#SLOW 2091 SCSI!
17 messages in this thread
I have a 2091 SCSI card in my 4000 and it is so unbelievably slow! I'm
running a CD-ROM, 88 MB SyQuest, and a 525 MB hard drive on it.
Copying files to one of the two 120 MB IDE hard drives from any SCSI
device takes too long. Copying 50 Video Toaster FrameStores from the
SyQuest to the IDE hard drive can take up to 30 minutes!
I've heard that there are some freeware utilities that can speed
things up. Anyone know where I can find them?
You need MapBoard … I believe it's in the Disk Utilities Library of
AmigaUser Forum.
-sja
there are some PD 2091 patches to for the A4000 i will see if i can find them
they really do not make much of a difference though (read imperceptiable)
I know about the pd patches … toss them, they're worthless. Get Mike Sinz'
MapBoard, it'll increase thruput by 10 times.
Thanks, I'll DL and give it a try.
Jon
I had the same problem. My remedy was to substitute an ICD board
with newest ROM. This inexpensive board is delightfully fast. I
currently have a 44 MB Syquest on it, and I expect to add a Fuji
MagOptical for my Xmas 'surprise.' 😎 Think _real_ hard before
going the SCSI-II route. First, I had to return an A4091 board
because it couldn't be used in my A4000. Second, a SCSI-II adapter
doesn't mean a damn thing unless you're using it with a SCSI-II
drive. When you factor in the very 'iffy' nature of Commodore's own
peripheral hardware, the astronomical prices asked for competitive
hardware (ie: FastLane), and the threads appearing in this forum from
the very unhappy people who contorted themselves through the A4091
gauntlet only to find it doesn't mate well with the Syquests in any
event….. IMHO: Just buy yourself the cheap ICD board. You can't
_believe_ the difference in speed vs the A2091! 😎
Thanks, Tom
What's an ICD board?
I've had some success with a utility called MapBoard. I'd recommend it.
I haven't heard bad things about the 4091 (most likely because the only person
I've discussed it with is my dealer, who wants to sell me several). Why
wouldn't it work for you?
Thanks again,
Jon
ICD is a manufacturer of, inter alia, SCSI I host adapters for the Amiga. The
models I am thinking about use the Zorro II slot. Mine is an ancient model,
the Advantage 2000. It think the newer ones are called Ad2000. In any event, I
recently purchased their latest ROM chip based on a flyer I received in the
mail. Their boards cost about $100+ street price. They are based on rails,
whereby you can mount a drive right on the board. Another good brand, I
understand, is the IVS Trumpcard series of SCSI I adapters. I _can_ speak for
the ICD, and I _can_ tell you the A2091 of CBM is a real DOG! 😎
OK. I bought an A4000 on Dec. 1 of last year. It is magnifico!! But, as
with most A4000s out there, the Zorro III slots are improperly designed.
(There were no commerical Zorro III-based products with which to field test the
design.) As a result, no Zorro III cards — translated this means the A4091
SCSI II host adapter — work with the very computer for which they were
designed! I purchased an A4091 from Safe Harbor. I opened the box, read the
note, opened the A4000, saw the Super Buster chip was _surface mounted_,
realized this would take a new MOTHER BOARD, realized no one was offering to
replace it free-of-charge, and sent the piece of ____ back to Safe Harbor.
Subsequently, I read the threads here on CI$ where I find that it's a good
thing the expensive A4091 couldn't be installed. The reason is that they don't
work well with Syquest drives! That's precisely what I intended to use with
it. (The old IDE curse, you know.)
Knowing that the warp speeds of which SCSI II (all 50 pins) is capable cannot
be achieved anyway unless connected to a SCSI II hard drive, I finally
concluded it isn't worth spending $300 for a host adapter, at least at this
stage of the game. The only SCSI II I am interested in is a 3-1/2" MO drive.
But the technology of these devices limits them to 1 Meg/Sec anyway, which is
well with the capablilities of most SCSI I
[ MORE ]
[ continuation ]
adapters.
Hence, unless you have some unusual purpose in mind, and since you want to
use it with a Syquest (I recollect) anyway, I strongly recommend you save your
money and buy a quick SCSI adapter designed around the Zorro II config, drop it
into your A4000 and let the masochists play with their A4091 boards. I can
tell you that the ICD Advantage adapter will fill the bill nicely and at a very
good price.
