HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: eric@tantalus.nrl.navy.mil (Eric Youngdale)
Subject: Adaptec 1542 programming question.
Organization: Naval Research Laboratory
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 17:21:08 GMT

	I have a programming question that has to do with the Adaptec
1542B.  I am wondering exactly how one is supposed to abort a
currently executing command in such a way that the device is still usable.

	Basically, I am working on some new scsi drivers for linux, and at boot
time we scan all of the target/lun combinations and perform an INQUIRE to see
if there is a device there.  Most devices handle this properly, but a Tandberg
TDC 3600 tape drive will accept the inquire for lun ==1, but it will never
respond.  The kernel will wait an appropriate period of time, decide to time
out the command, and try to abort the command.  I need to send something to
tell the Adaptec to abort the command, so that we can at least use lun == 0.
This problem is actually broader than the problem we have with the Tandberg,
since we may have commands time out for a variety of reasons on different
devices, and I would strongly prefer to have a working abort command to
deal with these cases.

	I have tried setting the mbo status to 2:

>02H        SCSI or Host Adapter command is to be aborted.CCB pointer indicates
>           location of CCB to be terminated.

and then sending a 2 to the data I/O port (i.e. start SCSI command).
After we do this, the command is indeed aborted (an interrupt is
received, indicating that the command aborted), but the tape drive is
unusable after this has taken place.  Very few operations on the tape
drive seem to be successful after the first abort. The error messages
(having DEBUG defined in st.c) don't seem to make sense after the
abort.

	I have also tried setting ccb.op to 0x81:

>If the value is 81(hex) a Bus Device Reset message will be sent to the 
>addressed target.This command forces the host adapter to abort all outstanding
>tasks against the selected target. All remaining CCB Bytes are ignored. The 
>host adapter will generate a Bus Device Reset message out to the specified 
>target. 

	In this case, I reused the ccb for the command that we wish to
abort (is this a mistake?), so I simply changed ccb.op to 0x81.  I was
not sure what to load into the outgoing mailbox status, so I tried
both 1 and 2 (start command or abort command).  After performing this
operation, we do not receive any interrupt.  It was not clear from the manual
whether we actually should receive an interrupt.

	Anyway, this is what I have tried so far.  There is probably
something silly that we are doing wrong, but it is not apparent from
the manual what this might be.  I give thanks in advance to anyone who can
suggest what we might be doing wrong.

-Eric

-- 
Eric Youngdale
From: ephraim@think.com (Ephraim Vishniac)
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi
Subject: Re: SCSI/SCSI-II docs online?
Date: 6 Nov 1992 15:13:38 GMT
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge MA, USA
Distribution: usa
NNTP-Posting-Host: charon.think.com

In article <1992Nov5.203153.28137@netcom.com> saake@netcom.com (Mark Saake) writes:
>Does anyone know if either the SCSI or SCSI-II specs are available in
>electronic form.  I'd actually prefer having them online that sitting
>on the book shelf.

The SCSI standards are available by anonymous ftp from
rex.cs.tulane.edu. If you're a WAIS user, you can search the SCSI-2
standard using scsi-2.src.

-- 
Ephraim Vishniac    ephraim@think.com   ThinkingCorp@applelink.apple.com
 Thinking Machines Corporation / 245 First Street / Cambridge, MA 02142
        One of the flaws in the anarchic bopper society was
        the ease with which such crazed rumors could spread.
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi
From: dag@atomica.fi (Dag Nygren)
Subject: Re: Bad Block Reassignment
Organization: Oy Atomica Ab, ESBO, FINLAND
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 15:15:09 GMT

head@dorsai.com (Howard Pinsley) writes:

>We are using Seagate SCSI drives (don't have the model number handy), Adaptek
>controllers on a 486 running SCO Unix.  One of these drives has been reporting
>read errors.

	There is a nice and working utility called scsibadblk on the SCO
	bulletin board that does exactly this. Look for unx 347a.



