arrived. I have no financial interest in NPI, I'm simply a very satisfied customer. --Paul Paul J Turner pturner@ese.ogi.edu