HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: root@maxed.amg.com (0000-Admin(0000))
Subject: Re: DPT Caching Controller
Keywords: DPT Caching SCSI
Organization: American Micro Group, Ft. Lee  NJ
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1992 16:45:40 GMT

In article <1992Sep25.171613.22442@acuson.com> liuwu@acuson.com (Wu Liu) writes:
>>ivars@iunet.ann-arbor.mi.us (Ivars Upatnieks) writes:
>>|> Currently I have a Esix system with a Adaptec 1542BK controller, and
>>|> performance is abysmal.  In a best case scenario, I can get up to 
>>|> 300K/second throughput.  When in the past I ran SCO, I could regularly
>>|> get 800-1200K/second. 
>>|> 
>>|> It appears that the SCSI driver provided by AT&T leaves a lot to be desired.
>>|> My understanding is that the MFM driver however works fine.  What I want to
>>|> do is get a DPT controller and set it up to emulate a WD1003 MFM controller.
>>|> 
>>|> Has anyone tried this?  
>
>No doubt about it; the DPT is a fast card.  The WD1003 emulation
>mode worked fine with SCO Unix 3.2v2 and ODT 1.0, neither of which
>had a driver for the DPT built-in (I'm pretty sure that 3.2v4 and
>ODT 2.0 come with a DPT driver), and the disk throughput was pretty
>good (subjective impression).  Of course, using it in emulation mode
>means that you're only going to be able to hook up two hard disks
>(the WD1003 driver in Unix only handles two disks), and you won't
>be able to access any other SCSI peripheral, like tape and CD-ROM
>drives.
>
>Why don't you call DPT and ask them if they've got a driver for
>your version of Esix?
>-- 
>Wu Liu                          Software Engineer, User Interface Group
>liuwu@acuson.COM                Acuson

But that's just not true; it really isn't so fast, I wish it were. But
our non-cacheing boards benchmark better every time.

-- 
Ed Whittemore   uunet!maxed!ed   ed@maxed.amg.com
American Micro Group, Inc.   201-944-3293
From: zeke@fasttech.uucp (Bohdan Tashchuk)
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi
Subject: Re: Help needed on ZEOS/Adaptec 1520 clone
Keywords: ZEOS,Adaptec,1520
Date: 6 Oct 92 22:01:22 GMT
Article-I.D.: fasttech.1992Oct6.220122.22810
Organization: Fast Technology

In <sasbge.718345677@ant> sasbge@unx.sas.com (Gantt Edmiston) writes:

>I am purchasing a new PC from ZEOs International and one of the
>"features" is an onboard SCSI "chip" that supposedly emulates an
>Adaptec 1520 SCSI controller board.  The chip is a $49 upgrade and
>simply involves getting the chip from ZEOS and plugging it into the
>socket on the mother board.

The ZEOS upgrade probably only emulates a 1520 board with the "default"
jumper settings. ZEOS would have had to add external registers to emulate
the jumpers. They probably didn't do that, since the defaults are good
enough for most people.

>Since I'm real new to the PC world and Adaptec products, can somebody
>clue me in on exactly what this chip may or may not do?  Is the 1520
>a newer product?  Or is it a dead product that is now being resurrected
>as a new product in another "body" =-).

The chip has been in production for over a year. It is a 16-bit programmed
I/O transfer device that sits directly on the AT bus, without requiring any
glue logic at all. It is comparable in speed to an IDE disk controller, since
IDE is also a 16-bit programmed I/O device directly on the AT bus. IDE usually
wins slightly on performance, since SCSI command overhead and data transfer
overhead is worse than IDE.

>Personally, $49 is cheap for a SCSI upgrade, but maybe I'm only getting
>what I am paying for.  Opinions, comments, warnings and suggestions
>can be emailed to me or reposted to this group.  Thanks, Gantt

If you are running DOS, then this is a nice, cheap way to get access to SCSI
devices. Other manufacturers know how to deal with the 1520. For example, if
you buy SyTos, then it knows how to use the chip to backup to a SCSI tape.