Dag Nygren					email: dag@atomica.fi
Oy Atomica Ab				or     santra!atomica!dag
Box 22 (Ahventie 4A)
02170 Esbo
FINLAND
-- 
Dag Nygren					email: dag@atomica.fi
Oy Atomica Ab				or     santra!atomica!dag
Box 22 (Ahventie 4A)
02170 Esbo
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi
From: jeffj@krfiny.uucp (J. Jonas)
Subject: is there a stand alone SCSI (via parallel port) SCSI tape box?
Summary: I have not seen any
Organization: Jeff's house of computer pieces
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 21:32:22 GMT

I was chatting with a fellow on the train to work about tape backups.
There are converters that put a SCSI port on the parallel port.
If I had a lunchbox with a SCSI tape drive and power supply,
and a parallel port to SCSI adapter,
I should be able to visit every PC in the office and make a backup.
A portable, instantly installable tape drive.

For the DOS users,
I'd just need a way to load the drivers, such as by booting
a system on a floppy with all the necessary drivers.

For OS/2: is it possible to create a minimal system that runs
entirely from the floppy, or just boots from the floppy?
The system would be used only for tape backup/restore and would
contain the necessary drivers.

For UNIX, perhaps a program that uses the port directly,
or I'd have to load the drivers on the hard disk, regen the kernel
and reboot to enable the port.  I'd have to do this only once,
but it's annoying to have

Any such product on the market?
Has anybody made their own?

- Jeffrey Jonas
jeffj@panix.com

PS: I know that the preferred way is to network the computers
and share a tape drive on the network.  I'm interested in a solution
that works for the stand alone machines.
This way, I can take the drive to my friend's computer and
make a backup tape of everything without opening the computer
to temporarily install a SCSI interface and the tape drive.
-- 
Jeffrey Jonas

jeffj@panix.com
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi
From: cs011177@cs.brown.edu (Kwun Han)
Subject: Bus on / off time?
Organization: Brown Computer Science Dept.
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 22:04:14 GMT

	Does anyone know what Bus on / off time in an SCSI interface means?
Rgds,
:) Kwun Han.
From: "peter gottlieb" <peter.gottlieb@channel1.com>
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi
Subject: 1 gb 3.5" scsi disks
Date: 8 Nov 92 20:40:51 EST
Reply-To: "peter gottlieb" <peter.gottlieb@channel1.com>
Distribution: comp
Organization: Channel 1 Communications

RJ>        Maxtor Magic (1GB 3.5") is 6600 RPM, ~4.2MB/s sustained (outer tracks
RJ>I can get 4MB/s through the filesystem with it on an Amiga.

What is the model number for this drive?  Is it the MXT-1240S ?  I haven't
seen any mention of a drive named "Magic," but I'm interested...

---
  OLX 2.2  Electricians get into people's shorts
--
Channel 1 (R)   Cambridge, MA

Xref: sparky comp.periphs.scsi:5329 comp.sys.amiga.hardware:19055
From: cs91eeb@brunel.ac.uk (Erik Bussink)
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi,comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Re: Archive Viper 2150S
Date: 6 Nov 92 17:52:18 GMT
Organization: Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]

I've also got a copy of the manual for the Viper, and you can have a copy
I also live near London ;-) Mail me your home address and I'll send you a
copy.

					Erik Bussink
-- 
Erik Bussink, Comp Science year 2      |o---------o|       ///
Brunel University (West London) UK     |o Brunel  o|      ///
Email Internet : cs91eeb@brunel.ac.uk  |o Film    o|     ///
   				       |o Society o| \\\/// 
Also member of : StudentSoft.	       |o---------o|  \XX/ 
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi
From: mlelstv@speckled.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de (Michael van Elst)
Subject: Re: WANTED: tips and driver code for 33C93A SCSI chip
Organization: Max-Planck-Institut f"ur Radioastronomie
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 23:16:24 GMT

In <Bwu9rv.30J@tegra.com> vail@tegra.com (Johnathan Vail) writes:
>It might be a useful thing in the case you describe but for me it was
>very inefficient to get 2 interrupts for every SCSI transfer, one of
>which is a complete throw-away.  I didn't see any way to disable it
>independantly from the Command Complete interrupt.  If there is a way
>I overlooked I would love to hear about it.

