Beware: NEXUS Controller w. ST1096

[Thomas Unger [Informatik]]

Hi!

After reading those tests in the german Amiga-Magazin concerning
the combination of harddisks and controllers i decided to buy the
new version of the Nexus with 8megs opt. and a ST1096N drive.
(according to the mag this should work!!!!)

However after the low-level-format the patitioning software said
it couldn't find the RDB. it couldn't write the RDB too.
then i called the distributor: they told me that their controller
doesn't work properly with Seagate drives. The reason why it worked
in the magazine was that they FORMATTED the drive with another
controller. Very strange !!!!

Then i sent it back and bought a GVP board. This works very well.

Where's the problem ? Isn't SCSI standard ?

Thomas

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Thomas Unger un...@rhrk.uni-kl.de
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[William J. Coldwell]

In article <1991Jul8.1...@rhrk.uni-kl.de> un...@rhrk.uni-kl.de (Thomas Unger [Informatik]) writes:
> Hi!
> After reading those tests in the german Amiga-Magazin concerning
> the combination of harddisks and controllers i decided to buy the
> new version of the Nexus with 8megs opt. and a ST1096N drive.
> (according to the mag this should work!!!!)

It does and has since <1.00. I've been tweeking the device driver for
quite a while since release.

> However after the low-level-format the patitioning software said
> it couldn't find the RDB. it couldn't write the RDB too.

Your format options were set incorrectly or you had a bad controller..

> then i called the distributor: they told me that their controller
> doesn't work properly with Seagate drives. The reason why it worked
> in the magazine was that they FORMATTED the drive with another
> controller. Very strange !!!!

I should HOPE that it works with Seagate drives, they've been supported
since the Seagate STXXXXN days. Obviously, someone at the distributor
was unknowledgable on the product. Even if the drive was formatted on
another controller, isn't is nice to know that RDB compatibility works?
;-)

> Then i sent it back and bought a GVP board. This works very well.

That's one way to solve the problem...

> Where's the problem ? Isn't SCSI standard ?

SCSI is standard, the drives aren't. Each drive has a different way to
tickle it, making each controller manufacturer have to support the various
popular (and not so popular) harddrives..

>Thomas Unger un...@rhrk.uni-kl.de

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[Thien Nguyen]

I would like to receive some information on becoming a CDTV developer. Who
do I need to contact and what kind of support is available??

[David Carlton]

In article <billc...@cryo.rain.com> bi...@cryo.rain.com (William J. Coldwell) writes:
>SCSI is standard, the drives aren't. Each drive has a different way to
>tickle it, making each controller manufacturer have to support the various
>popular (and not so popular) harddrives..
>

>--
>William J. Coldwell Internet: bi...@cryo.rain.com I ZROCK!
>Amiga Attitude Adjuster UUCP: tektronix!percy!cryo!billc 3-D Pro 2.0!
>Cryogenic Software BBX: CRYO @ 503/257-4823 [ORPOR] CSA 40/4 Magnum!
> This message was brought to you by the Number '3' and the Letter 'D'.

Hi... You may be the wrong person to ask, but does the Nexus support the Maxtor
LXT-213 SCSI HD? I've had nothing but problems on other controllers. This is
the now infamous drive that seems to only like Macs?!

Any help would be much appreciated. I'm hoping that someone went to the trouble
of making it work, even though it's a little weird.

Thanks in advance!

Dave

[Tom Nezwek]

My maxtor LXT-340s (same series just a little bigger) was recognized
Just fine by my HardFrame 2000. It also is recognized by the slower GVP
series II controlers. So, since they are of the same design I would guess
that both of these should work with the LXT-213s. I heard somewhere that the
LXT-213s pumps out 1.2meg/sec on a Hard Frame 2000 with an 030. Seems
pretty reasonable since I get 1.45meg/sec out of my LXT-340s.

-Tom Nezwek

[John 'Vlad' Adams]

In article <91196.095...@MAINE.MAINE.EDU> IO9...@MAINE.MAINE.EDU (Tom Nezwek) writes:
>
> Just fine by my HardFrame 2000. It also is recognized by the slower GVP
> series II controlers.

Care to justify your statement? I hope your source of speed is not AmigaWorld
which has been proven to be wrong...
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John M. Adams --*****-- Professional Student ///
Internet: j...@cis.ufl.edu Genie: vlad /// Only the Amiga
Sysop of The Beachside, Amiga Support, StarNet BBS \\V// Makes it Possible
Fido Net 1:3612/557. 904-492-2305 (Florida) \X/

[Tom Nezwek]

The way I justify my statement, IF YOU HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING the
hd controler theads, is that I own both. I have a GVP series II
SCSI built into my GVP impact series II 33mhz board. I have kept
my HF2000 and disabled the GVP SCSI host on my 030 because It is
much slower using my Maxtor LXT-340s which is a faster drive than
the quantums. How many times do I have to reapeat this?

[John 'Vlad' Adams]

It's just rather interesting that your speeds vary so differently from my
tests of:
C-Ltd Kronos
GVP Series II
HardFram 2000
A2091

With the Maxtor 213S, the Fujitsu 660, the Quantum 40S, and the Seagate
157N. The order listed is what I've experienced to be fastest to slowest.

[Tom Nezwek]

Were you using and 030 board with your tests? An 030 board makes a big
speed increase when your hd buffers are in 32bit fast memory. What were the
figures you came up with? Maybe the HF2000 enjoys a better performance
increase when using 32bit ram than the GVP series II does? If you could
show me that the gvp was faster than I'd gradly sell my hf2000 and use the
gvp on my 030 board. I could sure use some new software from the money I'd
get. But I have Diskspeed3.1'd the two back and forth so many times that
I would bet my life that the hf is at least 350k/sec faster from the
diskspeed3.1 results that I get. Also file scan and deletes were real poor
on the gvp/maxtor 90 & 60 respectively while the hf/max turned out 430 & 490.
I must admit that the gvp did better at scans/deletes when I had a quantum
210s, But the HF does just as well with the MAXTOR as the quantum in this
area and has a better transfer rate (1.45meg/sec w/diskspeed3.1) so I can't
really say its the maxtor drive. Like I said before the HF 2000 is faster.

-Tom Nezwek

[John 'Vlad' Adams]

A GVP Series II HC+8 combined with a Maxtor 213S in 68000 mode
churns a good 1.2 megs/second. My accelerator adds the 32bit
RAM after the driver is copied to fast ram, so I cannot test
transfer speeds in full 32bit ram. If you get better
speeds with your HardFrame, all the power to you. Just goes
to show you that different pieces of the same hardware perform
differently... :)

[William J. Coldwell]

In article <1...@nsq.uucp> dav...@nsq.uucp (David Carlton) writes:
>In article <billc...@cryo.rain.com> bi...@cryo.rain.com (William J. Coldwell) writes:

[me talking about how drives like to be tickled deleted]

>Hi... You may be the wrong person to ask, but does the Nexus support the Maxtor
>LXT-213 SCSI HD? I've had nothing but problems on other controllers. This is
>the now infamous drive that seems to only like Macs?!

I don't see why not. I handle the larger Maxtors with no problem, and there
is always defaulting to an ANSI Embedded SCSI controller setting if it doesn't
like what is being sent to it...

>Any help would be much appreciated. I'm hoping that someone went to the trouble
>of making it work, even though it's a little weird.
>Thanks in advance!
>Dave

Your welcome delayed.. ;-)
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