However, be sure that you get the Adaptec ASPI software. It's this software
that is needed for the chip to support tapes, etc. ZEOS SHOULD be including
this software along with their chip, but I don't know for sure.

The chip isn't as good for Unix, since it's programmed I/O. This means that
Unix can't multitask nearly as well as it can with a 1540-type controller,
which does DMA.

I expect Adaptec to have a single-chip 1540-type implementation available
within a year. This may be the product that finally gets "universal" SCSI
into PeeCees.
From: alan@mailhub.scf.lmsc.lockheed.com (Alan Strassberg)
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi
Subject: Re: TAR or CPIO for ASPI and Adaptec, is it available?
Date: 30 Sep 92 18:59:02 GMT
Organization: Lockheed Santa Cruz, CA.

In article <BvCsvE.GL5@maxed.amg.com> ed@maxed.amg.com (Ed Whittemore) writes:

>We want to be able to read and write in Unix read/write format to 
>Exabytes and other SCSI tape drives on our DOS machines with the
>aspi4dos and aspiedos drivers loaded and I remember that there were 
>PD implementations of tar, or maybe cpio available to do this.
>Can someone tell me if this is so, and point me to the source for 
>uucp?

	ftp.uu.net (137.39.1.9)
	/systems/ibmpc/msdos/simtel20/dskutl/aspibin.zip
					 and aspisrc.zip

					alan
----
Alan Strassberg		oetl1.scf.lmsc.lockheed.com	(408) 425-6139
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi
From: aburt@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu (Andrew Burt)
Subject: Re: Where is a source for HP35470A/80A?
Organization: University of Denver, Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci.
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 92 13:43:07 GMT

In <92275.124527U41602@uicvm.uic.edu> U41602@uicvm.uic.edu (Rich Chong) writes:

>I've heard good things about these HP DAT drives, but can't
>seem to find a source for them.

I just ordered a DAT for my Dell (1-800-426-5150), and was told that they
sell HP-35480A.  (Though they just list it as "external 2Gb dat".)  They
have four options, so be specific (internal/external, w/ or w/o MESS-DOS
compress s/w -- which they list as "2Gb" vs "4Gb").  For the ext.2Gb it's $2199.
But since they don't advertise it as an HP, I'd certainly verify it before
you order.  I'll be curious too, to see what other prices people find on
this one.  (In my case, for various reasons, this one had to be from
Dell, but I'm still curious.)
-- 

Andrew Burt 		   					  aburt@du.edu

      "And that, my liege, is how we know the Earth to be banana-shaped"
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi
From: ejh@khonshu.colorado.edu (Edward J. Hartnett)
Subject: scsi disks, can I buy one for the mac and switch to a pc later?
Organization: CIRES, University of Colorado
Date: 30 Sep 92 17:27:36


I hope this is the right place to ask this. Let's say I want to buy a
60 MB hard disk for my mac plus. Do I need sw drivers, or do I just
plug it in? In unix I need to know the format.dat entry information
(number of cylynders, tracks, etc), how is this done in the mac and on
the PC? What I want to do is buy a disk for my mac plus, use if for a
few years, and then use the same disk (I realize I'll have to reformat
it) on the wonderful PC laptop system I plan on buying in a few years.
If I can't do this, I won't buy the drive, because it's not worth that
much money to upgrade my mac, unless I can get more use out of the
disk later. Essentially my mac is on its last legs as far as
usefullnes goes, but I don't have enough money to buy a new computer
yet (since when I do buy, I want it to be a real good one). 

