#SCSI Cables
2 messages in this thread
Just to get into an argument on standards…I guess.
I've never read a spec from whatever standards body on SCSI, but it seems
to me connectors are not required to be any single configuration. It's
just the leads that are critical. Take RS-232, everybody calls a DB-25 an
RS-232 connector when it's not, it's a DB-25. It's the most common
implementation, but RS-232 over a DB-9 is still RS-232. It's not the
connector it's the leads. But, it still pisses me off when you have to go
out of your way to buy an odd cable that doesn't conform to the usual. If,
however, those 40 leads don't contain the proper info on them, then it's
not SCSI at all just some proprietary protocol that someone wishes to call
SCSI.
Robb
Yes, connectors are specified in the SCSI standard. Since the SCSI bus is a
terminated bus, it is sensitive to caable length, improper termination, and
number of connectors. Before SCSI was SASI, and there are some SASI
implementations still kicking around. As far as odd connectors go, for SCSI-1
on a 50 pin connector, 25 of those pins arg grounded. That's why you can use a
DB-25. ATARI has an odd connector for SCSI. IBM has a miniature version of the
centronics connector and the cable costs $150.00. Acculogic and some tape
drive controllers have a miniature 50 pin connector which might be a db-50.
Some devices have only one centronics 50 pin connector so they have to be at
the end of the chain and possibly use a pass thru terminator which technically
does not conform to SCSI standards. (Are we having fun yet?:)). A woman at
work was trying to install OS/2 from CD-rom. She was getting all kinds of disk
errors on the system (IBM with SCSI disk and SCSI CD-ROM). DO you have the
CD-Rom terminated I asked? After she plugged in the terminator, everything
worked fine. People new to SCSI do not understand that it is an external system
bus, needs termination, and device addressing. Not quite plug and play. I try
to buy all SCSI periphals so that I can share them with my AMIGA and PC
equipment. HarryM