Xref: utzoo comp.sys.dec:2285 comp.os.vms:20685 Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!oscsuna.osc.edu!illini.osc.edu!djh From: djh@illini.osc.edu (David Heisterberg) Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec,comp.os.vms Subject: Re: VS-3100 R/W CD ~2 buy Keywords: Opitical Sub-Systems, VMS, R/W Optical, CD, Laser-Disc Message-ID: <420@oscsuna.osc.edu> Date: 10 Dec 89 14:51:35 GMT References: <869@soleil.UUCP> Sender: news@oscsuna.osc.edu Lines: 25 In article <869@soleil.UUCP>, eam@soleil.UUCP (Ed A. Mills) writes: > I bought a widely-advertized Erasable-Optical drive from mail for details> which was touted to work on a VS-3100 SCSI. WARNING- > it does not work. At all. It turns out it worked with earlier 3100's > but not with recent models (the manufacturer says). Something to do with > SCSI protocols. -------- I'm not shy, I'll say who I bought mine from, Trimarchi. Now I'm sending it back. I talked to a tech guy from American Digital Systems who suggested that I wait until the OD vendors had some experience with VMS 5.3 before buying. His explanation: there are at least 4 SCSI firmware revs in the VS3100, the ADS product works with two of them under 5.2. The SCSI firmware reports incorrect information about the optical disk. The drivers (PKN?) in 5.2 accept this info and cannot handle the disk. Ultrix drivers seem to ignore this information, and it is hoped that the 5.3 drivers will as well. If anyone knows the real story behind this, I'd love to hear it. I have racks full of software on tapes and several large chemical databases that I need to have on optical disk. DJ Heisterberg djh@osc.edu The Ohio Supercomputer Center djh@ohstpy.bitnet 1224 Kinnear Rd. ohstpy::djh Columbus, OH 43212-1154 (614)292-6036