Well, I see two cases. When only one device has an active command you
can have just one interrupt per command. If you need to start a second
command while the first is pending you have to handle 2 interrupts per
command (one is the disconnect interrupt, the second is the command
complete). The disconnect interrupt however isn't time consuming as it
just needs to push the active command into the list of pending commands.

>Anyway, not to flame or anything.  After suffering with the 93 I found
>the NCR chips a *big* step up in ease of use and testability.  I think
>the single biggest problem with the 93 was there was no visibility
>into the chip except those almost meaningless codes.

I agree that the documentation I have (the one from AMD which is just a
copy of what WD delivers) leaves much to imagination. I found most of
the behaviour of the device by testing peripherals (and in some cases
I found the peripheral guilty violating SCSI timing specs which the
33C93 honors with quite random "unexpected SCSI phase" errors).

Regards,
-- 
Michael van Elst
UUCP:     universe!local-cluster!milky-way!sol!earth!uunet!unido!mpirbn!p554mve
Internet: p554mve@mpirbn.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de
                                "A potential Snark may lurk in every tree."
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi
From: mcconnel@b11.b11.ingr.com (Guy McConnell)
Subject: Re: SUMMARY: Tape drives
Reply-To: mcconnel@b11.b11.ingr.com (Guy McConnell)
Organization: Intergraph Corp. Huntsville, AL
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 16:53:29 GMT

In article <BEAULIEU.92Nov4160152@winston.bose.com> beaulieu@bose.com (Larry Beaulieu) writes:
>In article <1992Nov3.181516.17149@b11.b11.ingr.com> mcconnel@b11.b11.ingr.com (Guy McConnell) writes:
>
>   In article <10887@uqcspe.cs.uq.oz.au> dusan@cs.uq.oz.au (VK4FCW) writes:
>
>   >>Without compression           300 MB to 5 GB                 2 GB 
>   >>With compression              Up to 20 GB                    Up to 8 GB
>				  ^^^^^^^^^^^
>   >    This should be 25 GB with the (Exabyte standard) IDRC algorithm. 
>   >Incidentally, Exabyte's implementation of the algorithm actually
>   >decompresses the data *after* it goes through the compression logic
>   >and compares it with the uncompressed data in the buffer for the
>   >ultimate integrity check.
>
>   >>Performance
>   >>-----------
>   >>Transfer rate   asynchronous  1.5 Mb/sec                     1.5 Mb/sec
>   >>	        synchronous   4.0 Mb/sec                     5.0 Mb/sec
>   >                 sustained     500 Kb/sec                     732 Kb/sec
>				  ^^^^^^^^^^                     ^^^^^^^^^^
>
>   >    As is typical, DAT's transfer rate is given at the maximum
>   >compression level of 4:1 (183 x 4 = 732) while Exabyte's is given in
>   >native mode.  Compression works the same in both; it multiplies not
>   >only the capacity, but transfer rate as well.  Therefore, at
>   >Exabyte's maximum compression ratio, the transfer rate is 2.5 MB/sec
>   >(500 KB/s x 5 = 2.5 MB/s).
>
>
>	I had 5 of the Contempory Cybernetics 8mm 5GB drives w/compression option
>	mentioned in the original posting (at my previous company) connected to 
>	SPARCstation 2's and 4/470's.  About the best I could get out of 
>	a drive when using data compression was 17GB when dumping mostly text and 
>	database flat files.  Sustained transfer rate on the local system
>	was on the order of 400-600 KB/sec both as indicated by the
>	drive itself and timing the backup (standard dump), with
>	peak rates of about 1MB/sec obtained when backing up the ASCII dumps
>	of the data from databases.
>
>	500 kb/second is also the suttained speed when dumping over
>	the network, both as measured by the tape drive and monitoring
>	an otherwise quiet network.   
>
>	These figures are all from backups using the hardware compression option
>	internal to the tape drive enabled.
>
>	The original data are closer to my results than these.

