Adaptec 2940UW vs Atto ExpressPCI UL2D

[Tim Seufert]

On Thursday, October 17, 2002, at 12:33  PM, Alban Fellows wrote:

> I have an Atto ExpressPCI PSC in my G4 (DVD-R model) which originally 
> came out
> of a Beige G3. The wierd thing was that the card just stopped working 
> under
> MacOS 9, leaving the G3 without a boot disk. I bought a bigger second 
> IDE
> drive for my machine and put the smallest IDE in the G3. I then put 
> the Atto
> in my G4. Still doesn't work under MacOS 9 or 10.x but works like a 
> dream
> under Linux.
> I cant even get the firmware updater to see the card.

Sounds like the firmware may have been corrupted somehow.  Sometimes 
you can force the PC versions of firmware updaters to overwrite the 
flash even if they don't think it's safe, and thus restore a 'broken' 
card.

Are you actually able to boot from the card?  (That is, are you able to 
have the Linux bootstrap partition on a disk attached to the card?)  It 
wouldn't surprise me at all if Linux can use the card without working 
firmware, because Linux is generally pretty good about that.

> I do however need to find a card (without breaking the bank) with 50 
> pin
> external SCSI which will work well under Linux, MacOS 9 and MacOS X to 
> use
> with a DLT drive I picked up cheap.
> Currently the APD-29160N looks like the best bet (does it work well 
> under
> linux? the AHA-19160 did under linux but not MacOS)

The 19160 uses the same SCSI chip as the 29160 series.  Unlike Atto, 
Adaptec's cards have either Mac firmware or PC firmware, not both at 
the same time, which is why that 19160 didn't work under MacOS.

So, the APD-29160N should work well under Linux.  However, I cannot 
recommend it if you intend to use it under MacOS X as well.  Adaptec's 
driver support for X has been very poor, and shows no signs of 
improving.  It's bad enough that Dantz's list of SCSI cards supported 
by Retrospect under OS X specifically recommends avoiding Adaptec until 
they fix their driver problems:

http://www.dantz.com/index.php3?SCREEN=kbase&ACTION=KBASE&id=27381


Actually, that $29 ExpressPCI UL2D from www.macsales.com might be a 
decent way to go for you.  It has a VHDCI connector for its external 
channel, but here is a link to a company that sells (among other 
things) VHDCI adapter cables that aren't too expensive:

http://www.cablemakers.com

For $30 you can get a 3-foot VHDCI-68 to Centronics 50 pin cable.  
VHDCI to HD50 is $36.  I bought a VHDCI to HD68 cable from them some 
time ago and would rate its quality as excellent.  Rather ironic to pay 
less for the card than the cable, but that's the way it goes I guess.

Since the UL2D is a true dual channel card, you shouldn't have any 
problems with a narrow chain on the external bus and your wide devices 
on the internal bus, even without high byte termination.  (If you want 
to run wide and narrow devices on the same bus, you generally have to 
arrange to terminate the high byte of the bus when it gets converted to 
narrow, but if there aren't any wide devices it's usually unnecessary.) 
  I can't guarantee it will work, but $60 plus shipping etc. is not a 
bad risk, especially considering what cards like the 29160N cost all by 
themselves.

Crap.  I just realized you're in the UK, so this stuff might not make 
economic sense to you after international shipping.