Re: Blank CMS SCSI Card PCBs

[you@somehost.somedomain (Bart)]

>I have a CMS SCSI card (not on hand so I don;t know the revision). I need to
>know what software I need to use it and, also, can I  use it with a 40 MB
>Conner SCSI HDD pulled from an Mac LC II?

Robert this is the text of a post on the  CMS SCSI  I 1st made to csa2 some 
time back. It might be of some use:
-Bart Keeper of the Network from Heck

-----------------
Well I am not an "expert" on the CMS Apple II SCSI card, but as I stated I
do have 3 of them,  and have worked long and hard to get them up and
running...

So....  The following is what I have on the CMS SCSI as culled from various
sources.  
Thank you to the frequenters of the Delphi Apple II Hardware Hacker  Forum,
the hardware  Gurus to be found on Syndicomm's A2Central,  and most
especially my thanks to  Mr. Tony Diaz who is  probably the world's greatest
living repository of Apple II hardware information.

  Another source of useful info is the Jack Countryman letter which can be
found in the CSA2  Hardware FAQ.  This last has some useful info on mapping
the 1989 ROM card's jumpers.  Do NOT  use it for the 1990.

First things first.  If you have a CMS card with the 1990 revision of the
ROM, you will need  the driver and the utility program.  The last (4th)
download on this link:  http://www.allelec.com/apple2sw.htm  contains the
utility and driver.  Other downloads are  out there, but I know this one is
clean and accurate.
------
 The CMS card was made in 3 flavors: 1987, 1989 and 1990  The difference can
be determined by  the date on the ROM chip label.  I have an example of each
ROM, but as I actually like to USE  my CMS cards and as the 1990 one is the
only truly useable, I cloned its ROM and installed it on the other 2.
-------
Here is some information from Chuck Newby from a 1999 Delphi post:
The CMS SCSI Card works a little like your reprogrammed SASI/SCSI card,
except the partition  maps are not HARD CODED into the chip. While you are
limited to only two 32 meg partitions at  any one time (actually, only 2
partitions of up to 32 megs each at one time)), you can  softswap these in
and out. If you hook that same SCSI card up to an Apple IIgs and use the
CMS SCSI driver, you are NOT limited to the number of partitions. In either
case, though, the  partition map is on the card, not on the drive. 
-------
The above is in reference to the SASI to SCSI upgrade and its similarity to
the earlier CMS ROMs NOT the 1990.  The 1987 and 1989 CMS card(s) was
actually  designed to be wed to a CMS hard drive not to the other drives of
its era (Rodime, GCC, Apple  SC series, etc).  Because of this, the jumpers
on the card (and there sure are a lot), and  the DIP Switches on the drive
must match; must correspond.

The following is another Delphi post.  This time a Q and A; my question,
Tony Diaz answers:

Does anyone out there have a CMS SD43U or any CMS 40 meg drive? (NOTE:  CMS
made the SD43,  SD43U, SD20, and SD60 drives that I know of; I have one
each.  Number denotes capacity) I  need to know the DIP settings on one. I
did an "oops" and changed mine and cannot get it to  be recognized now..  8
switches on the back. If you have one could you please please look and  post
what they are set to? Tank'ee  -Bart					
	>8 switches on the back.  First three are SCSI ID in binary, the 8th
one is the one  that makes it  'work or not'. Nothing else is hooked up.  If
it's on a CMS SCSI card and you  have the old CMS ROM, the SCSI ID's on  the
card (to which drive it is pointing to) and the  drive have to match.
11/9/87 is the original ROM, 3/1/90 is the newest. I do not remember  the
date for the 1989 ROM that is the middle one which is actually the worse
one to have in  terms of setting the drive up. But only the 1987 ROM
requires  matching SCSI ID's on the  cards.  If you think the CMS A2 SCSI
card has a lot of jumpers on it you never saw  their MFM  and RLL AT drive
controllers. Thats why the A2 SCSI card is like  that because they had PC
designers make it. The design was so stupid that  if you bought an 80MB
drive you actually  got TWO SCSI cards so you could get  the third
partition. I'm not kidding.  Tony  (That was  before they updated the ROM,
which the last, 3/1/90 supported up  to 255 partitions, still  not Inside
Mac Vol. 5 compatible though) 
-------
As you can See CMS never followed anything resembling SCSI standards in
their design.  And  this brings to mind another point and excuse the
shouting but: NEVER EVER EVER! HOOK A SCSI DRIVE FORMATED ON A MAC, PC, OR
STANDARD APPLE HS, Rev C OR RAMFAST TO A CMS CARD.
I will say that again:  Never hook a standard formatted SCSI drive to a CMS
card.  It will not  work.  It WILL repeat WILL corrupt the data on the
drive, and it could actually cause   physical damage.  I learned this one
the hard way and have a very pretty Apple 40SC box with  a dead drive in it
as a reminder of this lesson.
--------
As to the CMS SCSI utility and built in "Control Panel":
There are actually 2 utilities.  The 1st you do not run into very often.  It
was designed  specifically to low level format and prep the CMS built hard
drives and only these drives are  selectable from the menu.  I do have a
floppy around with that one some where.  The other  utility is far more
useful in that it provides the ability to format most drives for a CMS
card. (NOTE: See above; once this formatter is used on a drive this drive
can no longer be  used with another SCSI card until another format is
performed via another utility such as the  Apple ones on a Mac or the
Chinook or ADU).  Currently I do not have the screen in front of  me so I am
winging this from memory:

