SCSI controller: Difference between revisions
m (→Lingenuity) |
|||
| (14 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown) | |||
| Line 20: | Line 20: | ||
This is the "original" design - and came in three different variants, as [http://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/32bit_UpgradesA2G/Acorn_AKA30_SCSI.html AKA30], [http://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/32bit_UpgradesA2G/Acorn_AKA31_SCSI.html AKA31], [http://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/32bit_UpgradesA2G/Acorn_AKA32_SCSI.html AKA32]. |
This is the "original" design - and came in three different variants, as [http://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/32bit_UpgradesA2G/Acorn_AKA30_SCSI.html AKA30], [http://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/32bit_UpgradesA2G/Acorn_AKA31_SCSI.html AKA31], [http://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/32bit_UpgradesA2G/Acorn_AKA32_SCSI.html AKA32]. |
||
| ⚫ | |||
[[File:Acorn aka30 scsia 200%.png|400px]] |
|||
[[File:Acorn aka30 scsib 200%.png|200px]] |
|||
[[File:Acorn aka30 scsic 200%.png|200px]] |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
( modified pictures of the Chris Why Collection, Chris Whytehead, [http://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/ Chris's Acorns] – CC-BY-SA-3.0 ) |
|||
=== Cumana === |
=== Cumana === |
||
| Line 26: | Line 33: | ||
=== Eesox === |
=== Eesox === |
||
=== |
=== Oak === |
||
=== Morley === |
=== Morley === |
||
Morley SCSI Cards came with an easy config tool and are really fast, for their time. The cached SCSI-1 card can reach 2 MByte/sec , that is nearly double as fast as the original Acorn controller. ( [http://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/docs/Morley/Morley_SCSIInterface.pdf Manual] , [http://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/docs/Morley/Morley_SCSIUtilInfo.pdf Info Configtool] , [http://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/docs/Morley/Morley_64KSCSIEPROM.pdf Info EPROM Upgrade] ) |
|||
[[File:Morley-Cached-SCSI,topside,1696px.png|400px]] |
|||
[[File:Morley-Cached-SCSI,bottomside,1696px.png|200px]] |
|||
[[File:Morley-Cached-SCSI,connector,1728px.png|200px]] |
|||
[[File:Morley-Cached-SCSI,slotside,1728px.png|200px]] |
|||
=== Vertical Twist === |
=== Vertical Twist === |
||
| Line 34: | Line 48: | ||
=== HCCS === |
=== HCCS === |
||
=== ACE === |
=== MCS / ACE === |
||
MCS / ACE of Dortmund (Germany) made some interfaces for RISC OS computers, one of them had been the SCSI controller named '''SCSI Connect'''. |
|||
It allows 16 bit (Archimedes) or 32 bit (RISC PC) connections and establishes a Fast-SCSI-2 connection. It comes with internal 50pol and external 50pol half-pitch connectors. |
It allows 16 bit (Archimedes) or 32 bit (RISC PC) connections and establishes a Fast-SCSI-2 connection. It comes with internal 50pol and external 50pol half-pitch connectors. |
||
| Line 44: | Line 58: | ||
[[File:ACE-SCSI-poduleslot,2000px.png|200px]] |
[[File:ACE-SCSI-poduleslot,2000px.png|200px]] |
||
=== Power-tec (of Alsystems ( archived as of [https://web.archive.org/web/19961218211751/http://www.alsystems.co.uk/ 1996],[https://web.archive.org/web/20010516213610/http://www.alsystems.co.uk/ 2000] ) / Gary Partis) === |
|||
=== Power-tec (of Gary Partis) === |
|||
The Power-tec Card is available as |
The Power-tec Card is available as SCSI-2 host bus adapter for the RISC PC and A5000, A540 and earlier computers.(archived [https://web.archive.org/web/20010411203252/http://www.alsystems.co.uk/power-tec/scsi2/index.html 2001]) A smaller and slower SCSI-1 card is available for the 8 bit slots in A3000 and A3010. A305, A310, A440 computers need to be upgraded to MEMC1A to reach the full speed of the Card. RISC PC computers should have at least 1MB VRAM, otherwise the card slows done a bit. To achieve the faster DMA data transfers and 32 bit connections a RISC PC is needed, the SCSI card should be installed into the podule slot 1. Only slot 0 and slot 1 are DMA capable. |
||
Another variant of this podule came as a fully featured SCSI-3 interface. (archived [https://web.archive.org/web/20001216100000/http://www.alsystems.co.uk/power-tec/scsi3/index.html 2001]) This can be discriminated from the SCSI-2 easily since it uses a FAS216u controller chip instead of the FAS216 in the SCSI-2 card. |
|||
