Q.: SCSI for Unix-PC?
tlvp
Has there been any successful attempt to get an older
parallel-port_to_SCSI host adapter to function as a
SCSI HA on the Unix-PC?
(I have two such, a Linksys and an IOmega, with drivers for
DOS, Win31, and Win95, of course, but not for Unix 3.51.)
Any hope the DOS drivers will work in conjunction with
the DOS-emulator board, while in DOS mode?
[Of course one would need a Centronics/DB-25 converter cable,
but I made myself one of those long ago anyway :-) .]
TIA for any relevant pointers/info. Cheers,
-- tlvp
DoN. Nichols
> This may have been talked to death years ago, but:
>
> Has there been any successful attempt to get an older
> parallel-port_to_SCSI host adapter to function as a
> SCSI HA on the Unix-PC?
I've never heard of that, but there was *one* SCSI host adaptor
which fit the 3B1. IIRC, the person who owned it worked for the company
which developed it --just before the 3B1 was killed off by AT&T, so
there was no perceived market. If it had been a reasonable price, *I*
would have gone for it.
> (I have two such, a Linksys and an IOmega, with drivers for
> DOS, Win31, and Win95, of course, but not for Unix 3.51.)
I'm not sure that the hardware of the Unix-PC's parallel printer
interface was built with bidirectional chips in some of the necessary
parts, so using it that way would be difficult.
> Any hope the DOS drivers will work in conjunction with
> the DOS-emulator board, while in DOS mode?
Hmm ... *that* might work. Do you have the DOS Co-processor
board, and the necessary software?
> [Of course one would need a Centronics/DB-25 converter cable,
> but I made myself one of those long ago anyway :-) .]
I think that your best bet is the DOS Co-processor board, if you
have everything needed to make it work.
Good Luck,
DoN.
--
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--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---
tlvp
wrote:
> On 2009-05-28, tlvp <PmUiRsGcE...@att.net> wrote:
>> This may have been talked to death years ago, but:
>>
>> Has there been any successful attempt to get an older
>> parallel-port_to_SCSI host adapter to function as a
>> SCSI HA on the Unix-PC?
>
> I've never heard of that, but there was *one* SCSI host adaptor
> which fit the 3B1. IIRC, the person who owned it worked for the company
> which developed it --just before the 3B1 was killed off by AT&T, so
> there was no perceived market. If it had been a reasonable price, *I*
> would have gone for it.
I remember someone "at work" on a SCSI HA for the 3b1 just before
I wound up dropping c.s.3 for some years -- the same person who
devised a PROM for adding HDs with more disks/sectors ? -- Thad
(or Lenny Tropiano) might remember just who -- but it seemed not
to be in the cards that this SCSI project would become realized.
>> (I have two such, a Linksys and an IOmega, with drivers for
>> DOS, Win31, and Win95, of course, but not for Unix 3.51.)
>
> I'm not sure that the hardware of the Unix-PC's parallel printer
> interface was built with bidirectional chips in some of the necessary
> parts, so using it that way would be difficult.
>
>> Any hope the DOS drivers will work in conjunction with
>> the DOS-emulator board, while in DOS mode?
>
> Hmm ... *that* might work. Do you have the DOS Co-processor
> board, and the necessary software?
I *have* a DOS board, yes, and the DOS 3.* OS disks. What I
*don't* know, at this point, is whether the parallel port
becomes "bidirectional" enough under DOS to let my LinkSys
or IOmega ASPI driver, etc., software do the communication
they need through that port -- *and*, for that matter, whether
my BIOS keep-alive coin-cells are dead or alive -- haven't fired
up either of my Unix-PCs for some years now.
>> [Of course one would need a Centronics/DB-25 converter cable,
>> but I made myself one of those long ago anyway :-) .]
>
> I think that your best bet is the DOS Co-processor board, if you
> have everything needed to make it work.
I'm tempted to try to find/make the time to give it a try.
Don't hold your breath; but I'll report back if/when I do.
> Good Luck,
> DoN.
Thanks :-) ! Cheers, -- tlvp
Thad Floryan
> [...]
> I remember someone "at work" on a SCSI HA for the 3b1 just before
> I wound up dropping c.s.3 for some years -- the same person who
> devised a PROM for adding HDs with more disks/sectors ? -- Thad
> (or Lenny Tropiano) might remember just who -- but it seemed not
> to be in the cards that this SCSI project would become realized.
I "found" where my old archives are located, but getting that system booted
up and searching would be a PITA in the foreseeable future, so I searched
Google Groups' comp.sys.3b1 and found these (among many similar) postings:
June 7, 1992; Brian Waters:
Hmmm.. I have just starting using a 3b1, and think a SCSI card would be a
great addition to it. It would make adding drives much easier then playing
around with PALS etc, and you would be more likely to be easily able to take
the drives to other machines. Imagine a 600 Meg maneto-optical drive hooked
up to the 3b1 :). Maybe this could be done with one of the new parrallel to
SCSI adapters... I just saw one from Trantor for $149, would not be a bad
price to pay to get SCSI at all. Of course drivers are still needed.
June 6, 1992; Thad:
Over the years there were three SCSI projects for the 3B1 of which I'm aware.
One was from some outfit in NJ which apparently produced boards but were
unable (or unwilling?) to do the software.
Some "group" project was discussing their ideas in the unix-pc.* hierarchy
some two years ago; no news since then.
One member of our local Users' Group claims to have made some headway in
that he's able to operate ESDI drives (via an MC68HC11 daughterboard), and
that SCSI should be "Real Soon Now", time permitting.
The person in our user group is Eric Smith (er...@telebit.com).
Guess who posted this on June 8, 1992:
Howsoever may be this outcome, another thought arises:
can the sort of SCSI adapter folks like Trantor and others make,
that rides outboard on a parallel printer port, be put to use with the 3b1?
... and if so, how?
-- Fred
Nov. 23, 1993; Jeff Alsip:
No Frank, I kind of liked the humor....
and I was not the least bit confused!
I think you might actually stand a better chance of finding Bigfoot
than finding a SCSI card for the 3B1.
Good luck.
Jan 3, 1994:
Most likely, the biggest problem wouldn't be in replacing the
driver for the parallel port, but in hooking into the disk
driver routines so that file-system system calls like stat,
fstat, ustat, mknod, link, mount, sync, unlink, and umount
do the right things with any disk that might be connected to the
pseudo-SCSI port.
Frankly, I doubt that this will ever happen.
tlvp
Thanks, Thad. Only 2^4 = 4^2 years ago, eh?
Why do I think Brian Botton may have been playing with the same idea?
Cheers, -- tlvp (= "Fred")
(PS: turns out it's .com, not .net, for iecc.)