#A2386SX-20 Bridgeboard
11 messages in this thread
re: The CD-ROM connection
AMIGA CROSSINGS Vo. 6 No 1 January 1994
Dear All,
The advice of the so called Bridgeboard hardware techie Steven Kapplin how
to share a CD-ROM between the PC and Amiga sides sounded like the answer
to my prayers. Throwing away my old Soundblaster Pro 2.0 board as well as
my Creative Labs non standard CD-ROM and spending a lot of money (> 1.000
US$) for a Soundblaster 16 SCSI II (Adaptec [market leader]
AHA-1510/1520/1522-Host Adapter series compatible) and a Toshiba 3401 SCSI
II CD-ROM was a matter of hours.
Now both hostadapters provide termination at each end of the bus and every
SCSI device is set to a different SCSI ID, only to see a nonstop
recoverable 'yellow' alert on the (tuned) Amiga 2000 side when aspi2dos is
scanning the other hostadapter. I tested two Amiga hostadapters (Fireball
& MASOBOSHI, wellknown in Europe) with the same effort.
Oh Steven, what the hell do YOU mean with a 'fairly full-featured
controller'?
S.O.S. at least mine
TIA :-< Bruno
Bruno,
First off, I don't claim any kudos as a "techie"! Since your
post was incomplete as to the setup, let me take a stab at some
things to at least check. First, both scsi controllers must also be
set for different IDs. In my 3000, I have the Amiga controller set
at ID=0 and the PC controller is ID=7. Because the PC controller's
scsi ID was hardwired, I used BattMem (a PD program) to set the Amiga
controller to a different scsi ID. If both of your scsi controllers
share the same scsi ID, that could be a reason for the problem.
Second, you need to be sure of termination. Not all Amiga or PC
controllers are themselves terminated. I had one 2000 controller
(when I had a 2000) which was not terminated and required that the
first drive and last drive on the chain be terminated. Although the
other two controllers didn't require the first drive be terminated
they did require the last drive be terminated. Neither board
provided any means for changing the controller's termination, if it
was in fact terminated. I had a third controller in my old 2000 which
was terminated on the card with resistor packs.
Since I don't know what controller you use on the Amiga it's difficult
for me to offer any suggestion or thoughts about your problem.
Third, I've been told, though I have no direct experience, that some PC
controllers can be a problem with the BB. At least one person I talked with
had cautioned me against the Adaptec controllers, but mostly because they
didn't like them! I do not use an Adaptec in my setup, but a Future Domain
1680. Despite my efforts to be sure things would work as they ought, when the
BB boots I get a Bad Block Checksum error on my Amiga's main hard drive.
Clicking on Retry after the BB stops results in the requestor disappearing, the
Amiga drive now works fine, and the BB finishes it's boot sequence. From that
point everything works fine as long as I make no effort to access an Amiga
device at the same time I try accessing a PC device.
Bruno, it's possible you are having a problem because you are using a
2000, because the controllers aren't set for different scsi IDs, because that
particular Adaptec won't work properly in that type of setup (even if it works
fine otherwise), or for some other reason I don't know. However, my suggestion
of how to do this came from both my successful effort and reading or talking
with several other Amiga users who also successfully have put a setup like this
together including one of the CIS sysops.
Dear Steven,
Let me explain:
1. You are quite right. The Amiga CROSSINGS publisher Marion Deland
introduced You as a "Bridgeboard techie". See my message re. Every word of
my message (excl. the last sentence) belongs to this article, which seems
to be a easy to follow up advice at the very first glance, not to YOU
personally.
2. SCSI controllers are part of the various SCSI drives. What you really
mean in your reply are SCSI host adapters.
3. I posted, each device of mine is already set to a different SCSI ID
(unit) and a host adapter is a SCSI device too, believe me. BTW there is
no problem to set the Adaptec host adapter ID using ASPI-DOS-Manager /h
option.
4. My prefered Amiga host adapter MASOBOSHI (MasterCard II 2MB 16bit
FastRAM onboard) provides removeable terminators and has no visible
problems to access terminated or not terminated(!) SCSI devices at the end
of the chain.
5. You must be a lucky man having a lot of AT slots, I have not (only
four). So I am forced to use combo-boards intensively (autobooting stacked
QUANTUM Hardcard EZ 240MB, Graphics Ultra Pro 2MB with bus-mouse,
Soundblaster ASP16 with SCSI 2 host adapter and MIDI/Joystick port). The
non bootable Adaptec (market leader in Europe, the rest is silence)
compatible SCSI II host adapter – as a gift on the Soundblaster board the
cheapest solution AFAIK – runs perfectly my hardware configuration on the
PC side under DOS6.2 as well under Windows 3.1 and is packed with the
finest CD-ROM software at no extra charges.
