stevel@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Steve Ligett) (07/11/90)
Are IBM PCs ready for SCSI? I've been looking for a SCSI host adapter to put in a 386-based PC clone I'm building. In fact, it's all built except for the hard disk and controller. I want to use SCSI since it'll give me flexibility in number and type of devices. I read good things about the Adaptec AHA1542, but EDN didn't use it in their "All-Star PC" - because memory was remapped under the DOS extender they were using, and DOS was giving the card virtual addresses, not physical ones (*crash*). (No, I don't agree with all the decisions made by those who put together the "All-Star PC".) I just heard that the Future Domain controllers I'd been looking at don't work with Windows 3.0. It looks like the only controller that might not have compatibility problems is the Seagate (Future Domain) ST-02. I'm told that it's a dog. ----- Is this an accurate assessment of the state of SCSI in the PC world? The high-end cards are likely to be incompatible with the "high-end" software? The low-end cards are just that? Are there other choices? Thank you for your advice. -- steve.ligett@dartmouth.edu or ...!dartvax!steve.ligett
iverson@xstor.UUCP (Tim Iverson) (07/13/90)
In article <23112@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> stevel@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Steve Ligett) writes: >I read good things about the Adaptec AHA1542, but EDN didn't use it Just out of curiosity, who (or what) is EDN? >in their "All-Star PC" - because memory was remapped under the DOS >extender they were using, and DOS was giving the card virtual addresses, >not physical ones (*crash*). QEMM386 (& DeskView) will allow you to not remap those areas that you do not wish to remap. I believe (but do not know for sure) that 386MAX does also. I suspect that other supported products do also - you'll have to peruse the manual, though, in order to obtain the proper options. >I just heard that the Future Domain controllers I'd been looking at >don't work with Windows 3.0. Usually this is more a function of the device driver rather than the controller. Are you sure that this was tested using the native DOS disk device driver? >It looks like the only controller that might not have compatibility >problems is the Seagate (Future Domain) ST-02. I'm told that it's a >dog. TMC830's (Future Domain's low end SCSI board) are one step up from ST-02's, but that's not saying much - they still have a bug that will cause them to poke a byte randomly into memory under the proper conditions. Storage Dimensions makes a card that, in my opinion, is of higher quality than the TMC830 and the ST-02. It does out-perform the TMC830. I don't know if it's been qualified for Windows 3.0 yet. >Is this an accurate assessment of the state of SCSI in the PC world? >The high-end cards are likely to be incompatible with the "high-end" >software? The low-end cards are just that? Are there other choices? Actually, if you're going to be running a single-tasking OS (i.e. single-tasking from the point of view of the host adapter - only one command to one drive at a time), the "high-end" controllers are actually slower than the "low-end" due to the large amount of overhead on each command, unless, of course, you are taking about the very highest end, a cacheing host adapter, which will overcome it's command overhead by significantly reducing latency and transfer time for a cache hit. >Thank you for your advice. Sure. >steve.ligett@dartmouth.edu or ...!dartvax!steve.ligett - Tim Iverson uunet!xstor!iverson
colin@array.UUCP (Colin Plumb) (07/15/90)
Well, I use an Adpatec 1540 board (the recent one; it's just a 1542 without the floppy-specific circuitry) with 386max daily, and it works fine. I had long and persistent problems until I enabled parity checking on the drive (CDC Wren V), but Coretest (a program a company called Core sent around to benchmark your hard drive and display how much faster their hard drives are) keeps embarassing itself. -- -Colin
add@sciences.tmc.edu (James D. Murray) (07/17/90)
I use a Future Domain TMC-885 SCSI Host Adapter with a
Maxtor LXT-200S SCSI drive and I love it! The system
really complements my 386-25MHz machine. Now if I could
only find a good 60mb internal SCSI tape backup.
BTW, the I am dissatisfied with Future Domain itself. I
specifically bought the TMC-885 because its on-board floppy
disk controller will support up to four floppies, any
combination. The catch is that your floppies 3 and 4 need a
special driver in CONFIG.SYS to work. I have been waiting for
that driver to be written since November 1989. Since March
they've bee been telling me "the driver will be released next
month. It's still in Q.C." It takes 15 minutes to get through
to the tech. support people only to be given yet another bull
story to put me off for another month.
So here I sit with a system with four floppy drivers--only
two of which work.
>>>>+=====+> * <+=====+<<<<
James D. Murray, Ethnounixologist "Riker! Stop that smirking!"
Anaheim, California, U.S.A. -- J-L. Picard
Internet: add@sciences.sdsu.edu (130.191.224.2)
Bitnet: bardic@calstate.Bitnet (130.150.102.1)stevel@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Steve Ligett) (07/24/90)
In article <1990Jul17.035151.19907@ucselx.sdsu.edu> add@sciences.tmc.edu (James D. Murray) writes: > > I use a Future Domain TMC-885 SCSI Host Adapter with a >Maxtor LXT-200S SCSI drive and I love it! The system >really complements my 386-25MHz machine. Now if I could >only find a good 60mb internal SCSI tape backup. > > BTW, the I am dissatisfied with Future Domain itself. I >specifically bought the TMC-885 because its on-board floppy >disk controller will support up to four floppies, any >combination. The catch is that your floppies 3 and 4 need a >special driver in CONFIG.SYS to work. I have been waiting for >that driver to be written since November 1989. Since March >they've bee been telling me "the driver will be released next >month. It's still in Q.C." It takes 15 minutes to get through >to the tech. support people only to be given yet another bull >story to put me off for another month. Thanks to the many who responded to my original article! It appears that IBM PCs *are* ready for SCSI. The compatibility and interfacing problems seem comparable to those people have using SCSI with other computers. I chose to buy the Future Domain TMC-885. Why? It's not too expensive, so I had money left to buy the disk drive. (And there's the rumor that it will control up to 4 floppy drives (see above).) I got two prices for the TMC-885: as TMC-885DNK, a kit with the board, manuals, and drivers for several operating systems, $350. As a bare board, $125. I bought the bare board, hoping they meant it would come with some documentation. It came with none. The distributor I bought it from, Marshall Industries, doesn't seem to have any wizards on this stuff. So, perhaps I should have bought the expensive package. I believe there's something in-between, and I hope to hear from Marshall on that. For a disk drive, I bought a Fujitsu m2613s. It's a 3.5", 136 megabyte, 20 ms drive. My company bought it to resell to Dartmouth for less than $600. Thanks again for the advice. If I have any amazing SCSI adventures, I'll post a note. -- steve.ligett@dartmouth.edu or ...!dartvax!steve.ligett