From owner-freebsd-hardware Mon Sep 2 07:57:47 1996 Return-Path: owner-hardware Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) id HAA17294 for hardware-outgoing; Mon, 2 Sep 1996 07:57:47 -0700 (PDT) Received: from genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au (genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au [129.127.96.120]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) with ESMTP id HAA17284 for ; Mon, 2 Sep 1996 07:57:44 -0700 (PDT) Received: from msmith@localhost by genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au (8.6.12/8.6.9) id AAA20616; Tue, 3 Sep 1996 00:27:30 +0930 From: Michael Smith Message-Id: <199609021457.AAA20616@genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au> Subject: Re: DAT for sure! To: bmcgloth@mail.vt.edu (Brian D. McGlothlin) Date: Tue, 3 Sep 1996 00:27:29 +0930 (CST) Cc: freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.org In-Reply-To: <199609020340.XAA03416@sable.cc.vt.edu> from "Brian D. McGlothlin" at Sep 1, 96 11:40:40 pm MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-hardware@FreeBSD.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk Brian D. McGlothlin stands accused of saying: > > First of all, let me thank all of those that sent comments/suggestions to > the DAT or removable post. Now let me run this by you folks. > > An adaptec 1522 card (availability and win95 compatability) > and an HP C1534 2.0 GB 4mm DAT drive. Do _NOT_ buy a 1522. They're junk. If you have a PCI system of reasonably recent vintage with NCR SCSI support in the BIOS, get an NCR-810-based SCSI card. Being at VT, there's probably someone there on the faculty who can point you at a local supplier, or failing that somone here who can point you at same. If you have a PCI system but no NCR support (pretty rare, but possible), then get an NCR-based card with an onboard BIOS. If you don't have PCI, then get an Adaptec 1540-series controller. A 1540CP is probably your best bet. The issue here is that the 1522 is based on a really cheezy SCSI chip that requires lots of CPU attention, and thus delivers really poor performance. Both the 1540 and the NCR-based controllers (the NCR will be cheaper, incidentally) do busmaster DMA, and reap all the rewards of real SCSI controllers. > Brian D. McGlothlin -- ]] Mike Smith, Software Engineer msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au [[ ]] Genesis Software genesis@atrad.adelaide.edu.au [[ ]] High-speed data acquisition and (GSM mobile) 0411-222-496 [[ ]] realtime instrument control (ph/fax) +61-8-267-3039 [[ ]] Collector of old Unix hardware. "Where are your PEZ?" The Tick [[