#SCSI Express
7 messages in this thread
Jim / MDI:
PMJI. We had "talked" here a little while ago on whether SCSI Express would
still be able to use CDs that require MSCDEX (just about all CDs claim to
need this). You explained that it would "probably" run "most" even though
SCSI Express does not use MSCDEX, but has a TSR to "fake" it for CDs that
insist on needing MSCDEX. At that time, I express my concern about what
not being able to run "some" CDs, but I don't think you ever got back to
me.
Could you be more explicit please (or anybody else here who's looked into
this)? Since just about every CD title around says it requires MSCDEX, I
want to know whether or not we would be able to run ALL CDs or not with
SCSI Express, and if not, just how much of a problem will this be? How can
we tell in advance?
// Gerry
Gerry,
To be explicit: SCSI Express will not work with ALL CD's. The CD's we will
have problems with are those which require more than the simple existence
of MSCDEX; or those which communicate directly with a driver. Most CD's
say they require MSCDEX; but in reality, all they need is some way to map
the CD to a drive letter. MSCDEX provides two basic areas of extensions:
1) it provides access to the CD-ROM through a drive letter; and 2) it
provides special extensions such as AUDIO, special information functions,
and a way to access the CD directly. Most CD-ROMs only require the CD to
be a drive letter; they don't need any of the other extensions. For SCSI
Express; the Network shell provides the drive letter; not MSCDEX.
How much of a problem will this be? That depends on the titles you have.
If ALL the titles you have only need a drive letter; then SCSI Express will
work for you. How can you tell in advance? Well, here is a test you can
perform (if you have the space) which will determine if the CD-ROM will
work with SCSI Express or not: Attach your CD-ROM drive to a workstation,
and copy the entire disk to a NetWork directory. Then map a drive to the
network directory (possibly using map root), and try the CD-ROM
application. If it works, it will work with SCSI Express. If it doesn't;
then it probably won't work with SCSI Express; it's that simple.
Regards,
Jim Duke
Jim,
Thanks for the very clear explanation on the extent that SCSI Express may
or may not be able to work with all CDs that claim to require MSCDEX.
I must say that this leaves me a bit concerned, as I hate to go out and
spend big bucks to equip our LAN with a bunch of shareable CDs, only to
have to tell users later that "some" of the CDs they want to use will not
work. There's a catch-22 here, as we won't be getting our CDs prior to
having our CD players, so we can't test them in advance as you suggested.
All we know is that virtually all of the CD titles that we already know
that we want claim to require MSCDEX. While SCSI Express may say that
"most" don't "really" need them, by admitting that it won't work with all
CDs, that means that I still don't know just how much of a problem we'll be
having if we get SCSI Express, and when we do have a problem, there won't
be much we'll be able to do about it either as you'll be able to say "we
told you so."
I think we have now narrowed our search to either SCSI Express or OPTI-NET,
and while we think SCSI Express might be better for us as a 100% Netware
3.11 site, its this inability to run ALL CDs with SCSI Express that may be
tipping the scales in favor of OPTI-NET for us. Care to comment further
(anybody)?
// Gerry
Gerry,
I appreciate the way you feel. Can you let me know what titles you know
you want (and the manufacturers)? We (or one of our customers) may have
used one of the titles before. Also, we may be able to contact the
manufacturer for an evaluation copy of the CD so we can certify it (we have
had some success with this in the past).
I know this won't ease your concerns much (if any); but we are always
investigating ways of improving our product, and that includes
investigating ways of supporting ALL CD's.
Jim Duke
Gerry,
Many CD apps don't actually require a CD–they just need a drive
letter to use to access their data. Normally MSCDEX supplies this, which is
why they say they need MSCDEX, but SCSI Express, or for that matter, just
XCOPYing the whole thing to a hard disk, will work just as well.
This works great with products like our text database, but I
wouldn't count on it for multimedia.
Frank
Thanks, Frank
Like I said to Jim from MDI in the previous message, I'm concerned about
building a corporate CD solution based on a product that won't run ALL CDs.
Being told that SCSI Express will run "most" CDs because most of them don't
"really" require MSCDEX leaves me uncomfortable.
BTW, what is your "text database" you referred to?
// Gerry
Gerry,
We publish a disk of New Hampshire legal information. No New
England lawyer should be without it. I mean where else can you find the
rules for calling meetings of the proprietors of common lands, or holding a
fence viewer's hearing.
Frank