    Exactly, as they always will be.  The DAT figures were given in
the best-possible-case with compression figured in while the 8mm was
given in best-case without compression.  You have to compare apples
to apples.  The average user will not see greater the 2 - 3 times
compression on *either* the DAT or the Exabyte.  The speed of the
system I/O is most often the limiting factor in transfer rates.
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi
From: guest@ncucs
Subject: Cheating of Low Level Format by AHA-1542B
Organization: E.E. in National Central University, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 18:06:00 GMT


   I have a Quantum LP105S connected to AHA-1542B.  When it comes with DOS
v5.0. they live a happy life, but once I install a 386BSD unix system and
now I will return to DOS, the disk still start the UNIX booting even I have
using the BIOS offset 0x0006 initialize the HD(it told me that it's a LOW-
LEVEL format!!!), fdisk and dos format.  That's to say the disklabel written
by UNIX still attatch in the disk!  

   I am doubt why the controller can't make a REAL LOW-LEVEL format for the
SCSI HD, Maybe any have the same problem and the ADAPTEC should provide a
reasonable explaination and practice solution.  Or others have any tool can
do it, please inform me, I will be appriciate of you.
From: me90plb@brunel.ac.uk (Paul L Barnfather)
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi
Subject: Re: Help with IBM floptical drive
Date: 6 Nov 92 13:33:51 GMT
Organization: Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]

Paul L Barnfather (me90plb@brunel.ac.uk) wrote:
: I have the chance to buy and IBM MD3125A floptical drive very cheaply, without
: docs, drivers, cable, box, etc.
: 
: 1) What is this drive - it looks as if it takes a 3.5" disk. 
:    How much capacity does it have ?
: 
: 2) I need to check if it works. It's so cheap, I doubt if it does, but I 
:    would like to find out. I someone has one of these drives, could you e-mail
:    me and tell me what jumpers need to go where (there are 6 sets of jumpers
:    at the front, and 5 pins at the back).
: 
: 3) I have connected it to my SCSI chain (on a Future Domain TMC-870). It doesn't do anything yet, but I can put a 3.5" floppy in it. The loading mechanism
:    seems to work OK. Do these drives read 'normal' 3.5" floppies ?.
: 
: 4) I am going to need some drivers for it. OS/2 ones preferred, but a DOS driver   would do. Anybody know where I can get drivers, and will they work with my
:    card ?. The generic OS/2 SCSI driver doesn't seem to recognise the drive.
: 
: 5) Finally, what does the button on the front do ? It doesn't eject the floppy.
: 
: Any help/info for this much appreciated !
: 
: Paul

Sorry, my fault !

It's NOT a floptical drive - it's a 128MB magneto-optical.

Anybody got the jumper settings for this thing ??

I'd love to get it to work !

Paul
From: me90plb@brunel.ac.uk (Paul L Barnfather)
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi
Subject: Re: Buslogic SCSI controllers
Date: 13 Nov 92 10:09:56 GMT
Organization: Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]


Thanks for the feedback on Buslogic SCSI controllers !

They sound pretty good to me. Unfortunately, I'm having trouble finding
a supplier of Buslogic cards in the UK - does anyone know of a UK supplier
(or even a US one, if the price is OK !)?

Thanks in advance.

Paul
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi
From: rzahavi@rod.mitre.org (Ron Zahavi)
Subject: Fujitsu M2652 information
Organization: The MITRE Corporation
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 15:40:56 GMT

Can someone please e-mail me formatting information, including an
example format.dat file for a Fujitsu M2652 2Gig drive for a SPARCstation-2

Thanks,

 -- Ron --
==============================================================================
Ron Zahavi                              Tel:            (703)883-5407
MITRE Corporation                       Internet:       rzahavi@mitre.org
Mail Stop Z267
7525 Colshire Drive
McLean, Virginia 22102
==============================================================================

Xref: sparky comp.periphs.scsi:5310 comp.periphs:1482
From: jim@tiamat.fsc.com ( IT Manager)
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi,comp.periphs
Subject: what to optimize with DAT drives?
Date: 5 Nov 92 16:59:37 GMT
Followup-To: comp.periphs.scsi
Organization: Ahlstrom Filtration - Chattanooga,TN

In the past, with our 1/4" cartridge tape drives, we always tried to optimize
our backup processes so that the tape drive would stream.  Supposedly, keeping
the drive streaming would reduce the wear and tear on tapes and drive and
make every last longer and be more reliable.

