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Conference hydra::amiga_v1

Title:	AMIGA NOTES
Notice:	Join us in the NEW conference - HYDRA::AMIGA_V2
Moderator:	HYDRA::MOORE

Created:	Sat Apr 26 1986
Last Modified:	Wed Feb 05 1992
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	5378
Total number of notes:	38326

3649.0. "ICD Advantage 2000 SCSI controller" by BAGELS::BRANNON (Dave Brannon) Wed Apr 04 1990 23:18

    
    There is an ad in the May 1990 AmigaWorld, pg 39, from ICD.  They
    make SCSI controllers for the ST market, looks like they made one
    for the Amiga.  The good part is "We have undergone extensive testing
    to provide you with formatting support for virtually all embedded SCSI
    drives as well as Adaptec and Omti controllers."
    
    The not so good, "Full word trsfers with high speed caching software
    gives ICD the Advandage over all other host adapters whether DMA or
    not."
    
    So the Advantage 2000 isn't DMA but does support Adaptecs and Omtis.
    Since Cltd went under, I've been hunting for what vendors support
    Omtis.
    
    Any idea what "The Advantage is a unique initiator ID for SCSI
    networking futures." means?
    
    -Dave

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
3649.1	Hardframe supports Adaptec and Omti's	ARRODS::GOLDSTEINS	Steve G...DTN 847-5415	`Thu Apr 05 1990 13:51`	14
	Microbotics Hardframe (DMA type controller) supports both Omti and Adaptec... They had a litte problem with Adaptec so they wrote a little utility so the Hardframe could use the Adaptec...Omti shouldn't need any software mods. (BTW I thought that SMS who manufacture Omti's have gone bust. Well over here in England they have...) The adaptec are very hard to get hold of as well and if you can get them they are expensive...(But I have now fould a company selling a little cheaper than most others Mail me for more info)
3649.2		NSSG::SULLIVAN	Steven E. Sullivan	`Thu Apr 05 1990 17:33`	48
	RE: .1 > Microbotics Hardframe (DMA type controller) supports both Omti and > Adaptec... Well, sort of. Have you used an Omti 352x through a HardFrame host adapter? I have. There is no utility to "deep format" a Omti controller resident disk. I use a C-Ltd for this and it mostly works. The Omti is faster than the Adaptec with diskperfa speeds (with a Micropolis 1325) of up to 550KB/sec with 32K buffers! The Omti does have problems. If you have two processes on an amiga, each trying to access one of two drives on an Omti you will get a GURU 4. Every time. Sometimes you will get a blown RDB and the system will not boot while that disk is on-line, again, GURU 4. This problem seems to arise from the Omti returning a "I'm busy now" response to a HardFrame I/O request. The HardFrame drivers does not seem to like getting a "busy" response. A workaround for what I am describing above is to not use disconnect/reslect. I am unable to make the Omti run without disconnect/reselect. This is supposed to be arbitrated using the SCSI message protocol on the fly. There are a number of problems between the HardFrame and Omti controllers. Microbotics states in their current documentation that the Omti controllers are not supported. Though I manage to use them, I can not recommend them to people that do not (at least) have a strong constitution and a C-Ltd controller. I do not know about other controllers that purport to support the Omti. The C-Ltd is also not without problems concerning the Omti's. It is high art and black magic to get the second drive on an Omti deep formatted. Taking the time to make this work and propel one to a altered state of being. On the other hand, the adaptec controllers work just fine with a hardframe and Joanne Dow's formatting utility is quite handy, though C-Ltd's will uncover bad blocks on a drive that show up when it is RLL'ed that are not on the defect list. Adaptecs are also slow with max diskperfa's only reaching about 300KB/sec on the same disk as mentioned above. It also does not support disconnect/reselect so all commands are completed before any more get on the SCSI bus. Hope these experiences will help save a few folks out there some hassles, pain, and money! -SES
3649.3	ADAPTEC OR OMPTI	VIVIAN::S_GOLDSTEIN	Steve G...DTN 847-5415	`Fri Apr 06 1990 11:17`	11
	Well have I made a mistake then.. I'll soon have a Hardframe, Adaptec and RD53 connected to my A500 What sort of speed should I get then..? Or if it is only 300 rather than 500 should I swap the Adaptec for an OMTI.. Steve G
3649.4	300 on an A500?	DECWET::DAVIS	Mark Davis 206.865.8749	`Fri Apr 06 1990 15:35`	1
	Good luck getting 300!!! or even 200 from an Adaptec.
3649.5	That BAD!!!!	VIVIAN::S_GOLDSTEIN	Steve G...DTN 847-5415	`Fri Apr 06 1990 15:46`	8
	Is it really that BAD... If so what can I do...??? I might be able to get hold of a A2090a ...would this be better for the RD53... Steve
3649.6		NSSG::SULLIVAN	Steven E. Sullivan	`Fri Apr 06 1990 18:16`	15
	RE: .5 > Is it really that BAD... Oh come now, 250KB/sec is not so bad. It is about an order of magnitude faster than floppies! The Adaptec is quite reliable and is offically supported by Microbotics. The Omti is neither, as I noted in an earlier reply. It is real fast when it works. Faster results with a HardFrame and adaptec that I reported could be had by formatting the drive with 17 sectors per track and running a 1:1 interleave. I run 18 sectors per track with 1:2 interleave. About 6% of additional disk space is the bonus. -SES