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From: ephraim@wang.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: SF&I Version 2.0
Message-ID: <1636@wang.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 21-Nov-86 08:10:30 EST
Article-I.D.: wang.1636
Posted: Fri Nov 21 08:10:30 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 23-Nov-86 02:57:57 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: Wang Labs, Lowell MA
Lines: 45

[I originally posted the following to net.micro.mac a few weeks ago.
Because of local news problems combined with the changeover to 
comp.sys.mac, I don't think it got far.  If it did, please excuse
the repetition.]

Since distributing version one of my SCSI Disk Formatter and Installer
(SF&I), I've received a number of illuminating comments and suggestions
from successful users of the program, and a few from unsuccessful 
would-be users.  I expect to have version two ready to go in a few weeks
(plus usual x00% slippage), but I'd like to hear more from people who
were unable to use version one.

New features in version two include:
	o The driver(s) are much more robust, and more versions are
	  supplied.  They've been tested on many more controllers.
	o The drivers support multiple drives with only one copy of
	  the driver in memory.
	o The drivers support both fixed partitioning (via the DPM)
	  and soft partitioning (using hidden contiguous files created
	  and controlled via a Partitions DA).
	o Resources for various drives/controllers are now held in
	  separate SF&I documents, so you don't have to resedit SF&I
	  directly.
	o There's now support for commands that retrieve data from 
	  the drive (Mode Sense, Inquiry, and Read Capacity), so that
	  setting up a new kind of drive is enormously easier.
	o You can provide your own code for any of the setup phases,
	  in case it's not just a matter of issuing a single command.
	o The Select SCSI Address dialog doesn't reset the SCSI bus
	  while trying to see who's out there, so controllers that do
	  a hard reset should be easier to use.
	o The default volume name is now an STR resource, so it can
	  be customized in your SF&I document.
	o Error reporting works correctly.

The question is:  What else would y'all like to see?

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