CompuServe Thread

#Plasmon Daisy-chain?

9 messages in this thread
#117727From: Bob StarrettJun 18, 1995 12:27 PM
Has anyone heard of or done daisy-chaining of the Plasmon RF410x drives? They say you can chain as many as six together as simultaneous targets, but we have found no software that supports this. What's the story? Has anyone used the "chained" JVC system? Any information would be helpful. TIA.
#117739From: incatsystems softwaJun 19, 1995 12:54 AM
Plasmon says it could be done, but so far no one has written software to support it. Ciao, D'
#117745From: Jeff WeissJun 19, 1995 7:32 AM
Plasmon has some very rough, unsupported code on their BBS which illustrates the capabilities of parallel recording to their drives. The code only works with the Plasmon drives, however. As I said, it is also very raw. You would want to put a pretty interface on it and add some substantial functional improvements in order to make it worthwhile, but otherwise, I believe the hard part has been done for you. I would assume that any competent premastering SW developer would be able to crank out such a product. Maybe Easy-CD Pro 4.0? =;) The JVC system, as far as I know, uses a true SCSI multiplexing card to split off the signal and send it independently to each drive. They will only sell it as part of their turn-key system, and, of course, you are limited to JVC drives. Jeff Weiss [Eternal Archive Solutions, Inc.]
#117884From: Bob StarrettJun 21, 1995 10:00 AM
Jeff: > The JVC system, as far as I know, uses a true SCSI multiplexing card to split off the signal and send it >independently to each drive. They will only sell it as part of their turn-key system, and, of course, you >are limited to JVC drives. Do you know what card they use and whether they are available other than from JVC?. Also do you have the Plasmon BBS number? Thanks. BOB
#117972From: Jeff WeissJun 22, 1995 7:21 AM
>> Do you know what card they use and whether they are available other than from JVC?.<< I wish. >>Also do you have the Plasmon BBS number? Thanks. << Not with me, but you can get it by calling Plasmon.
#117840From: Katherine CochraneJun 20, 1995 5:46 PM
Dana, I remember asking Allen Adkins about this a couple of years ago, since the Sony 900e was also supposed to be daisy-chainable. He said something like the problem is one of sustaining the signal to multiple devices down the SCSI chain without letting the buffers run dry, I think. So far, the only people I know who have software that's supposed to write to multiple SCSI devices as you describe are Microtech, and they don't do premastering in the same pass — you have to have a recorded image file, then they can write to their tower configuration that contains a special processor to handle it. Kathy The One-Off CD Shops
#117857From: Georges BrownJun 20, 1995 11:02 PM
Two things: I was told by a Plasmon sales person that Toast supported writing to multiple Plasmons at onec… it doesn't. There is a software only solution by 4B technologies that does work with the philips drives. Georges CD Archive, Inc. http://www.cdarchive.com
#117874From: Jeff WeissJun 21, 1995 7:32 AM
>> There is a software only solution by 4B technologies that does work with the philips drives. << Doesn't work that great, though. It chokes on non-ISO 9660 discs. It requires you to make a disc first and then it reads it back onto the hard drive to be written out again. Lousy manual, no tech support, cryptic error codes. Not good. Jeff Weiss Eternal Archive Solutions, Inc.
#117920From: Georges BrownJun 21, 1995 4:11 PM
Jeff, I had not tested it yet because we have no use for it. I really want something that will let me chain CDR 100's together. I know how much you love that drive 🙂 A few 100's are cheaper than the PCD 600 though I like the transporter! Georges