#Which CD-ROM Drive
32 messages in this thread
I have agonized for months as to which drive to get. I get little help
from manufacturers customer service people and have turned to "you" for
help.
I have a DELL 486, 33Mhz EISA with and Adaptec 1542B SCSI adapter and a
Soundblaster Pro card. The NEC 74 or 84 look nice drives but will my SCSI
adapter work with it? If so, what about drivers. Am I better off going to
a full 32 bit adapter buss? Should I just start over, get rid of the SBPRO
and by a CD ROM hardware/software package deal? My eyes begin to "glaze"
when reading IRQ, DMA, UMB settings, ….is it this bad with the MACINTOSH
world?
Thanks, Bill P.
Yes, your NEC-74/84 will work with the Adaptec 1542B card. COREL has
drivers for it. (GO COREL) for details. CORELscsi is the name of the
software and its about $100 I'm sure Adaptec should have drivers too.
Thanks Albert, I'll check with the Adaptec BBS and see what I can dig up.
Will a 32 Bit buss adapter make a difference? My Adaptec is a 16 Bit, 5Mhz
design. It seems as if the extra "headroom" would be benificial. I'll
probably get the Mediavision package and deep six the SBPRO, it never
worked well anyway.
Regards, Bill P.
With the speed of data transfers on a CD-ROM drive 16-bit cards are fine
like the ADAPTEC. The MediaVision has a section in the multi-vendors forum
on Compuserve (GO MULTIVEN). So you can get more specific details on its
capabilities.
Albert,
I just visited MULTIVEN and got an "ear full" of whoes regarding aquisition
of drivers. I went ahead and ordered and just installed Media Visions
PAS16/NEC drive; forty-five minutes to install. No sweat installation, and
deep sixed the SBPRO card.
Regards, Bill P.
I'm waiting for my SCSI cable so I can start down that "dark" path of
installation. <grin>
Albert,
Shouldn't your message have read:
"I'm waiting for my SCSI cable so I can start down that "SCUZIE"
path of installation."<G>
Good Luck!
Bill P.
Bill,
"I'm waiting for my SCSI cable so I can start that "SCUZIE" path of
installation. <G>"
<smirk, ROLF>
Bill, if you do decide to deep six the SB Pro, drop me a line if you are
going to sell it. I'm still shopping for a sound-card and may not have one
by the time you make your decision.
By the way, is it the Basic version or does it have the MIDI stuff?
Thanks.
Tracy Wright 76004,1655
Albert,
I've tried to no avail to get my NEC 74 to work with Trantor's T-130
adapter. I'd like to explore the Adaptec alternative. Do you have a phone
number for them?
Larry
Adaptec … not off the top of my head. I'll grab my Comdex book <grin>
.. (408)-945-2541
Albert,
Thanks. I called them and they recommended I use the 16-bit Adaptec AHA
1510 to connect my 486/33 to my NEC CDR-74. Are you familiar with this
adapter?
Larry
Most people seem to like the 1522 or 1542B Adaptec SCSI adapters. The 1542
is a bus-master SCSI-2 host adapter. CORELscsi has drivers for only these
two host adapters from Adaptec. You can download a list in the COREL forum
(GO COREL) that has a list of all compatible drevices.
Bill, didn't you get driver software with your 1542? I just bought a 1740,
which came with EazySCSi, adaptec's latest software. It covers most
cd-roms. I had called adaptec before I bought my board- they told me that
if I didn't get the EZScuz, to send them a copy of my recent invoice and
they'd send me the software free. Phil
Phil, I got the 1542 last April with my Dell system, the only drivers
recieved were for an arrayed disk system. I thought my purchase of an EISA
was a smart move…. to many limitations and conditions are imposed for a
non-server system. I will contact Adaptec and see what kind of magic they
can "wand" over my machine.
Regards, Bill P.
Bill:
>>is it this bad with the MACINTOSH world?<<
No.
Rich Bowers
Rich, Do I sense from the tone of your "No" that you are a MAC-o-phile?
😉
If you are, then I'll permit you to say "I told you so". I hobbied in
computers in the mid to late 70's, then worked in the industry in the 80's.
The fun is gone in the 90's. The poor IBM/Clone end-user is left with a
mixed bag of "standards", a dizzying array of configuration conflicts and
the constipated 640Kb ceiling. Wish I had gone to a MAC…..
Regards, Bill P.
Bill:
>>Do I sense from the tone of your "No" that you are a MAC-o-phile?<<
Guilty. No solution is perfect, but at least an imperfect but constant and
predictable solution is better than chaos.
Best – Rich
Out of curiosity, how long have you been a MAC/Apple "pilot"? Most IBM/PC
Clone users I know are ready to bail out. If this side of the industry
gets any more chaotic I'll have to bone up on quantum physics. Maybe the
"Butterfly Effect" *IS* true; my Config.sys file certainly proves that. 😉
Regards, Bill P.