Now, we've bought HP 35470A 2.0GB DAT drives, and we're experimenting with
different backup procedures, primarily with things that will let us get as
many backup images onto one tape as possible.  To this end, I've been
experimenting with compression during backup, and as I had already discovered
compression and trying to stream the tape drive are not compatible.

With this new DAT drive, is it as important to try to keep the drive streaming
as it was with the 1/4" drive?

As an example, I did a backup of a directory without compression that took
20 minutes to run, but kept the drive streaming (at least I assume it was
streaming, since the activity light was flashing the whole time - the drive is
so quiet, I can't *hear* it do anything).  If I turned on compression, the
backup took only 8 minutes total elapsed time, presumably since a lot less data
had to be written to the tape (this particular directory average 70%
compression), but the drive did not stream (again, as indicated by the activity
light).

I checked the manual that came with the drive, and it doesn't seem to have
anything in it pertaining to streaming and the life expectancy of the drive.

Thanks.
------------- 
James B. O'Connor                                     jim@tiamat.fsc.com
Information Technology Manager                        voice 615/821-4022 x651
Ahlstrom Filtration, Inc.                             fax   615/821-0616
=========
	"Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President,
	 should, on no account, be allowed to do the job."
	 Douglas Adams, _The Restaurant at the End of the Universe_
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi
From: ed@maxed.amg.com (Ed Whittemore)
Subject: Re: Maxtor Panther 1.2GB drive
Organization: American Micro Group, Ft. Lee  NJ
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 03:25:53 GMT

In article <4531@tiamat.fsc.com> jim@tiamat.fsc.com ( IT Manager) writes:
>I'm considering the purchase of a Maxtor Panther 1.2GB drive from
>Hard Drive Super Source (Sunnyvale, CA), advertised price (might be old)
>is $1599.
>
>Questions:
>
>Will this drive work OK as the root drive in an SCO Unix 3.2v4.2 system, with
>an Adaptec 1542 host adapter?
>
>Is that a "good" vendor/price combination?
>
>I've been impressed with Maxtor's drives (especially the 213MB SCSI we bought
>a month ago), and this seems to be the lowest cost 1.2GB drive.  But, I thought
>I would check and see if anyone has any complaints on this drive.
>
>Thanks.
>------------- 
>James B. O'Connor                                     jim@tiamat.fsc.com
>Information Technology Manager                        voice 615/821-4022 x651
>Ahlstrom Filtration, Inc.                             fax   615/821-0616
>=========
>	"Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President,
>	 should, on no account, be allowed to do the job."
>	 Douglas Adams, _The Restaurant at the End of the Universe_

These drives are OK, but no more. Better choices would be Micropolis or
Hewlett-Packard. The Maxtors aren't fast SCSI (10 MHz bus) and they lie
about it, so if you move up to a new controller or want to move the
drive to a system with SCSI-2F drives the Maxtor will likely hang your
system. They are quite finicky about cooperating with other makers' 
drives.

Ed Whittemore   uunet!maxed!ed   ed@maxed.amg.com
American Micro Group, Inc.   201-944-3293
-- 
Ed Whittemore   uunet!maxed!ed   ed@maxed.amg.com
American Micro Group, Inc.   201-944-3293
From: milton@teal.csn.org (Milton Scritsmier)
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi
Subject: Re: WANTED: tips and driver code for 33C93A SCSI chip
Date: 5 Nov 92 02:34:41 GMT
Organization: Colorado SuperNet, Inc.

