RE: SCSI connectors

["John Kim" <jokim@chs.cusd.claremont.edu>]

In message Thu, 24 Mar 1994 00:22:43 -0800, meister@cats.ucsc.edu  writes:

> Has anyone out there tried attaching SCSI devices to a TP750 without
> buying the docking station.  I am looking at an ad for something called
> the Trantor connector.  It attaches to the parallel port, and is supposed
> to work with SCSI CD-Roms, hard disks, tape drives, etc.  Is this likely
> to be true?  Would it be better to use a PCMCIA SCSI adapter card?  Is
> the TP750 a SCSI system, and does it matter for this purpose?

A friend of mine lent me his ParaSCSI parallel port/SCSI adapter while he
was out of the country.  I only got to try it with a CD-ROM drive, and I
only got it partially working, but I didn't really try hard.  I could
control the CD-ROM, and play music off it, but every time I did a 'dir' I
got a device not ready error.  My guess is that I didn't configure something
right (it was an old drive).  I don't see why it wouldn't work.

As to whether or not a parallel port SCSI adapter or PCMCIA card is better,
the ParaSCSI manaul said their EPP (Enhanced Parallel Port) version had a
transfer rate of 1MB/sec.  The PCMCIA standard is equivalent to a 16-bit ISA
bus which I think (somebody correct me if I'm wrong) is capable of only
slightly more than that.  The TP750 has an EPP.

The PCMCIA SCSI card might be better since there are SCSI-2 versions, and
once it's configured properly, it acts just like an ISA card.
--
John H. Kim              | "Just try telling the IRS you don't feel like
jokim@jarthur.cs.hmc.edu | 'contributing' this year come April" - Bob Dole
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