Bill:
>>Maybe the "Butterfly Effect" *IS* true; my Config.sys file certainly
proves that.<<
God, but I _do_ love physics humor. There're so few good non-linear
dynamics jokes going around these days! <g>
I grew up in mainframes, managed mainframe and large mini installations and
was overjoyed when Apples and pc's became available. I used to spend many
an enjoyable week trying to get from the on/off switch to a real
application. A few years ago, I realized I was spending much more time
figuring how to use the tool, than using the tool to do work. I had put
off dealing with Mac for a long time because I had bought into the idea
that it was merely a toy. The old Puritan idea of "if it ain't hard, it
can't be worth doing."
The most systems work I have done since about 1989 is installing a DA into
the system file, or a font. I just don't think all that much about
computing per se, I spend my time writing, publishing and doing things I
(try to) get paid for. My experience in working with users, clients,
trainees et al, is that is what most people are really looking for. It's
this orientation that makes me such a pain to CDROM software developers. I
keep trying to get them to focus on the content and the purpose of the
disc, rather than complex searching schemes and other typical software
stuff.
I am convinced that ease of use of both systems and application/productions
is the next great frontier of computing, rather than speeds of processors,
advanced memory usage and all the rest. It keeps sticking in my head that
about 67% of Americans don't even _use_ a computer today. We'll fix this
problem once the computer itself slips below the threshold of
consciousness.
End of sermon.
Best — Rich Bowers
Rich,
Great sermon. I use both DOS and Macintosh. I got my first Mac in 1984
for the reasons you've covered in the sermon. The hardest part was talking
with DOS heads who felt the Mac was only a toy. The fact I still use a DOS
machine seemed to prove their point to them.
Jerry
If you have trouble with people thinking the Mac is a toy – try talking
about an Amiga. It can multitask in only 256K, including a fast windowing
system and all sorts of other goodies. But it gets little respect
outside the graphics community.
And the Amiga, like the Mac – uses SCSI. Just attach the next SCSI
device, install the driver, and off you go. It took me about five minutes
to have my CDROM going on the Amiga. I'm still trying, after several
weeks, to get it to work on my Toshiba 2200SX with the Toshiba SCSI
adapter.
—Betty
Betty,
I am thinking about a CDROM purchase for either my compatible or my Amiga.
I thought the two were different systems. Do I understand you to say that a
SCSI drive (say an NEC 74) can be installed on an Amiga and use the "PC"
disks?
Thanks.
Bill
Sure can, Bill. With a SCSI interface and drivers for the compatible, you
can use any of your SCSI peripherals (except hard disks) for both
machines. You can even use a Syquest with both if you have separate
cartridges. And tape backups. And CDROMs. My drive is a Toshiba 3201b.
I've not yet brought it up on the Toshiba computer because (so Toshiba
reps tell me) something has shorted out the termination power on the
drive, and I must either replace a fuse there or must attach another
device that will provide termination power. It is only required for one
of the devices. This is a requirement of the Toshiba SCSI interface I
bought – not of all SCSI devices. The drive works fine on my Amiga 2500
just as it is.
—Betty
Betty,
That's great! Do I need anything other than a cable & driver for the Amiga?
BTW I am leaning toward a Texel or Toshiba CDROM. I would like (but not
require) PhotoCD compatability.
Again, thanks.
Bill
Betty:
You are right, Amiga gets short shrift these days. I don't understand it:
is it Commodore's lackluster marketing, or something else?
Albert Dayes reminded me recently that the Amiga was used to develop the
first version of Groliers encyclopedia on CDROM in 1985. Such an
auspicious beginnning…
Best – Rich Bowers
RIch,
I read in the NEWSGRID that Landmark (the maker of diagnostics hardware and
software on the PC) was making a newsletter called Trouble-shooting a PC.
It should be out sometime during this first quarter of 1993.
Albert:
>>a newsletter called Trouble-shooting a PC<<
Gee, I'd have no trouble shooting a pc, if I only had a gun.
I own one, because I have need of reviewing MPC and DOS discs, but I shiver
just a tad everytime I go to turn the thing on, because I am afraid that
something new is going to screw up and it will take me 3 hours to do a
five-minute task.
All pc's are wonderful things, it's just that everyone has their own
opinion about which is more wonderful than the others.
Rich
Rich; remember the $12,000.00 Southwest Technical "shoebox" computer kit
introduced in the early 70's? It was an absolute marvel, the teletype
machine was extra though. Then along came Eagle, Apple, DEC, Epson,
Sinclair, Commodore, etc. It's been a fascinating 20 years but as the
American transportation industry has evolved so too the American computer
industry.
Todays apparent software and hardware complexity is, IMHO the acclerant for
improving the relationship between business tools (computers) and the
non-linear thought process. So, I guess my current computer whoes are
quite natural, conforming to the latest meta-physical fad; Chaos. 😎
You are so correct in resisting the programmers tempatation to fiddle, to
few "technologists" care or even comprehend how a non-analytical mind
resolves a percieved conflict between their equipment and thought
processes. Fortunately some Universities now require more "Arts" in their
core science curriculum. I've always thought of programming as an art more
than a science, although we have all seen enough "oil-on-velvet" code. <G>
This is why I have kept a wooden abacus next to my workplace all these
years, a gentle but constant reminder that simplicity can be elegant.
..Amen 😉
Regards, Bill P.
Things are never this bad in the Macintosh world <g>
Jerry