Quite frankly, if CBM ever offers to swap my mother board for one like
should have been shipped with my multi-thousand A4000 in the first place
without charging for more than shipping, I will have it done. Otherwise, I am
enjoying my last Amiga. Engineering blunders like this are not to be forgiven
in today's computer marketplace, IMHO. They "sold their wine before its time",
as it were. Even so, I would tell you to go with the cheaper adapter for your
near term needs.
Regards Tom (via Whap!)
Thomas,
My dealer just did a "guts" (motherboard & CPUboard) swap on my 4000
under warantee with out buying a 4091 (An impossiblitity now anyway since
C= no longer sells 4091s.). The reason they honored the upgrade was
Emplant! Yep, they did the upgrade when it was explained that is was
needed to allow Emplant to be fully functional.
Since Emplant also provides a very fast scsi controller it may be a
good solution for 4000 owners with busted Busters. You would get a scsi
controller, a "guts" swap, and full color MAC emulation in the bargan!
Warning: It DID take 6th months to get the motherboard and CPUboard.
And my dealer (Infotronics, Woodbury, CT) is VERY supportive and fought
hard for me with C=, so your milage may vary.
…AutoPilot Engaged…
-Paul-
Thanks, Tom. I'm cancelling my plans for buying a 4091, post haste!
I haven't been able to find any more 2091's so I went with the GVP
Impact Series II and it is working out very well; much better than
the 2091, in fact. Of course it costs more than twice as much as the
2091 ($129), but I'm not complaining too much since it works.
I have also found that using GVP's FaaaastPrep software to perform low
level format on hard drives and SyQuest discs speeds them up
considerably.
And speaking of bad engineering, why is the mouse port on the left
side of the box? Are there really more left-handed Amiga users than
right-handed? And why is the box so small? Since the Toaster uses one
slot and blocks a second slot, I had to build my own 'slot extender'
and mount a TBC outside the box! And who's idea was that power
switch? And what happend to the 'mono video out' jack that was so
thoughtfully included with the A2000? Well, at least the video looks
great!
I didn't want you to waste your money on the A2091 either. 😎 I'm very happy
with the ICD Advantage 2000 with the A4000, at least to now. I'm certain the
GVP gear is as fast if not faster. Yea, the A2091 gets Alzheimer's syndrome in
the A4000. It works fine in an A2000. Period.
I wonder the same things about the layout and other flukes built in the A4000.
Did you notice you can't put two floppy drives in the front, either? The
Chinon drive is higher than the LP standard. 😎 While I own an A4000, I
suspect they will have an even shorter life span than the A3000. The name,
"Rube Goldberg", comes to mind… 😎 IMHO, one should add to an A4000 only
such items that will unquestionably be useful in either an A5000 or, should CBM
go south, a Mac Quadra.
Regards Tom (via Whap!)
I agree with what you said about only installing items that will also
work on an A5000. But what about the 4000T (assuming it really
exists)?
And what's this about the Mac Quadra? Will it support a Toaster and
can I do all the same things with the Toaster that I now do on the
A4000? Does Mac support anything equivalent to AREXX?
By the way, I'm currently using the A4000 for video production with
the Toaster. What are you doing with yours?
You can get Toasterlink for the Mac, which will let it serve as a
front-end and image transfer exchange for some Toaster functions, but
you'll need to cable the Mac to an Amiga carrying a Toaster board.
— Ron Legro from Milwaukee via AUTOPILOT
(The only way to fly)
Jon:
Well…. that do make a difference. 😎 My rationale is based completely
on the fact CBM might collapse like the French army. However, if you have
substantial assets tied up in video production, you won't be taking a risk.
Certainly vintage Amigas will be available 20 years from now, even if CBM quits
supporting us today. (And you might say that they have!) The Toaster will
most assuredly not die.
Me? I'm not involved in any way with computers for a living. Heck, I'm a
judge. I bought my first Amiga in 1986 'counta it was on the cutting edge and
off-the-wall. It was a good unit to learn about computers. I learned to do
passable programming in C, and today, I muck a little with AREXX and AMOS. If
CBM goes south, I would be out a lot of money in compilers, books, and some
commerical stuff like FCII and Caligari Broadcase. But I can program in C on a
Mac, if I must, and AREXX will be ported soon enough. I hear the clones have
it now! 😎
My current quandry is a classic example of the Amiga freak's dilemma. I'm
trying to format and use a 128 Meg Fuji MO SCSI drive with my A4000. Simple.
NOT! MessyDos and MacinTrash…. plenty of software. I'm facing a major
project here. 8-(
Regards Tom (via Whap!)
NOTHING, but NOTHING, collapses like the French army. 🙂
-larry