In article <720843234snx@ananke.stgt.sub.org> ak@ananke.stgt.sub.org (Andreas Kaiser) writes:
>
>In article <rq5lsao@zuni.esd.sgi.com> olson@anchor.esd.sgi.com writes:
>
>  > Exabyte uses them, and IBM uses it on their newer 3.5" drives (such as
>  > the 1 and 1.2 GB models).
>
>In fact, IBM seems to use every single SCSI controller chip available
>on the market :-). The PS/2 SCSI controllers use the Adaptec 6250, the
>RS/6000 SCSI board the 33C93 and the RS/6000 model 220 the 53C7xx.
>

In the case of the IBM drives using the 33C93, that decision was because
the IBM engineers in Rochester, MN liked the WD disk serdes chip and
the WD buffer manager chip. The 33C93 was not a major consideration
other than it gave good performance and worked with the other two chips.
WD gave them a deal on all three chips.
From: pechter@ocpt.ccur.com (Bill Pechter)
Newsgroups: comp.periphs
Subject: Imprimis disk info needed
Summary: Jumper Settings?
Date: 4 Nov 92 17:06:22 GMT
Followup-To: comp.periphs
Organization: Concurrent Computer Corp.,Information Services

I picked a used MFM Imprimis 94155-086 drive up off the net.  It appears
it's not talking to my controller.

Does anyone have the jumper listing for this beast - there's 5
jumper positions - I know some must be drive select.

Is there a manual for this drive out there?

Please reply by E-mail the feed here is down at present and 
I'd like to get my 386BSD box installed.

Bill

pechter@ocpt.ccur.com



-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Bill Pechter, N2RDI           | The postman always pings twice.
        Concurrent Computer Corp.     | pechter@ocpt.ccur.com
        2 Crescent Place, Oceanport, NJ 07757 - Tel:908-870-4780 
Newsgroups: comp.periphs,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
From: fpm@crash.cts.com (Frank Maclachlan)
Subject: Need info on Hitachi HM-4119 monitor
Organization: CTS Network Services (crash, ctsnet), El Cajon, CA
Date: 09 Nov 92 15:49:35 PST

I need information (specs) on a Hitachi model HM-4119-D-AA-O monitor.
This is a 19 inch color RGB monitor and was manufactured in 1987.
Has anyone managed to use one of these puppies with X windows on a PC?
Any information would be appreciated.  Thanks in advance!
--
UUCP: {hplabs!hp-sdd ucsd nosc}!crash!fpm
ARPA: crash!fpm@nosc.mil
INET: fpm@crash.cts.com
Xref: sparky comp.periphs:1508 comp.periphs.scsi:5422 comp.arch.storage:766
From: MICHAEL.WILLETT@OFFICE.WANG.COM ("Michael Willett")
Newsgroups: comp.periphs,comp.periphs.scsi,comp.arch.storage
Subject: Re: Raid 7 versus earlier Raid 4
Date: 12 Nov 92 15:35:12 GMT
Organization: Mail to News Gateway at Wang Labs

Regarding that article analyzing Raid 7 versus the earlier
Raid 4 that was suggested on these newsgroups, I called up
Storage Computer today and talked to their senior Raid
guru, John O'Brien.  (The others are at the Storage Computer
booth at the computer show in Boston this week.)  He
indicated that they will be posting it in the next few
days.  He said that those people who have been waiting for
the information and need it right away can call him on the
phone to get it.  His telephone number is 603-889-1961.

Michael.Willett@OFFICE.Wang.com
Newsgroups: comp.periphs
From: oliver@earthview.cms.udel.edu (Oliver weatherbee)
Subject: Kalor Hard Drives
Organization: Marine Studies, University of Delaware
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 19:16:17 GMT

Does anyone have any experience with Kalor Hard Drives, I've been pricing
out a new drive and have found the Kalor 3100(?) [105Mg, 19ms] to be pretty
attractive at $215-$249. PC Computing picked it as one of the best but I'd
like the opinion of anyone who's actually used a Kalor drive not just tested
it.

Thanks,

	Oliver Weatherbee