Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!ima!think!ephraim
From: ephraim@think.COM (ephraim vishniac)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Prob with LaserWriter II NTX and font disk
Message-ID: <20885@think.UUCP>
Date: 19 May 88 12:52:53 GMT
References: <4843@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> <10425@apple.Apple.Com>
Sender: usenet@think.UUCP
Reply-To: ephraim@vidar.think.com.UUCP (ephraim vishniac)
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 28

In article <10425@apple.Apple.Com> kateley@apple.UUCP (Jim Kateley) writes:
>In article <4843@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> mha@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu (Mark H. Anbinder) writes:
>>Okay, the concensus is that SuperMac hard drives, which use RLL encoding,
>>will not work as a font disk on the LaserWriter II NTX.  Everyone seems to
>>agree on that point.  The next question has to be, what SCSI drives from
>>third-party manufacturers DO work with the II NTX?

>I don't have a list, but there are two main things that the drive must do:

>1. It must provide SCSI terminator power.

>2. It must be able to report to the printer what size volume it is.
>   This is done via the SCSI command "Mode Select".

Mode Select allows the host to *set* (i.e. select) various
characteristics of the drive.  Mode *Sense* is the command that allows
the host to retrieve the drive characteristics.  This is probably the
command that Jim Kateley's thinking of.

Mode Sense is a tough way to get the size of the drive, though.  Read
Capacity is much easier since it simply returns the sector size and
last sector number, with no other junk to parse.

Ephraim Vishniac					  ephraim@think.com
Thinking Machines Corporation / 245 First Street / Cambridge, MA 02142-1214

     On two occasions I have been asked, "Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put
     into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?"