OK, that's all a little confused. To summarize: if I buy a scsi disk
for my mac, will I later be able to use it on a PC? If so, what do I
need to get with the disk to accomplish this?
--
Edward Hartnett			ejh@khonshu.colorado.edu

Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi
From: k2@bl.physik.tu-muenchen.de (Klaus Steinberger)
Subject: Re: Maximum SCSI cable length? (Sun workstation & Disk)
Organization: Leibniz-Rechenzentrum, Muenchen (Germany)
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 18:39:50 GMT

craig@kralizec.zeta.org.au (Craig Dewick) writes:

>bogstad@blaze.cs.jhu.edu (Bill Bogstad) writes:


>>	I have a user who would like to move the Sun 440 Meg (Seagate 440 3")
>>disk drive that is connected to his ELC into another room due to noise
>>complaints.  I estimate that the cable needed will be about 15'.  I believe
>>that Sun uses single-ended drivers on their SCSI equipment which I
>>understand are limited to a maximum of 6 meters according to the SCSI-2
>>standard.  This is close enough to 15' that I'm worried.  There won't be any
>>other devices on the SCSI bus.  Has anyone else tried cable lengths this
>>long with this type of equipment?  Is there anything special that I should be
>>careful about when ordering the cable?  (I assume this will probably have to
>>be a custom cable.)

>You should not have any trouble providing each end of the SCSI cable
>is properly terminated (you should be able to see some resistor packs
>near the circuit boards near each SCSI connector).

>I have operated a SCSI cable up to 16 metres without any ill effects,
>althouhg I didn't exactly push data throuhg it very fast.

No problem when you operate in Asynchronous mode, but risky.

But with synchronous mode, 6 meters would be absolute maximum !!!!!!!!!!
This is including the internal cables of your shoebox, and sun !

And your SUN would use sync mode. You could disable sync mode, but
you don't want to do that due to performance.

Probably you could use two single ended to differential converters,
and put the long cable on the differential side.


   SUN  ----- single<->diff -------------------------diff<->single ----- disk

Sincerely,
Klaus
--
Klaus Steinberger               Beschleunigerlabor der TU und LMU Muenchen
Phone: (+49 89)3209 4287        Hochschulgelaende
FAX:   (+49 89)3209 4280        D-8046 Garching, Germany
Internet: Klaus.Steinberger@Physik.Uni-Muenchen.DE
From: jay-m@equinox.unr.edu (J.A. MacDonald)
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi
Subject: Help needed programming Exabyte 8200 with AHA-1520
Date: 30 Sep 92 19:47:58 GMT
Organization: University of Nevada Reno

Hello,

  I'm looking for any help I can get with programing an Exabyte-8200 via
an Adaptec AHA-1520 scsi. We've been using the Powersave package to do
backups with, and also have the Reftape package for accessing TAR tapes.
The Reftape package came with programming instructions for accessing the
drivers, however I cannot access the SCSI hard drives on the same line with
it (they are set up with ASPIdisk). So, are there any drivers out there that
work with the ASPI2Dos manager that have programing instructions?

Thanks in advance,

Jay MacDonald

====================================================
jay-m@equinox.unr.edu   |   Kill your television!!!
====================================================
"The purpose of the bass player is to help his
 audience surf the wave of low frequency sound" - me
====================================================
From: jt@fuw.edu.pl (Jerzy Tarasiuk)
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi
Subject: Re: Help needed on ZEOS/Adaptec 1520 clone
Date: 6 Oct 92 15:38:18 GMT
Organization: Warsaw University Physics Dept.

>>>>> On 6 Oct 92 04:27:57 GMT, sasbge@unx.sas.com (Gantt Edmiston) said:
Gantt> Since I'm real new to the PC world and Adaptec products, can somebody
Gantt> clue me in on exactly what this chip may or may not do?  Is the 1520
Gantt> a newer product?  Or is it a dead product that is now being resurrected.

I suppose not newest - I see it is hard to get example programs for the
1520 while example programs for newer (I think) 1542, 1742 are available
(seems after 1542 was released by Adaptec everyone wrotes programs for
the new chips). But it isn't very old, I cannot buy anything newer here.
(local dealers haven't hear something like 1542 was made, they also
 haven't hear about any docs other than "User's Manual" and I have a lot
 of troubles trying to get some docs from Adaptec).

