Re: Multiple Apple HS SCSI questions

[dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

Rodney Hester <rod3@mindspring.com> wrote:

> - May I assume that the "hexagonal" screws intended to secure it to the back
> of the machine (and whatever cable you plug into it) are the "garden
> variety" that can be effectively "stolen" from any old PC card?

Yes.

> - Is it true that it only works with Apple SCSI devices?

The Apple HS SCSI card will work with most Apple and third-party SCSI
hard drives (including "SCSI-1", "SCSI-2" and anything newer), as long
as they aren't "differenential SCSI".  I don't know whether "Low Voltage
Differential" ("LVD") SCSI devices will work, but I think they are
supposed to be backward compatible.

CD-ROM drives will generally work, except for old third-party models
which have a proprietary command set and/or require special drivers.

The big catch: with an Apple SCSI card, you can only control the
playback of audio CDs in one of Apple's 1x CD-ROM drive models: the
CDSC, CDSC Plus or CD-150.  With the CD-300 (2x), Apple switched from
their proprietary audio command set to the standard SCSI-2 command set,
and this isn't supported by the drivers available on the IIgs for use
with Apple's card.

(A RamFast SCSI card supports audio control over a wider range of CD-ROM
drives, but has compatibility issues with some more recent hard drives.)

Support for other types of SCSI peripheral is very limited.  Apple had a
rudimentary driver for their early SCSI scanner, but the application to
support it was never finished.  There was also rudimentary support for a
SCSI printer.

> - If so, does it work with the Apple CD 600e?  (I know it works with the
> 300e, but I'd prefer to go caddyless, and the 300e Plus is much too rare...)

The drive will work for data, but you won't be able to control playback
of audio CDs from the computer.

> - If running on a machine that also has a Focus hard drive (and no SCSI HD),
> is it possible to save the card's "settings" (whatever those are - what
> settings are there, anyway?) to the Focus drive?

Settings?  We don't need no steenking settings.

The only settings required with an Apple SCSI card are the jumpers
(original card) or DIP switches (high-speed card), which control the
SCSI ID of the card (and DMA enable in the case of the high-speed card).

If you were booting into GS/OS, you would need the Apple SCSI drivers
installed on your boot disk, whatever it happened to be.  (The drivers
include the SCSI Manager and a separate driver for each type of
peripheral.)  You should also keep a copy of Advanced Disk Utility
somewhere handy in case you want to partition a SCSI drive.

> (I mean, it is just a CDEV, right?)

I can't think of any CDEVs associated with the Apple SCSI card, unless
you're talking about CDRemote (an NDA) or the Media toolset
configuration utility, which I vaguely recall also being an NDA.  Both
of these are limited to supporting the old Apple CD-ROM drives I
mentioned earlier.

> - Does anyone know where I can get disk images (800K 2MG and 140K DSK) of
> the Apple SCSI Utilities that shipped with the card originally?

They aren't much use unless you want to use the card on a IIe and need
to partition a drive; even then, Chinook SCSI Utilities would be a much
better option.

IIgs System 5.0.4 or later includes the GS/OS drivers and GS/OS-native
partitioning software which supports the high-speed card.   Earlier
versions only support the original Apple SCSI card, so you need the
updated drivers included with the card, or run a later OS version (much
better idea).