These cards come with an impressive toolset of software wich eases the installation and configuration of the scsi devices. Formatting and BackUp tools are included as well as a |
These cards come with an impressive toolset of software wich eases the installation and configuration of the scsi devices. Formatting and BackUp tools are included as well as a program to flash the onboard Flash-Eprom with newer versions of the cards own software. These cards are able to handle most of the disk formats and the partitioning schemes of the other cards but its a good idea to use the cards own formatting tools. Its possible to install more than one and up to four of these cards in a computer. No more active development but a support scheme is available at [http://www.partis.org/home/main.php Partis Computing]. |
||
Device connectors are 50pol internal and 50pol half-pitch external. |
Device connectors are 50pol internal and 50pol half-pitch external. |
||
Power-tec SCSI cards utilise an enhanced version of ADFS, the so called EADFS 'extended ADFS', that allows a better partitioning of modern harddiscs with more discspace. This works on pre RISC PC machines also and uses many 512 MByte partitions on pre RISC OS 3.6 machines; with newer RISC OS it allows to use a huge single partition. |
|||
The features of the Power-tec cards have been available as softwareupgrade for some other SCSI cards too. They called it the [https://web.archive.org/web/20010412050643/http://www.alsystems.co.uk/power-tec/powerrom/index.html PowerROM]. |
|||
[[File:Powertec-scsi-II-board-top-3000px.jpg|400px]] |
[[File:Powertec-scsi-II-board-top-3000px.jpg|400px]] |
||
| Line 57: | Line 76: | ||
[[File:Powertec-scsi-II-poduleslot-2000px.jpg|200px]] |
[[File:Powertec-scsi-II-poduleslot-2000px.jpg|200px]] |
||
=== Castle === |
=== Castle Technology === |
||
=== Lingenuity === |
|||
The Lingenuity SCSI interface came in 3 subsequent podule versions and 2 variants for the Minipodule slot in the A3000. The standard podules can be discriminated by their external connectors: v1 has an 50pol flat cable connector ([https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/49137/Lingenuity-8Bit-SCSI-With-50-Pin-Interface/ CCH]), v2 has a two rows 25pol standard connector that is located somewhat to the right side ([https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/49339/Lingenuity-SCSI-With-25-Pin-Interface/ CCH]), v3 uses the same 25pol connector but in the middle of the podule. The Minipodule comes with either 50pol flat cable oder 25pol dual connector. |
|||
All cards use the AMD AM5380PC SCSI controller interface chip ([https://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/pdf/183202/AMD/AM5380PC.html Datasheet]). |
|||
To use a SCSI device with one of these cards a 'link' has to be configured between the SCSI ID of the device and the logical number for the filesystem. To do this use the command '*configure SCSIFSLink [4-7] [ID]' and the (logical) standard drive should then be set with '*configure SCSIFSDrive [4-7]'. To format the disk an [http://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/Software.html#Lingenuity format utility] is needed. |
|||
[[File:Lingenuity,SCSI,topside,1696px.png|400px]] |
|||
[[File:Lingenuity,SCSI,bottomside,1696px.png|200px]] |
|||
[[File:Lingenuity,SCSI,connector,GIMPed,1728px.png|200px]] |
|||
[[File:Lingenuity,SCSI,slotside,1728px.png|200px]] |
|||
=== Technomatic === |
|||
=== The Serial Port === |
|||
=== Atomwide === |
|||
== Links == |
== Links == |
||
Latest revision as of 02:26, 3 August 2023
SCSI controller
Introduction
The SCSI bus is a system to connect devices to computers. Devices means: harddiscs, scanners, graphic tablets, storage systems and media drives, e.g. ZIP drives, JAZ drives, magneto-optical (MO) drives, bernoulli discs and many more. It is designed as an extension of the systembus into the "outer world" but is used to install internal drives too. The SCSI technology had its prime time in the years 1985 - 2005. There are many types of speed and connection protocols - most of them are backward compatible. Nowadays it has been superseeded by SATA and USB protocols.
However, for RISC PC and Archimedes computers it could be a useful way to connect the machine with peripherals. Newer machines (Raspberry Pi, Titanium, BeagleBoard, ARMini) often dont allow to connect a SCSI adapter - and should use the newer types of peripheral connectivity.