Gantt> Personally, $49 is cheap for a SCSI upgrade, but maybe I'm only getting

Don't worry. There are a lot of SCSI adapters worse than 1520 which
price is bigger. We decided to buy it because need something better
than Future Domain's controller (which price is >> $49).
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi
From: sherwood@fenris.space.ualberta.ca (Sherwood Botsford)
Subject: Re: DAT vs. 8mm 
Organization: University Of Alberta, Edmonton Canada
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 17:23:11 GMT

Phil Constantinou writes
> I am trying to decide which form of tape drive to buy.  I  
have heard
> different stories about DAT and 8mm drives.  I mangage a  
small LAN and
> am tired of 150 meg backup tapes.  Which drives are most  
cost effective
> and fastest.  Also, what brands of drives are good and  
which are bad?
> 

I'd go with DAT:

1.  You can get two DAT drives for the price of 1 8mm.

2.  There are multiple manufacturers of DAT.  If Exabyte  
folds, you are in BIG trouble.

3.  The difference in speed on streaming is fairly small  
(~25%) 

4.  The media takes up less room for storage.

5.  Exabytes do not have a reputation for reliability.   
MTBF is nowhere near what is claimed.
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi,comp.sys.sun.hardware
From: scs@lokkur.dexter.mi.us (Steve Simmons)
Subject: Re: Maximum SCSI cable length? (Sun workstation & Disk)
Organization: Inland Sea
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 92 21:00:36 GMT

bogstad@blaze.cs.jhu.edu (Bill Bogstad) writes:

>	I have a user who would like to move the Sun 440 Meg (Seagate 440 3")
>disk drive that is connected to his ELC into another room due to noise
>complaints.  I estimate that the cable needed will be about 15'.  I believe
>that Sun uses single-ended drivers on their SCSI equipment which I
>understand are limited to a maximum of 6 meters according to the SCSI-2
>standard.  This is close enough to 15' that I'm worried.  There won't be any
>other devices on the SCSI bus.  Has anyone else tried cable lengths this
>long with this type of equipment?  Is there anything special that I should be
>careful about when ordering the cable?  (I assume this will probably have to
>be a custom cable.)

You're definately taking a risk.  And the cable cost will be quite a chunk.
If noise is the only issue, you can do a lot to cut that down:

Get an oversize cabinet (a 5.25 enclosure).  Glue foam rubber to the inside
areas except near power supply, air intakes, and drive itself.  Remove the
fan and take it to your local stereo repair shop.  They will be able to
sell you a replacement fan which moves the same number of cubic feet per
minute (CFM) but runs on AC rather than DC and much quieter.
-- 
 "When Dexter's on the Internet, can Hell be far behind?"
		-- Steve Simmons, scs@lokkur.dexter.mi.us
From: reimert@mamacass.etdesg.trw.com (Scott P. Reimert)
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi
Subject: Re: Adaptec1542B & Qemm 6.0 won't work!
Date: 5 Oct 92 22:33:06 GMT
Organization: TRW Inc., Redondo Beach, CA

In article <9210051142.AA24355@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> e4shwen@eleceng.adelaide.edu.au writes:
>Posting for a friend:
>--------------------
>
>Not matter how I try,I can not get QEMM 6.0 to work with the 1542B &
>ASPI4DOS.SYS. It always drop out half way through the "optimize"
>process,and told me there is a compatiablity problem with the software
>or hardware.
>
>My system is :
>486/50 w/AMI bios
>Adpatec 1542B w/ASPI4DOS driver (ver 2.1 beta)
>Diamond Stealth Video Card Bios ver 2.33
>Maxtor 213MB HD
>Windows 3.1 with smartdrv.exe but no double buffering
>Dos 5.0
>4Dos
>All the device driver is loaded low.
>
>And I already exclude all the video memory from QEMM that the Stealth 
>need.
>
>Since I can not get QEMM to install,I only have a poor 550k low mem
>left,so can some nice people out there help me please?
>
>Thanks.
>
>e-mail to my friend who posted this artical or post it on the net,both
>OK.
>
>Thanks again.
>------------------------

My system is similar to yours:
486/33 AMI motherboard and BIOS
8MB RAM
Microp. 330MB drive
QEMM 6.0
But my ASPI4DOS is the regular version, not the beta. When I ran QEMM, 
it worked flawlessly. There are a few things that you may want to look
at though.
	1) ASPI4DOS should be loaded FIRST, and not with DEVICEHIGH
	2) Try it w/o using any special switches on ASPI4DOS
	3) You say it drops about halfway through? If you're loading
	   ASPI4DOS first, and it gets past that in the OPTIMIZIZE process,
	   are you sure it's the Adaptec stuff that's giving you trouble? 

