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From: grunau_b@husc4.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: A few questions
Message-ID: <1265@husc6.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 19-Feb-87 20:17:48 EST
Article-I.D.: husc6.1265
Posted: Thu Feb 19 20:17:48 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 20-Feb-87 22:22:43 EST
References: <2373@sunybcs.UUCP> <1441@cbmvax.cbmvax.cbm.UUCP>
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Reply-To: grunau_b@husc4.UUCP (Justin J. M. Grunau)
Organization: Harvard Science Center
Lines: 37

In order to provide a more direct answer to the original question "does SCSI
mean IBM compatability?", the answer is emphatically "No, they are apples and
oranges".  Some PC-DOS machines are no doubt equipped with SCSI boards, but
whether or not something has SCSI compatability has no bearing on whether it
is IBM compatible (or even Mac compatible, and Macs DO have SCSI ports).

SCSI is an interface standard, like RS-232 (serial) and Centronix (parallel).
It is the high-speed interface, with a standard throughput of 10Mbits/sec
(1.25MBytes/sec).

It stands for "small computer system interface" and is a fixture of expensive
workstations like Suns;  it descended from something called SASI for these
types of machines.

When something is SCSI compatible, that means (1) it could very well be a very
fast port, good for hard disks, and (2) you can attach to it up to seven
devices that can be talked to in a standard SCSI protocol, and are not
restricted to manufacturers that know how to make devices attachable to your
specific machine and only your specific machine.

BTW:  the Mac's SCSI port has a throughput of only 320KBytes/sec -- about one-
quarter the standard;  I do not know what the explanation of this is.  And the
Atari ST's DMA port, which does support 10Mbits/sec, is supposed to be quasi-
SCSI-standard, though how quasi I am not sure.
grunau@husc4.UUCP

or

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or

For BITNET, I believe the hostname is "harvard".