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Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!zds-ux!gerry
From: gerry@zds-ux.UUCP (Gerry Gleason)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.periphs.scsi,comp.unix.i386
Subject: Re: Info req. for Seagate ST296N SCSI Drive
Keywords: for UNIX
Message-ID: <242@zds-ux.UUCP>
Date: 29 Mar 90 16:08:59 GMT
References: <1626@watserv1.waterloo.edu> <1990Mar27.091434.373@uni-paderborn.de>
Reply-To: gerry@zds-ux.UUCP (Gerry Gleason)
Followup-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Distribution: comp
Organization: Zenith Data Systems
Lines: 29

In article <1990Mar27.091434.373@uni-paderborn.de> mh@uni-paderborn.de (Martin Husemann) writes:
>ssingh@watserv1.waterloo.edu ($anjay [+] $ingh - Indy Studz) writes:
>>I have a Seagate ST296N SCSI drive, along with the ST02 adapter. 
>>What determines a drives compatibility with Unix?
>>Other info: Seagate technical support said it's recording method was RLL,
>>but it was a SCSI drive.

>On a PC there is nothing like UNIX compatibility. No UNIX I know off makes
>any use of PC's BIOS. It uses its own device drivers. So what you need is
>a device driver for the ST02 - either by Seagate or the Vendor of your
>Unix. I don't think it is available yet.

Well, not quite.  Once UNIX is booted, it no longer uses the BIOS.  What
you need is BIOS support for the host adapter that installs a SCSI disk
as drive C.  If your host adapter is like most, it has this support in
a ROM on the controller, if not you can't use it for a boot drive.

After the kernel is started, you need to have a device driver for the
host adapter and drive.  In practice *most* SCSI disk drives can be supported
with a single driver since there is a sufficient common subset of commands.
Drives that don't have at least this subset, I consider broken.  The variable
part concerns the host adapter.  Unfortunately, once you have a driver, you
are not ready to install a system.  Your driver won't be included is the OS
distribution, so it won't have a driver in the kernel on the boot floppy.
I'll leave the process of producing the boot floppy you need as an exercise
to the reader, but it involves having a drive and controller that are
supported by the OS distribution.

Gerry Gleason