micke@slaka.sirius.se (Mikael Karlsson) (02/07/90)
Short question:
Does the A2091 support removable media, eg SyQuest?
--
Mikael Karlsson, Lovsattersvagen 10, S-585 98 LINKOPING, SWEDEN
micke@slaka.UUCP, micke@slaka.sirius.se
{mcvax,munnari,seismo}!sunic!liuida!slaka!mickeeapu030@orion.oac.uci.edu (Jason Goldberg) (02/08/90)
In article <16249.AA16249@slaka.sirius.se> micke@slaka.sirius.se (Mikael Karlsson) writes: >Short question: > Does the A2091 support removable media, eg SyQuest? > Unfortunately the answer is not so short. The 2091 can support removable media. I have interfaced SysQuests, tape-backups, etc... to my 2091, I have been very impressed with the degree of Apple SCSI compatability. I have used a wide array of MAC SCSI products with no problem. As a matter of fact the 2091 SCSI is more compatible than the SCSI in the MAC IIci with Apple drives! Here is the problem. The current software doesn't really support SysQuest, so every time you switch cartriges you must issue a DiskChange command, also unless you want to reboot, you must insure that all your cartriges are partitioned the same. Supposedly 1.4 supports removable media including the ability to UnMount a device. This would allow you to have defferent partitions on any cartrage. -Jason-
rwm@atronx.UUCP (Russell McOrmond) (02/14/90)
>Short question: > Does the A2091 support removable media, eg SyQuest? From what I know of the 2091, no. Removable media drives require a bit of a 'diskchange' to be issued each time the media is changed. Without this being supported within the system, the possibility of errors cropping up are quite high. This is just a software limitation, though, as the Controller itself does support those drives (AKA: Yes/NO is the answer). Question to Commodore : Are there any plans to update the ROMS for the 2091 to support removable media drives? I work for a dealership in Ottawa , and quite often a GVP controller (IE: NonDMA, etc) is sold due to these software limitations of the 2091 controller. I hate to see people walk off with something other than the BEST. Also question : I remember hearing from someone about some errors within the 2091 ROMS - did these errors really exist, or was this yet another roumer spread for bad Publicity? Is there any programmers Docs available for the 2091? I remember a discussion with someone some time ago, and there was mention about SCSINet - A host controller supposedly has the ability to run as a Slave as well as a host, and the possibility of having more than one host controller on the same chain exists - This concept extended, would give a very quick Local Area Network (As well as automatic 'Drive Sharing' ;-). The possibility of inter-machine-task communication (Maybe using similar ideas to the DNET concept, keeping compatable with existing code, etc - sounds very intersting). Any comments on the possibilities? I have a VERY limited knowledge of SCSI (I have no idea where to start to look), so I do not know how possible any of these things are. >Mikael Karlsson, Lovsattersvagen 10, S-585 98 LINKOPING, SWEDEN >micke@slaka.UUCP, micke@slaka.sirius.se >{mcvax,munnari,seismo}!sunic!liuida!slaka!micke -- Opinions expressed in this message are my Own. My Employer does not even know what these networks ARE. Russell McOrmond rwm@atronx fts1!atronx!rwm alzabo!atronx!rwm FidoNet 1:163/109 [(613) 231-7144 ] BBS: (613) 230-2282 Amiga-Fidonet Support 1:1/109
bscott@pikes.Colorado.EDU (Ben M Scott) (02/15/90)
In article <1930.AA1930@atronx> rwm@atronx.UUCP (Russell McOrmond) writes: >with someone some time ago, and there was mention about SCSINet - A host >controller supposedly has the ability to run as a Slave as well as a host, >and the possibility of having more than one host controller on the same >chain exists - This concept extended, would give a very quick Local Area >Network (As well as automatic 'Drive Sharing' ;-). The possibility of >inter-machine-task communication (Maybe using similar ideas to the DNET >concept, keeping compatable with existing code, etc - sounds very intersting). >Any comments on the possibilities? I have a VERY limited knowledge of SCSI (I The board I run (Arvada 68K) is owned by a co-author of B.A.D. who runs SCSInet on his system, between two A-1000s and an indeterminate number of drives... it works well; to add another drive all he needs to do is splice a pair of connectors somewhere along the bus and hook in. I'm told the Amiga implementation of SCSInet was published by CLtd. Anyway, I don't think it would make much of a LAN, mainly because SCSI is limited to 7 units and as far as I know SCSInet is limited to two hosts. Also, when a drive or partition is mounted on both machines, a write to it from either machine requires a diskchange on the other to update the bitmap. Plug alert: Watch for the new update, B.A.D. 4.0 in less than one month! Totally rewritten, and features true virtual memory and extremely fast operationover V3.15. And from the same company, HyperBack, the new HD backup supporting just about everything, and using a proprietary floppy write format that can achieve 1 megabyte per minute! . <<<<Infinite K>>>>
Bob.Collinsworth@afitamy.fidonet.org (Bob Collinsworth) (02/23/90)
Jason, you say you have used tape backups on the 2091? How did you mount them?
I have a HardFrame and I would like to be able to back up my 300 megs of
storage to tape for obvious reasons, (I have a SCSI 1/4 inch Archive tape
drive but I don't know how to MOUNT it! QuarterBack can use ANY AmigaDOS
device for output and will take care of the DiskChange, but How can I mount or
use the drive? Please answer as I have been wanting to do (try) this for over
a Year!
Bob Collinsworth
2001 Wyoming St.
Dayton, Ohio
45410
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-------------------------------------------------|jbeckley@ics.uci.edu (Jeff D. Beckley) (02/24/90)
I have recieved numerous questions about my post using a tape-b/u unit
and sysquest with my 2091. I would gladly respond via E-Mail but I am
having trouble getting a permanent address (have to change accounts
every $100 at UCI cause I'm not a Computer Science major...).
Basically the sysquest seem to work fine interfaced with the 2091
provided that you issue a diskchange command after changing media and
that all media has the exact same partitions (you can defeat this
restriction by rebooting). I have recieved reports of trouble
in formatting but I have only done read/write on pre-formatted media,
so until I setup that hardware configuration, I can't confirm that
formats will work.
As for Tape B/U. I had no luck forcing AmigaDos to recognize my
SCSI tape devices (actually it can see it, just not use it effectively
:-) ). I was/am able to use SCSI tape units by using my own software
which is far from elegant. I have sold the rights (closer to gave
the rights to...) of the code to IVS (trumpcard) for use with thier
contorller. They are adding their own user interface. Once I can get
a permanent account, and assuming that IVS has no objections (I very
seriously doubt they will), I will clean up the code and release it.
You still won't be able to talk to the tape through std AmigaDos
so QuarterBack will do you no good, but I can succesfully do a full
image B/U of a 48 MEG ST-157N-1 in under 20 minutes, so it shouldn't
be too much of an incovenience, at least until 1.4 comes out and
blows me out of the water (yea!).
For anyone interested in doing there own code, the main thing to be
aware of is that the Tape units I tried can't keep up with your HD,
if you try to write on the fly, even with buffers you will at the
best case have large gaps in your tape and thus greatly reduce the
restore speed, and tape capasity. Thus, the quick and dirty way to read
in as much as you can in MEM and then dump it out to the Tape, at its
speed.
GoodLuck,
-Jason-
--
Gumby
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