Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!srcsip!jhereg!com50!chris
From: chris@com50.c2s.mn.org (Chris Johnson)
Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi
Subject: Re: Is DEC RZ23 real SCSI?
Keywords: Does DEC use some odd proprietary controller query scheme?
Message-ID: <1990Jun7.220341.1121@com50.c2s.mn.org>
Date: 7 Jun 90 22:03:41 GMT
References: <1990Jun2.213812.13909@spock.UUCP> <5454@crltrx.crl.dec.com> <136580@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> <14442@thorin.cs.unc.edu>
Organization: Com Squared Systems, Inc.
Lines: 29

In article <14442@thorin.cs.unc.edu> leech@ornat.cs.unc.edu (Jonathan Leech) writes:
>In article <136580@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> mjacob@wonky.Eng.Sun.COM (Matt Jacob) writes:
>>In article <5454@crltrx.crl.dec.com> jg@zorch.crl.dec.com (Jim Gettys) writes:
>>>Experience has shown, however, that SCSI is far from the
>>>tightest specification in the world. (...)
>>Weak, buddy. Real weak. This would have been a truer statement 3-4
>>years ago, but not for the last couple of years.
>
>    Can we assume, then, that any SCSI drive manufactured in the last
>couple of years will work correctly when connected to a Sun SLC?
>(This is not a snide question; I'm thinking about buying either an SLC
>or a DS2100, and can't afford Sun/DEC mass storage prices).
>--
>    Jon Leech (leech@cs.unc.edu)    __@/

Oh heck, I'll jump into the fray.  SCSI is pretty much plug-n-play
for disk drives, if the software driver has been written with such
in mind.  However, Sun's SCSI driver is just barely crawling out of
the stone age, in that aspect.  Generic, it is not, although with
SunOS 4.X it has improved a lot over previous versions in the arena
of compatibility.  It still thinks SCSI devices are out there on an
Emulex MD21 bridge controller, for pete's sake.

So the real answer is:  Most SCSI drives manufactured in the last
couple years can be made to work with a Sun SLC with a small amount
of fiddling.
-- 
   ...Chris Johnson          chris@c2s.mn.org   ..uunet!bungia!com50!chris
 Com Squared Systems, Inc.   St. Paul, MN USA   +1 612 452 9522