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> If the C Ltd Kronos board supports SCSI direct I have software
> that runs that drive. The software has been tested on GVP controllers
> with the 2.3 removable media support, 2091, and Amiga 3000.
Ubfortunately, The C-Ltd stuff has their own version of SCSI direct that
is implemented rather differently from SCSI direct (ala microbotics & friends).
Conversion of code from C-Ltd to SCSI direct is not very difficult, but
going the other way is kind of a pain. There is more function in SCSI
direct and it is often used (like autosense).
-SES
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Taken from Advertisement for Kronos....
It says it supports SCSI Tape in here.
Is it true?
Thanks...
ED
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All of this experience has been applied to the design of the KRONOS
series controllers, resulting in a design that provides absolutely reliable
data storage without sacrificing features or performance. Unlike most
competitive Amiga based SCSI systems, C Ltd.'s KRONOS series controllers
scrupulously comply with published ANSI (American National Standards
Institute) SCSI (Small Computer Systems Interface) specifications, including
full arbitration and multi-host environment specifications. At the Amiga
end, all C Ltd. systems comply 100% with Commodores specifications for
expansion devices (including bus pas-thru on the A-500 and A-1000) even
allowing for the installation of several SCSI controllers on a single
computer!
C Ltd. set high-quality manufacturing standards as well. KRONOS series
controllers are built on four-layer mil-spec type circuit boards with gold
plated contacts. All IC chips and terminating resistor networks are fully
socketed to insure ease of repair and future enhancements. All assembly is
done 'On-Premises' at C Ltd. using our own high-speed 'Wave Soldering'
equipment. Units are inspected many times during assembly and each and every
KRONOS controller is individually inspected and tested prior to shipment.
The 'No-Compromise' approach to quality insures that C Ltd.'s customers can
rely on their very high-reliability products!
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
| Performance |
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Performance is another criteria often used as a basis of selecting hard
drive systems and hard drive controllers. (Performance in a hard drive
system is the speed at which the system can store and retrieve data and is
generally measured using one or more of the public domain disk performance
"DPerf" tests.) Although absolute reliability and leading edge performance
often don't go hand-in-hand, C Ltd.'s KRONOS controllers and hard drive
systems top the list in both categories. Without sacrificing any
reliability, KRONOS systems deliver performance that is un-matched by any
other Amiga based system!
The following chart shows the relative performance of most of the
currently available SCSI controllers for the Amiga A-2000. All products were
tested with a Quantum 40 meg hard drive (except for the SupraDrive and the
Flash!Card which were tested with a Seagate 138N because they would not
support the Quantum) and all products were set up as specified by the
manufacturer:
DPerf 2.0 Test Results
256K 64K 32K Sug.
Manufacturer Product Read Write Read Write Read Write DMA Retail
C Ltd. ------- KRONOS/2000 - 648K 371K 571K 328K 449K 282K No $299.95
Microbotics -- HardFrame --- 590K 352K 605K 330K 570K 290K Yes $329.95
Commodore ---- A-2090A ----- 584K 337K 537K 270K 463K 247K Yes $399.95
C Ltd. ------- ECONO/2000 -- 453K 170K 410K 152K 362K 155K No $139.95
Xetec -------- FastCard ---- 403K 276K 384K 268K 351K 250K No $179.95
Supra Corp. -- SupraDrive -- 391K 267K 381K 264K 315K 234K Yes $299.95
I.V.S. ------- Trump Card -- 292K 230K 293K 219K 291K 214K No $189.95
GVP ---------- Impact A2000- 275K 154K 270K 154K 265K 157K No $360.00
Expansion Tech Flash!Card -- 55K 50K 55K 50K 55K 50K Yes $299.95
******************
* DMA Or Non-DMA *
******************
There are currently two types of SCSI controllers available for Amiga
computers. DMA (Direct Memory Access) and Non-DMA. While DMA type systems in
the past have been considerably faster than the Non-DMA systems, the DMA
systems have had problems competing with the Amiga's custom chips which are
also DMA and have priority over other DMA devices. The result of these
conflicts have been a substantial degradation in DMA drive performance and
possible disruption of video and sound. These problems are seldom
catastophic, but are only destined to get worse as Commodore upgrades the
custom chips allowing access to more chip memory and bigger screen displays
thereby requiring more DMA access for the custom chips and leaving less for
other DMA devices. The Non-DMA design of the KRONOS controller provides
faster data transfer than any available DMA controller while avoiding any
conflicts (present or future) with the Amiga's custom chips!
C Ltd.'s KRONOS controllers are the ONLY Non-DMA controlers utilizing
full bus wide 16-bit data transfer. Using a unique dual-buffered psuedo-DMA
design, KRONOS systems transfer data into the Amiga at full Amiga bus speed,
in fact, KRONOS systems are so fast that the hard drive itself is now the
limiting factor. For example, when tested with the latest optimized
Micropols high-performance hard drive, the KRONOS controller read in and
wrote back out 10 one-megabyte data segments in hust under 20 seconds for an
astounding 1009K/Sec. data transfer rate!
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
| Convenience |
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Convenience is an additional factor to consider when selecting a hard
drive system or hard drive controller. Convenience, when speaking about
Amiga hard drive systems, actually refers to a combination of several
factors. Features, functionality, system capacity and ease of operation are
several factors to consider. Shown below is a comparitive list of
features/functions available along with some notes explaning the benefits of
some of these features and functions!