When the utility is launched, or when the 1990 rev CMS is 1st booted with
card in slot 7 or  with its slot selected as boot in a GS, you will get a
screen with a CMS SCSI splash on top  and 2 choices: R or Q. Drives may or
may not be present  If not there will be a flashing "No Drives Present".  If
you have a slow drive it will  not be recognized right off.  Select R to
"Rescan" the SCSI BUS.  You should be rewarded with  a blink of the drive's
seek light. I would suggest doing this a few times and especially if  you
have more then one drive.  I have one CMS card with 5 drives on it.  drive
ID 6 is the  preferred boot drive but it is the slowest.  If I do a R a few
times though it shows up as the 1st drive.   (by the way, CMS scans top
down, highest number to lowest so set your boot disk to a high  number on
the SCSI chain).
Once you see your drive displayed on the "control panel" (It looks like:
#6, GCC (or other drive name),bunchanumbersandgiberish then the next line
only #5 or whatever), hit "Q" which quits the utility and starts the boot.
I will try to include an addendum to this describing the LLF utility soon,
but I do not have  it currently in front of me.  I do recall it is a series
of Yes/No questions and selecting  yes throughout does the trick. 
-------
Other notes on the CMS card:
If yours is a 1987 or 1989, find a way to upgrade to 1990.
Even the 1990  will not work with any CDROM or other "mountable" drive.
Only with a standard fixed SCSI hard drive.
I cannot actually say that a Zip drive won't work; I do not have a SCSI one.
But, I have  tried it with Seagate Bernoulli and 44 meg cartridge drives,
many and various CDROMs, a Asante  EN/SC (hope springs eternal ;) and
anything else I could think of or scrounge with a SCSI BUS on it.  
Note: It makes a DONG (I have the mount sound on) when the CDROM is inserted
but no drive  ever appears on the desktop.
CMS is slower then a Apple High Speed, but not dramatically so in an
unaccelerated GS.  I have  one CMS on a GS that also has a Apple High Speed
on it  (CMS in slot 4, Apple in 2).  I have  timed boots on both and they
come up about the same.
The CMS works great on a IIe.  I have a IIe with 2 CMS 20 meg drives (SD20)
on a CMS card (plus a  Liron 3.5, a standard 5.25., Workstation card, SSC,
Mousecard,  Echo II and AE Ram III with a piggyback and a RGB  card. Oh, and
a AE power supply.  yes, its on steriods ;)

Conclusion:  If you want a cheap useable SCSI card, the CMS beats having
nothing at all.  It is not a Apple or Ramfast card. but, it is a SCSI.  All
things considered I would recommend a Focus before a CMS, but , if you have
one, go for it.
-Bart

Useless factoid:  These are the SCSI cards I know of.  Are there any others?
CMS, Ohio Kache SCSI, Cirtech , Chinook, Apple  (Rev A-C)  and High Speed, 
Sequential
Ramfast.
Oh,and also the Xebec (Sider) SASI.