6. Never the less, I tend to agree with you, that Adaptec seems to be the
troublemaker, but I cannot figure out the reason why. I think there should
be a way to prevent the ASPI-DOS-Manager, in my case the aspi2dos.sys,
scanning the Amiga host adapter (till this point everything runs well –
recognizing itself, the Toshiba CD-ROM and the Amiga sided HDs by name).
Maybe one CIS-Adaptec user is able to help me. Hurry up, Ladies&Gentlemen,
I sent my S.O.S. message to all of you.
At last, Steven, thank you very much indeed for your quick answer and I
beg pardon for my cruel (possible unpolite sounding) austrian-english
II*( Bruno
Hi Bruno,
Sorry to hear of your problems with SCSI.
I do think Steven's a Bridgeboard techie–certainly he knows more than most
people. But all anyone can report is his/her own experience.
Several people have told me they have this kind of SCSI set-up, and they have
all promised me the details in writing…real soon now.
(Your subscription lapsed, didn't it? 🙂
Marion
CROSSINGS
Newsletter for Amiga/PC/mac compatibility
Dear Marion,
I do think this guy is a BB techie too (he is refusing to be called so,
that's modesty folks), BUT you, my dearest, should write down experience
reports in full lenght (to the minutest detail, eg A3000 users like
Steven are a small minority … outch, please don't beat me any more, I
revoke).
Subscription lapsed … <ahem> I'll make a bank robbery … soon
|-D Bruno
Bruno,
When I get 'em, I print 'em. I've been begging for months now for people to
give me detailed SCSI set-ups. Lots of promises, but nobody's come throuh yet.
Marion
CROSSINGS
Newsletter for the Bridgeboard, etc.
Bruno,
Rest assured I took no offence, but didn't want you to be misled by
Marion's article citing my experience. I feared you gave me more credit for
expertise than I deserved. Obviously, you've covered all the bases for your
situation and perhaps the Adaptec is the problem, I don't know. My Future
Domain came with Corel SCSI and I am using those drivers. I know the FD
TMC-1680 works for me. I hear that DTC makes an ISA adapter with jumpers for
setting it's SCSI ID. The Future Domain does not, so I changed the Amiga
adapter's ID using BattMem. That seemed to work.
BTW, I, too, only have 4 PC slots. BB is in one, Soundblaster Pro in
one, Oak multi-I/O card in third, and scsi card in the fourth. I don't use the
scsi on the Soundblaster card because it uses a non-standard 40 pin ribbon
connector rather than the normal 50 pin (I don't know why and they don't
document it.)
Wish I could provide you an answer. Maybe someone out here uses an
Adaptec and will offer assistance. I hope so. I didn't buy an Adaptec because
Dave Cinege at EMC warned me off them as being possible trouble. He uses a DTC
adapter in a seaparate PC box which he has chained to the Amiga.
Steven,
TFTT, but I can't use another single SCSI hostadapter instead of my
existing hardcard because I have no spare drive bay in my A2000B (A2630,
DKB 2632, RocketLauncher, OpalVision inside, 2MB ChipRAM, 2MB 16bit
FastRAM, 2MB 32bit autoconfig FastRAM, 20MB 32bit[burst] extended FastRAM
memory, KS 37.175, WB 38.36).
Only one question today. Do Corel SCSI offer a software ID-swich option
for those host adapters, which are able to do so (like mine)?
At last for the rest of the world, in my case I was speaking about the
Soundblaster ASP16 SCSI 2 board. This card uses the standard 50 pin
"ribbon connector"
TTFN Bruno
Bruno,
You are so maxed out in that box you ought to think of getting a 3000
tower!!!! I really do't know if Corel SCSI can do ID switching in software. I
know you can set a lot of things, but I haven't looked at it. I just let it
install its defaults, which worked, and forgot about it. You need to ask
someone more familiar than I. Might look in one of the IBM forums, Corel may be
there to answer that question.
Bruno, I am jumping in here late but here's what I have working now: Amiga side
Trump Card Pro w/ quantum 105 mounted as a hard card with lead going to one
input of NEC 74-1. On 386 BB side Sound Blaster SCSII-II that has Adaptek card
built in with lead going to second input on the same NEC CD-ROM and all is
working OK so far. The only contention that arises is the BB wont boot properly
if the Amiga side is accessing concurrently otherwise no problems so far. Ich
hoffe das sie besser gluck haben!!! The advice about device numbers seems to
the critical thing here>>>
Dear Edwin,
Sorry, I'm not familiar with the NEC CDR-74-1 (two inputs?). I own the
Toshiba XM-3401B IOW only one connector. Did you ever attempted to run
your SCSI hardware (especially the Trump Card Pro and the Adaptec) at one
chain?
BTW, thanks for your german wishes from the Golden State.
🙂 Bruno