0
D E 0 D D
D R M 0 R R
R A A 2 A A
A A C R T S C C
0 C H F C O A P
9 T S D A N R M
Features 0 S A R P O P U
Comparison: 2 A L A M R U R
A F F H I K S T
All SCSI Hard Drives ------- No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
Bernoulli (256 Byte Sectors) No No Yes No Yes Yes No No
Removable Media Drives ----- No No Yes No Yes Yes No Yes
OMTI MFM/RLL Adapters ------ No Yes No No No Yes No No
Adaptec MFM/RLL Adapters --- No No No No No Yes No Yes
SCSI Tape Drives ----------- Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No No
SCSI Worm Drives ----------- No No No No No Yes No No
GCC SCSI Laser Printer ----- No No No No No Yes No No
DEST SCSI Page Scanner ----- No No No No No Yes No No
Features:
AutoBoot Support ----------- See Next Chart Below!
Non-DMA Design ------------- No Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes
16 Bit Wide Bus ------------ Yes No No Yes No Yes Yes No
Multi-Host System Support -- No No No No Yes Yes No No
Unlimited Partition Sizes -- Yes No Yes Yes No Yes No Yes
SCSI Library Supplied ------ No NO Yes No No Yes No No
25 And 50 Pin SCSI Ports --- Yes Yes No Opt Yes Yes Yes Opt
HardCard Format ------------ No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
*********************
* Notes On Features *
*********************
Support: The table above clearly shows that the KRONOS SCSI controller
will work with a wider variety of standard and unusual SCSI devices. This
means you have more options now and more support for future system
developments. The KRONOS controller also offers full support for both MFM
and RLL ST-506 (I.B.M. Type) hard drives when used with either OMTI or
Adaptec SCSI to ST-506 adapters!
* Non-DMA Design: See The Text Above The Chart For Details!
* 16 Bit Bus: The KRONOS Controler Is The Only Non-DMA Controller That Uses
The Full 16 Data Lines On The Amiga Expansion Bus, All Others Use Only 8
Thereby Substantially Limiting Drive Speed!
* Multi-Host Support: Even If You Don't Need It Now, You Probably Will In
The Future, So Don't Limit Yourself To A SCSI Controller That Only Allows
For Single Computer Operations. With KRONOS Controllers You Can Connect Up
To SEVEN Amigas To A Single Hard Drive And Share Data And Program
Resources!
* Partition Sizes: Some Controllers Artificially Limit Hard Drive Partition
Parameters Which Prevents The User From Setting Up Identical Partitions
(As Needed To DiskCopy) On Two Dis_Similar Devices Like A Hard Drive And A
Removable Media Decice!
* SCSI Library: ONLY C Ltd. Supplies A Fully Functional AmigaDOS Type
Library That Allows Users To Write Programs And Create Custom Software
That Can Issue SCSI Commands Directly To SCSI Devices!
/\/\/\/\/\/\
| AutoBoot |
\/\/\/\/\/\/
0
D E 0 D D
D R M 0 R R
R A A 2 A A
A A C R T S C C
0 C H F C O A P
9 T S D A N R M
Autoboot Comparison 0 S A R P O P U
2 A L A M R U R
AutoBoots From: A F F H I K S T
FFS Partition -------------- No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
ANY Partition -------------- No No No No No Yes No No
Any SCSI Unit Address ------ No Yes No No No Yes No No
All Segate Hard Drives ----- No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Functions:
Can Be Booted From Floppy -- Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Frees RAM After OverRiden--- No No No No No Yes No No
Hardware Defeatable -------- Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Software Defeatable -------- No No No No No Yes No No
Forced Delay Of AutoBoot --- No No No Yes Yes No No Yes
Requires Non-DOS Partition - Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Software Upgradeable O.S. -- No No No No No Yes No No
Autoboot Several Amigas ---- No No No No No Yes No No
Same Drive
AutoBoot can be implemented in many different ways, but only C Ltd.'s
KRONOS controllers use EEPROM to store the user's system configuration
information. EEPROM (Electrically Eraseable Programmable Read Only Memory)
is memory that can be changed as often as desired like RAM, but doesn't lose
the information when the power is turned off. Storing the user's system
configuration in EEPROM ON THE SCSI CONTROLLER instead of on the hard drive
allows much more versatility. Unlike other systems, the KRONOS controller
doesn't need to waste hard drive space with a non-DOS bot track. And
AutoBooting a Multi-user system from a single hard drive can ONLY be
accomplished with system information stored on the controller because some
information (like the computer's ID number) MUST be known BEFORE the hard
drive is initialized!
On all other AutoBoot controllers, the only way to completely defeat the
AutoBoot (if AutoBoot is not completely defeated it steals enough RAM memory
that some programs wont run) is to take apart your A-2000. With the KRONOS
controller you just hold down a mouse button during boot, or you can select
'DEFEAT AUTOBOOT' in the system configuration for a more permanent
selection. Another shortcoming of some controllers is that they use a forced
delay of 30 seconds or more to accomodate some hard drives finicky boot-up
sequences. KRONOS needs no such delay and yet can boot from even the most
finicky hard drive!
Manufacturer: C Ltd, 723 E. Skinner, Wichita, KS 67211
Phone# (316) 267-6321
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| I figured that perhaps, I could get support through the new
distributor.
But have'nt been able to get through to them...
However, I've decided to go with a company that provides good Tech
support, and seems stable.
I.C.D. seems to fit this description.
One question though...
Is SCSI embedded the same as SCSI direct?
Thanks
Ed
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