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Date:      Tue, 12 May 1998 01:19:10 -0500
From:      Tim Tsai <tim@futuresouth.com>
To:        Tom <tom@uniserve.com>
Cc:        am@f1.ru, Allen Smith <easmith@beatrice.rutgers.edu>, bofh@terranova.net, greg@uswest.net, freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: SCSI problems?
Message-ID:  <19980512011910.06503@futuresouth.com>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.3.96.980511230137.9588C-100000@shell.uniserve.ca>; from Tom on Mon, May 11, 1998 at 11:10:14PM -0700
References:  <19980512002903.24456@futuresouth.com> <Pine.BSF.3.96.980511230137.9588C-100000@shell.uniserve.ca>

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> On Tue, 12 May 1998, Tim Tsai wrote:
> 
> > > > > the AHC_ options in the kernel configuration file.
> > > > 
> > > > Aren't those for EISA, not PCI devices in the first place? That's what
> > > > the comments in LINT seem to indicate. I've also got an 2940UW,
> > > > without any AHC_ options, and it hasn't been causing any problems -
> > > > then again, the machine hasn't been up and running very long.
> 
>   No, the AHC_ options are can be used for either, but some EISA adapters
> can't do scb paging.

  Please quote me correctly.  This is the second time on this thread
already that the above was attributed to me.  I didn't write it.

> > > Hm..  Powered off it will cause even less problems. Without tagging it's
> > > too slow for UW and good HD..
> > 
> >   For some of us reliability is far more important than speed.  I bet
> > you mount your filesystem async too huh?
> 
>   If it is too slow to do its task, that is even worse than unreliable.

  That's debatable.  :-)  I would rather the thing to not work than to
have a corrupted filesystem.

>   Also, an ncr adapter will do tagged commands quite well, and will
> _easily_ outperform the ahc driver with tagged commands off.  It is also
> much less expensive.  So basically, if you must run the ahc driver without
> tagged commands, you could have saved money and gotten better performance
> by getting an NCR810 or NCR875 based adapter.  However, the ahc driver 
> with functioning tagged commands and paging is pretty quick, and handles
> lots of simultaneous io better than an ncr based card.

  Well, some of us foolishly followed the advice of the mailing list
archives and bought the Adaptec's and are stuck with them for awhile.
New purchases are Symbios' but we do still have a few Adaptec's.  Can't
wait for CAM.  Note that CAM doesn't work with NCR810 yet, as far as I
know.

  I think it's just part of working with FreeBSD.  At one time there were
problems with NCR cards - now there are problems with Adaptec.  Same with
de0 cards, etc.  We have accepted this as a fact of life and try to work
within the constraints.  Unfortunately we can't treat every problem as
if we can just go out and buy new hardware and expect problems to disappear
(or to not appear in the future).

  Tim

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