Maybe the beta is not compatable with QEMM (but I doubt that's really it).
If you still have trouble, look in the README that came with QEMM. It's
very long, but it's VERY comprehensive.

		Scott

-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Scott Reimert  \    reimert@mamacass.etdesg.trw.com     /Standard disclaimer:
Redondo Beach, CA \______________________________________/"Blah blah blah ... "
__________________|Always store beer in a cool dark place|_____________________
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi
From: craig@kralizec.zeta.org.au (Craig Dewick)
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi,comp.sys.sun.hardware
Subject: Re: Maximum SCSI cable length? (Sun workstation & Disk)
Date: 30 Sep 92 19:24:25 GMT
Followup-To: comp.periphs.scsi
Organization: Kralizec Dialup Unix Sydney: +61-2-837-1183 V.32

bogstad@blaze.cs.jhu.edu (Bill Bogstad) writes:


>	I have a user who would like to move the Sun 440 Meg (Seagate 440 3")
>disk drive that is connected to his ELC into another room due to noise
>complaints.  I estimate that the cable needed will be about 15'.  I believe
>that Sun uses single-ended drivers on their SCSI equipment which I
>understand are limited to a maximum of 6 meters according to the SCSI-2
>standard.  This is close enough to 15' that I'm worried.  There won't be any
>other devices on the SCSI bus.  Has anyone else tried cable lengths this
>long with this type of equipment?  Is there anything special that I should be
>careful about when ordering the cable?  (I assume this will probably have to
>be a custom cable.)

You should not have any trouble providing each end of the SCSI cable
is properly terminated (you should be able to see some resistor packs
near the circuit boards near each SCSI connector).

I have operated a SCSI cable up to 16 metres without any ill effects,
althouhg I didn't exactly push data throuhg it very fast.

Is your cable going to be a 50-wire flat ribbon? If it is, then each
second wire SHOULD (if the connectors at each end are wired properly)
be connected to the 0 volt rail to provide some earthing protection
for the SCSI signals running in adjacent wires.

I remember having trouble with a Mac and long cables. The Mac uses a
non-standard 25 pin D connector, which, although the cable used has
an outer shield, does not arrange each wire so that there is a
grounded wire between it and the next signal wire.

I hope this is of some help.
-- 
 Craig Dewick               |      - Railway Preservation Industries P/L -
 Send email to:             |      actively supporting the preservation of
 craig@kralizec.zeta.org.au |           Australia's railway heritage.
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi
From: nbladt@autelca.ascom.ch (Norbert Bladt)
Subject: Re: Adaptec - the controller, the compamy
Organization: Ascom Autelca AG, Guemligen, Switzerland
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 09:28:46 GMT

lainhart@odel.stg.TRW.COM (Mike Lainhart) writes:

>I purchased an Adaptec 1742A EISA SCSI host adapter over a month ago;
>it is still not working for me.  I understand that these boards have
>a fabulous reputation.  Has anyone else had any trouble getting one
>working?
No. It works perfect for MS-DOS 5.0 and (after some twiddling) even
with 386BSD a *n*x OS.
Although it seems to have a bug when used in "standard mode" you should
use the "enhanced mode", anyway.

> My experience with the technical support at Adaptec is the
>absolute worst that I have ever had.  Really helpful IF you can get
>a live person on the phone.  I have waited up to 15 minutes (long
>distance) for a secratary to take my name and promise that I will be
>called back.  I have NEVER gotten any response from this approach.
>The only way that I got any help was by demanding that I speak to a
>supervisor - this is evidently the SOP for their support group.
I can't say anything to their support. I never have to contact them.
I appreciate Roy Neese's presence in this group. I don't remember
whether he does it as a support person or just as a help for users
with questions or problems. I don't care as long he is willing to
answer questions or looking into problem reports.
And, it's always good to know that, if you really hit a brick wall
(in your opinion), you can ask questions here.

