Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!oddjob!hao!ames!necntc!dandelion!ulowell!page From: page@swan.ulowell.edu (Bob Page) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: CLtd (Was: 2090 SCSI driver needed) Message-ID: <5074@swan.ulowell.edu> Date: 24 Feb 88 20:34:49 GMT References: <1946@leo.UUCP> Reply-To: page@swan.ulowell.edu (Bob Page) Distribution: comp Organization: University of Lowell, Computer Science Dept. Lines: 63 Randy Spencer wrote: >The most recent rev of [the CLtd] software .. has software available >that does LAN stuff over the SCSI net. I have a part of that running >on my machines (have 3 amigas and 1 hard disk). Harald Milne responded: >Does anybody know more about this? It's available. The latest rev of the SCSI software is 2.03. If you have 2.01 you can get the new version from the CLtd BBS (send me mail if you want the number). If you have an old version, you have to buy a new PAL for your controller before you can use 2.01 and/or 2.03. If you have 2.01 and don't need the SCSI NET stuff, you don't need 2.03, but if you have a SCSI net you must get 2.03. [bunsen burner on] CLtd's support sucks rocks. If you have a technical question (anything more techincal than "how do I hook it up") they can't answer you. Sure, they'll get one of the technicians to call you. And they love you, and the check is in the mail, and they won't come in your mouth. Foo. Their driver has bugs. Big, hairy ones. Like, the driver goes out for tea sometimes. I wrote a program to bring it back to life. All it does is keep asking for some block until the driver wakes up (with a gawd-awful screech). I called them to tell them (nicely) and they refused to believe it was THEIR problem. "ah, your disk has a bad spot" they say. Foo. The driver also won't load with the Fast File System, unless you allocate something like 5200 bytes of stack for it. It will GURU on you. Wonderful. I call CLtd to tell them this, and they think I'm from Neptune. So, all you CLtd users - take note of this when you get FFS, because CLtd won't tell you. They'll tell you to partition your drive into a 1MB filesystem and a 19MB (or whatever) filesystem, and put the SLOW filesystem on the 1MB partition. They don't support BindDrivers, so there's no need for this. Foo. I asked them when they'd produce a DMA interface. They tell me, "With the Fast File System we are 8 to 9 times faster than the current version," -- they're not -- and "we'll be AS FAST IF NOT FASTER than any DMA controller." And you love me, right? Earlier today I reported that I saw the CBM 2090 doing a cool 500KB/sec, and Steve Beats of CBM (who did FFS) tells me he should be able to top out at over 1MB/sec. I defended CLtd when Perry was dumping on them; I defended CLtd when Fred Fish was dumping on them; I'm not defending CLtd any more. I bought the hard disk when it first came out, with no documentation, and still haven't got any. CLtd mentioned source availability when the driver first came out. Never happened. I don't trust the CLtd driver. CLtd does not support their customers. CLtd doesn't even let their customers support them! [bunsen burner off] Anyone know of a DMA SCSI manufacturer for the A1000? ..Bob -- Bob Page, U of Lowell CS Dept. page@swan.ulowell.edu ulowell!page "I don't know such stuff. I just do eyes." -- from 'Blade Runner'