gjh@hplb.hpl.hp.com (Graham Higgins) (01/07/91)
According to the latest Gadgets Newsletter, the MegaTalk board offers a SCSI port which will allow SCSI devices other than HD's to be used under Spectre. What's the position if I have an ICD-HostAdaptor-driven SCSI bus on my (non-Mega) ST? Can I hook a scanner on the SCSI bus and use it under Spectre (given the appropriate s/w)? Thanks for any info. Cheers, Graham ====== ------------------------------------------------------------------ Graham Higgins | Phone: (0272) 799910 x 24060 Hewlett-Packard Labs | gjh%ghiggins@hpl.hp.co.uk Bristol | gjh%ghiggins@hplb.hpl.hp.com U.K. | ------------------------------------------------------------------ Disclaimer: My opinions above are exactly that, mine and opinions. ------------------------------------------------------------------
dsmall@well.sf.ca.us (David Small) (01/16/91)
Graham, we only are compatible with mass storage media that is accessed through ACSI<->SCSI adaptors, like ICD's. The software and logic incompatabilities made it impossible for us to get the Mac's _SCSIDispatch to work right with ACSI stuff. So, we stuck the correct SCSI chip at the correct address with the correct wiring-pinouts to match a Mac Plus in the MegaTalk board, and THAT will accept hand-scanners, etc, in Mac mode, plus hooking into Appletalk or LocalTalk networks. Hope this clears it up. Good question! -- thanks, Dave / Gadgets
gjh@hplb.hpl.hp.com (Graham Higgins) (01/18/91)
++ Graham, we only are compatible with mass storage media that is accessed ++ through ACSI<->SCSI adaptors, like ICD's. The software and logic ++ incompatabilities ++ made it impossible for us to get the Mac's _SCSIDispatch to work right ++ with ACSI stuff. Understood that Mac s/w won't be able to use hardware which is designed to the ACSI i/f spec, e.g. ACSI HD's. However, my setup is a couple of ST506 mechs driven by an Omti 3527A RLL SCSI controller card which is connected to the ST via an ICD ACSI-> SCSI host adaptor. Which would seem to satisfy your criterion stated above. As far as I understood, having the ICD SCSI adaptor gave me "true" SCSI. I wanted to explore the possibility of hooking up either a scanner or a CD-ROM to the SCSI bus made available by the ICD ACSI->SCSI adaptor. Your comment above suggests that this *is* possible. However, since posting the query, I have been told that SCSI devices on the Mac tend to want to talk directly to the SCSI chip and hence don't work under Spectre. So far no-one has been able to give me a definitive answer and with CD-ROM down to 280-odd pounds (from Corporate Computing, advertising in the UK edition of Computer Shopper) and with Atari being so recalcitrant about re-marketing the CDAR stuff, I thought it'd be a good route to follow. ++ So, we stuck the correct SCSI chip at the correct address with the ++ correct wiring-pinouts to match a Mac Plus in the MegaTalk board, and THAT ++ will accept hand-scanners, etc, in Mac mode, plus hooking into Appletalk or ++ LocalTalk networks. This is, of course, the best solution --- for those who have Megas --- guess which I *don't* have (sigh). ++ Hope this clears it up. Good question! It's given me renewed hope anyway! In view of the most favourable interpretation of your answer, I'll see if I can lay my hands on a SCSI-connectable scanner & s/w and see if it cuts the mustard. Cheers, Graham ====== ------------------------------------------------------------------ Graham Higgins | Phone: (0272) 799910 x 24060 Hewlett-Packard Labs | gjh%ghiggins@hpl.hp.co.uk Bristol | gjh%ghiggins@hplb.hpl.hp.com U.K. | ------------------------------------------------------------------ Disclaimer: My opinions above are exactly that, mine and opinions. ------------------------------------------------------------------