Re: New to the Apple IIGS, unknown card in slot 7.

[a_specto@alcor.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

"Matthew S. Carpenter" <msc1983@mac.com> wrote:

>Mitchell Spector a_specto@alcor.concordia.ca wrote:
>
>> It would depend on the type of SCSI controller you use. A few different
>> cards were manufactured, though only three are considered standard for
>> connecting up hardisks and other devices on the Apple II. Those cards
>> are: the Apple Rev C SCSI, Apple High-Speed SCSI and RamFAST SCSI.
>> Anything else is rather obscure or severely limited...
>
>    I have some questions about the SCSI cards you mentioned.  I have heard
>of SCSI cards that couldn't work with removable media and such.

    The Apple Rev C SCSI on-board firmware doesn't understand about
removeable devices (apart from the Apple CDSC and possibly CD150)
so if your using it under ProDOS-8 or ProDOS-16 you would *have* to
reboot when swapping media to avoid corruption or a crash.

    Under GS/OS however, the same drivers used by the Apple HS SCSI
are used (instead of the firmware) and removable devices are supported 
just fine. If you have the Revision A or B firmware on the card, then it 
doesn't know about anything but hardisks and not GS/OS compatible.

>    Can the Apple Rev C SCSI or Apple High-Speed SCSI card mount removable
>media such as a CD-drive?

    Yes. Though typically both work best under GS/OS.

>    The name of the third one, the RamFAST card, made me a little curious.
>When I was looking through auctions on e-bay I saw RAM cards that looked
>like they had SCSI on them.  Is this one of them?  Or is it just a name?

    The RamFAST did have on-board DRAM chips used for caching. The original
card (revision B and C) was a full-sized board and had eight 256Kx1 DRAMs
towards the back end. The revision D board also had DRAMs, but only in two
chips (either a pair of 256Kx4 or 1MBx4). Most of the parts on the "D" were
surface mounted so it'd be hard to mistake for a memory card.
 
    My own personal preference is the RamFAST card. The Apple High Speed
SCSI is the next best one (though some will argue it's the better one) as
it supports DMA and a few more features over the older Rev C SCSI.
Obscure cards would be the CMS, Cirtech and Ohio Kache SCSI. 

Mitchell Spector
a_specto@alcor.concordia.ca