appleman@pro-truckstop.cts.com (The Sanitarium) (10/16/90)
I am currently running a //e system with one of apple's new HS SCSI cards. The card is nice and all, but even with software that has been mentioned several times (RGB.SCSIHACER, ET AL) I cannot get the card to recognise any more than two partitions unless the card is resident in slot #5. Unless I am just being a total oaf and am not running this software correctly, the problem seems to be one of a hard coded limitation in the programmed roms on the card. If this is the case, are there any of you hardware whizzes out there that can help me find the location so I can burn a new EPROM or something? The real problem is that Apple has apparently forgotten that most protected software on 5-1/4 media is expecting the controller card to be in slot# 6. Therefore, if I have the 5-1/4 card where it runs properly (#6), I lose the HD as a startup device. The truly odd thing is that I don't really know why Apple chose #5 over #7 for the SCSI preferred slot anyway, since almost everyone I know has the HD resident in slot# 7. Second question os this: I have had my //e for a while and have accumulated many more cards that I can possibly use in the 7 slots at any one time. I would like to make (or buy if one is available...no sense in re-inventing the wheel) a box of sorts that would have one hookup to one of the 50 pin slot connectors inside the //e and branch that out to 3 or 4 50 pin connectors inside the box. The problem I have is in the actual switching that would have to take place between the slots that would be in the box. Is there just one or two pins on the card that I can switch on/off that would render the card invisible to the machine, or do I have to figure some complex switching device that would activate all 50 pins at once? Also, once I figure out the switching method, do I have to shut the system down to switch from one card to another, or can I switch the cards while powered up? Thanks in advance... (You think I should have put a MAC slam in there to have insured a response? :) ) | | | | UUCP: crash!pro-truckstop!appleman | Still "GBBS"ing after | | ARPA: crash!pro-truckstop!appleman@nosc.mil | all these years | | INET: appleman@pro-truckstop.cts.com | "Bo knows ACOS !" | | | | [ My opinions are not my own. They're someone else's ]
toddpw@tybalt.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel) (10/16/90)
First, the reason for the two drive limit is in prodos itself. Published specs for prodos are such that only two drives may be associated with each slot, period. Apple gets around this by mapping the next two into another slot so that prodos thinks there are two drives in one slot and two in another -- some programs still break but Apple documented it pretty well so there haven't been too many problems. I forget _why_ it only works in slot 5, but in any case SCSIPART will solve things by manually mapping the extra partitions into slot 1 drives 1 and 2. SCSIPART will soon be available for anonymous ftp, I will post an announcement in a few days giving the details. As for your 'extender box' idea, most cards are designed to apple's guidelines and rely on only these signals as master enables: pin name 1 IOSEL 20 IOSTRB 39 M2SEL (only in the GS) 41 DEVSEL so for a //e box you only need to switch 3 lines -- assuming the cards are designed properly. In general, if it works in both the GS and the //e, then it uses IOSEL, IOSTRB, and DEVSEL. The only card I know of that pays any attention at all to M2SEL is the Video Overlay Card. All the other pins (except DMA IN/OUT and INT IN/OUT, which you will want to leave unconnected) are identical on all slots as far as you are concerned. Todd Whitesel toddpw @ tybalt.caltech.edu