>I finally have an agreement that they will switch the board for me,
That is not bad. If you were living in Europe and try to deal with US-only
companies, you would have not so much luck !
Although, Central Point Software seems to be one exception to the rule.

>but I have to send them a copy of my receipt before they will give
>me an RMA number and there is no way to shorten the 10-14 day
>turnaround!! Other companies have allowed me to purchase another
>board/device on my charge card until they received my original so
>that the old and new cards could pass in the mail.  Again, Adaptec
>seems user hostile.  What experience have the rest of you had?  Am
>I doing something wrong?  Expecting too much?
As said before, I don't have experience with them.

>What EISA SCSI host adaptor do you use?  (In case I ultimately have
>eat this one.)
I am using the 1742A without problems.

Unfortunately, you are not stating which OS you are using, which
drive (was it CD-ROM ?), etc.
So, it is not very likely that somebody other like Adaptec might help you.

Norbert.
-- 
Norbert Bladt, Ascom Autelca AG, Worbstr. 201, CH-3073 Guemligen, Switzerland
Phone: +41 31 999 65 52			FAX: +41 31 999 65 44
Mail: nbladt@autelca.ascom.ch   UUCP: ..!uunet!mcsun!chsun!hslrswi!aut!nbladt
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi
From: karl@ddsw1.mcs.com (Karl Denninger)
Subject: Re: DAT vs. 8mm
Summary: New QIC drives
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 02:31:07 GMT
Organization: Macro Computer Solutions, Inc., Chicago, IL

In article <mmaster.2accdda5-e@parnasus.dell.com> mmaster@parnasus.dell.com (Michael Masterson) writes:
>mlelstv@specklec.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de (Michael van Elst) writes:
>
>>In <1992Oct1.232024.9738@kakwa.ucs.ualberta.ca> sherwood@fenris.space.ualberta.ca (Sherwood Botsford) writes:
>>>High DAT's start about where the low end 8mm's are.   
>>>Exabyte 8500's seem to leave scant change from 5 K$.
>
>>EXB8500's are less than $4k.
>
>and DAT drives with data compression are under $2k.

Someone from Tandberg (heh heh) mentioned MAGNUS drives as a potential
option.

Yep.  The QIC MAGNUS drives are around $1200 or so, but the frigging media
for those things run $50.00 a tape!  Yikes!  With my current tape collection
and all that's over $1k in media (25 tapes or so).  The same thing in DAT
media would run me just a little over $250.

The Magnus drives only hold about 1G as well.

QIC type drives sound nice, but until they get the media to a reasonable
cost I'll not be making them my next choice.

I'm looking into the new Archive Python DAT series (the ones with "Turbo
Dat") which include data compression.  It appears those can be had in the
$1500 range.

--
Karl Denninger (karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM, <well-connected>!ddsw1!karl)
Data Line: [+1 312 248-0900] Anon. arch. (nuucp) 00:00-06:00 C[SD]T
Request file: /u/public/sources/DIRECTORY/README for instructions
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi
From: zeke@fasttech.uucp (Bohdan Tashchuk)
Subject: Re: DAT vs. 8mm
Organization: Fast Technology
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 21:38:35 GMT

In <BvMMzw.Ayn@ddsw1.mcs.com> karl@ddsw1.mcs.com (Karl Denninger) writes:

>QIC type drives sound nice, but until they get the media to a reasonable
>cost I'll not be making them my next choice.

>I'm looking into the new Archive Python DAT series (the ones with "Turbo
>Dat") which include data compression.  It appears those can be had in the
>$1500 range.

DAT's the way to go. Companies like 3M and Tandberg are pushing QIC (probably
because they don't have DAT or 8mm), but they're beating a dead horse.

QIC is 70's technology, pushed far beyond where it should be.

Is anybody out there actually BUYING the 1 GB QIC drives? If so, why?