Date: Mon, 30 Jun 1997 11:31:02 -0500 (CDT) From: "M. L. Dodson" <bdodson@beowulf.utmb.edu> To: nathan@senate.org Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: SCSI Hardware (was: QIC-80 Floppy Tapes) Message-ID: <199706301631.LAA04840@beowulf.utmb.edu>
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Been there. > Nonetheless, I paid only $100 for this drive about two years ago and > don't have the money to purchase a SCSI tape, at least not for this > computer which doesn't even have a SCSI adapter. I thought that there'd > be others like me and this would generate some interest; obviously I > was wrong. There is always hope. There was a flurry of interest a couple of months ago about a new access program, (driver?), but I haven't heard of it supplanting the ft program, so I guess it is still experimental or a well kept secret. That is why I suggested that you start out with the IOMEGA, which I think is just a stripped down Adaptec 1520, at least NT sees it as such. No external connector, and it is PIO, so you don't get any scsi advantage except reliability. I think it is ~$40 if you buy it without the scsi zip (which, by the way, is really pretty competitive with a lowend tape drive. And you can use it just like a 95MB tape drive. If the cartridge prices are really cheap in your locality, it might pay to consider it instead of a tape drive.) >As I plan to make my next computer all SCSI, can I change > the subject and ask this: If I were to get computer A instead of computer > B below, what (approximately) would be the price difference? > > A B > SCSI 3.1GB HD EIDE 3.1GB HD I'm going to guess (may be wildly wrong) $300 > SCSI CD-ROM IDE/ATAPI CD-ROM I know that one. $100 (local Houston price, both at the same vendor). 12X ATAPI vs 8X SCSI, but effective thoughput speed should be about the same. > SCSI Tape Drive IDE/ATAPI Tape (do they exist?) Depends on the drive. AFAIK, all (generally considered to be) good tapes are scsi. > SCSI CD-R non-SCSI equivalent of CD-R Haven't a clue. Don't write CDs. > > I heard that a SCSI adapter to manage so many devices at once would > be around $150, plus the devices themselves will be more expensive. I > would appreciate any input on this topic. But a (used to be NCR, who are they now?) controller is only ~$80, and it is among the fastest and best supported on FBSD. It won't have a BIOS at that price, but your motherboard may have one. In any case, if you maintain an IDE drive in the system, you can use it for the / partition, and then you don't need a BIOS to boot. > > > > > You miss my point (although I should not have been so all encompassing with > > the "any unix" phrase). There is no, zip, nada, interest in the development > > team for working with these devices. There have been many pleadings for > > people to work on the driver (rewrite or import from another Unix). Nobody > > stepped forward. The main reason given was that these devices are all crap, > > and I concur with that assessment. This is neither inherently good or bad; > > it's just the way things are. > > > > YMMV, and you are free to disagree with this opinion. > > > > Bud Dodson > > > > PS (and others are welcome to comment on this point, as well, which I hope > > will not be construed in any way as being any flavor of a flame), > > > > As a relatively new (I think, correct me if I am wrong.) user of FreeBSD, > > you should be aware of the following "quirk" of our community (which _I_ do > > _not_ find at all confining): The interest levels of the active developers > > is a precious resource. Pleading for them to write in special support for > > old, outdated, or funkily designed hardware is not likely to get very far. > > By and large they don't view this as a very good use of their time. Most > > people come to realize that they have a good point when they think about > > it for awhile. We are not Linux and don't want to be. > > > > When we arrive at that conclusion, we just dump our old screwball hardware > > and get some good stuff. (Or give it to the wife to use on her > > wordprocessing Win95 box. Want my old QIC80 tape drive? You can have it > > if you pay the shipping cost.) > > > > If you can't generate interest, then you are on your own. Which is how > > most of the active developers got started in the first place, I believe. > > > > I sincerely wish you good luck on your floppy tape; you will need it. > > > > > > > > > Do yourself a favor and dump this floppy tape device. It won't work worth > > > > a damn on any unix. Any cheap, supported, (even PIO types) scsi controller > > > > > > Not true. Someone should port the Linux ftape driver to FreeBSD. It allows > > > 100% access to floppy tape drives via device files. > > > > > > > -- > > M. L. Dodson bdodson@scms.utmb.edu > > 409-772-2178 FAX: 409-772-1790 > > > -- M. L. Dodson bdodson@scms.utmb.edu 409-772-2178 FAX: 409-772-1790
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