Xref: utzoo unix-pc.general:6316 comp.sys.att:10659 Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!shelby!bu.edu!lll-winken!sun-barr!newstop!texsun!letni!dms3b1!dave From: dave@dms3b1.uucp (Dave Hanna) Newsgroups: unix-pc.general,comp.sys.att Subject: Re: Connector hole in the back of (some?) Unix PCs? (for HD2?) Message-ID: <1990Oct24.112102.29156@dms3b1.uucp> Date: 24 Oct 90 11:21:02 GMT References: <1990Oct22.233531.9378@shibaya.lonestar.org> Reply-To: dave@dms3b1.UUCP (Dave Hanna) Organization: Infotouch Systems, Inc., Dallas Lines: 39 In article <1990Oct22.233531.9378@shibaya.lonestar.org> afc@shibaya.lonestar.org (Augustine Cano) writes: > >I'd really like to have a clean connection to the outside once I install >John's HD2 board. Any counter-indications to have the external HDs >plugged in into a suitable connector? Which connector would do? >(hopefully it would fit into that cutout.) I'd be all for developing >a net-wide standard pinout for such a connector that would allow access >to all the hardware capabilities of John's board (1 external floppy and >up to 4 HDs once the gd driver is suitably modified.) One difficulty with that is that ST506/412 type drives require one daisy-chain control cable that runs to all the drives, a la floppies, but they also require a radial data cable that runs one to each drive. That means you'd either need a lot of pins, or, four 4 drives, 5 cables. >How is everybody else thinking of the external aspects of the HD2 upgrade? >I have recently read in a local group that the cheap alternative (putting >the external disk(s) in an AT box with an AT power supply) might not work >very well. The person who tried this approach said that cooling was poor >and the PS was not loaded enough to work properly with one drive. I'm not sure about the cooling, but I was planning to use one, perhaps with a smaller supply (e.g., the XT-type supplies are rated at about 135 watts, if I remember right, instead of the AT-type rated at 200 or more), and pull the drive out of the 3b1. With them both mounted there, that ought to be enough load on the supply. > >Comments, anyone? > >-- >Augustine Cano INTERNET: afc@shibaya.lonestar.org -- Dave Hanna, Infotouch Systems, Inc. | "Do or do not -- There is no try" P.O. Box 584, Bedford, TX 76095 | - Yoda (214) 358-4534 (817) 540-1524 | UUCP: ...!letni!dms3b1!dave |