To install a SCSI system at least one device is needed that connects to a host adapter (installed in the computer) by a (parallel) cable. The SCSI connection has to be terminated at both ends of the cable. Therefore a so called terminator needs to be installed, especially on older devices and host adapters. Newer devices often come with a jumper to switch the termination on/off (e.g. at ZIP drives). SCSI host adapter sometimes come with the ability to measure the need for termination and can auto-terminate their endpoint of the connection.
Controller
A so called SCSI controller is the host bus adapter that has to be installed into the computer. There are many different controllers available, some of them produced by Acorn but the most are third party. There are older 8 bit SCSI controllers, normal 16 bit and newer fast 32 bit wide host bus adaptors that are able to use DMA (in the first two podule slots of an RISC PC). Some of them are normal podules, but other came as proprietory add-on cards (HCCS) or in unusual ways of interconnect (VerticalTwist).
This list tries to give an overview of all available SCSI controllers for RISC OS computers, ever.
Acorn
This is the "original" design - and came in three different variants, as AKA30, AKA31, AKA32.
These cards have to be terminated by external and internal resistor networks. There had been an official internal terminator, but other models work as well.
( modified pictures of the Chris Why Collection, Chris Whytehead, Chris's Acorns – CC-BY-SA-3.0 )
Cumana
Eesox
Oak
Morley
Morley SCSI Cards came with an easy config tool and are really fast, for their time. The cached SCSI-1 card can reach 2 MByte/sec , that is nearly double as fast as the original Acorn controller. ( Manual , Info Configtool , Info EPROM Upgrade )
Vertical Twist
HCCS
MCS / ACE
MCS / ACE of Dortmund (Germany) made some interfaces for RISC OS computers, one of them had been the SCSI controller named SCSI Connect. It allows 16 bit (Archimedes) or 32 bit (RISC PC) connections and establishes a Fast-SCSI-2 connection. It comes with internal 50pol and external 50pol half-pitch connectors.
Power-tec (of Alsystems ( archived as of 1996,2000 ) / Gary Partis)
The Power-tec Card is available as SCSI-2 host bus adapter for the RISC PC and A5000, A540 and earlier computers.(archived 2001) A smaller and slower SCSI-1 card is available for the 8 bit slots in A3000 and A3010. A305, A310, A440 computers need to be upgraded to MEMC1A to reach the full speed of the Card. RISC PC computers should have at least 1MB VRAM, otherwise the card slows done a bit. To achieve the faster DMA data transfers and 32 bit connections a RISC PC is needed, the SCSI card should be installed into the podule slot 1. Only slot 0 and slot 1 are DMA capable. Another variant of this podule came as a fully featured SCSI-3 interface. (archived 2001) This can be discriminated from the SCSI-2 easily since it uses a FAS216u controller chip instead of the FAS216 in the SCSI-2 card.
These cards come with an impressive toolset of software wich eases the installation and configuration of the scsi devices. Formatting and BackUp tools are included as well as a program to flash the onboard Flash-Eprom with newer versions of the cards own software. These cards are able to handle most of the disk formats and the partitioning schemes of the other cards but its a good idea to use the cards own formatting tools. Its possible to install more than one and up to four of these cards in a computer. No more active development but a support scheme is available at Partis Computing.
Device connectors are 50pol internal and 50pol half-pitch external.
Power-tec SCSI cards utilise an enhanced version of ADFS, the so called EADFS 'extended ADFS', that allows a better partitioning of modern harddiscs with more discspace. This works on pre RISC PC machines also and uses many 512 MByte partitions on pre RISC OS 3.6 machines; with newer RISC OS it allows to use a huge single partition. The features of the Power-tec cards have been available as softwareupgrade for some other SCSI cards too. They called it the PowerROM.
Castle Technology
Lingenuity
The Lingenuity SCSI interface came in 3 subsequent podule versions and 2 variants for the Minipodule slot in the A3000. The standard podules can be discriminated by their external connectors: v1 has an 50pol flat cable connector (CCH), v2 has a two rows 25pol standard connector that is located somewhat to the right side (CCH), v3 uses the same 25pol connector but in the middle of the podule. The Minipodule comes with either 50pol flat cable oder 25pol dual connector. All cards use the AMD AM5380PC SCSI controller interface chip (Datasheet). To use a SCSI device with one of these cards a 'link' has to be configured between the SCSI ID of the device and the logical number for the filesystem. To do this use the command '*configure SCSIFSLink [4-7] [ID]' and the (logical) standard drive should then be set with '*configure SCSIFSDrive [4-7]'. To format the disk an format utility is needed.
