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Path: sserve!manuel.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!pacbell.com!unet!blunt!dsilvia
From: dsilvia@blunt.net.com ()
Subject: Adaptec 1522 adaptor users/owners
Message-ID: <1993Feb27.040226.1152@unet.net.com>
Sender: news@unet.net.com
Nntp-Posting-Host: blunt
Organization: Network Equipment Technologies
References: <C2ys3q.LzM@iat.holonet.net> <1993Feb27.022716.264@unet.net.com>
Date: Sat, 27 Feb 1993 04:02:26 GMT
Lines: 52
Last year, shortly after buying my 486 and prior to getting 386bsd with X
Window System completely up and running, I realized that I was really not
interested in doing 200Meg worth of backup onto floppies! Armed only with
the fact that Adaptec boards were supported by 386bsd, I went out to buy
a SCSI tape drive and an Adaptec board. The salesperson (naturally :^)
assured me that the only real difference between the 1522 and it's nearest
relative (the 1542, I believe) was speed (and, of course, $100+ :^{ ). I
'assumed' the programming was the same (made an 'ass' of 'u' and 'me' again!!)
and opted on the side of frugality, after all, who cares if your dumps take
2 and a half as opposed to 3 hours. Sadly, I found that the API was *_VASTLY_*
different.
Undaunted, I checked the Adaptec BBS for documentation to enable me to write a
driver for the 1522. Alas, they had API documentation for all _BUT_ the 1522
(alas and alack!). My next tack, contact their technical support -- endless
phonemail that may -- (NOT!) be answered. I also posted to their BBS
administrator, same luck. Finally, through their local (Milpitas) headquarters,
I got the number of their publications dept. in L.A. .
Oh, yes, they'd be happy to send the 1522 technical reference. 3 weeks later,
no show! Recall and they said that the person who said they'd send it should
have told us that they were still at the printer, _BUT_ if they were now
available, they'd send it by the fastest means they could use. 2 more weeks
(Christmas season now), still no technical reference!
In exasperation, contacted tech pubs again and requested a supervisor -- got
the directory who said that in all the years he had been with Adaptec, there
was no such animal as a technical reference for the 1522 (couldn't explain
why the User's Guide listed one, part number and all!!) and would I please
stop pestering them.
Suddenly, 2 days before Christmas, a FedEx'd document arrived from Adaptec,
however, it was not the promised technical reference but the functional
specification! (2 more arrived in subsequent weeks, 1 for each phone call??!!).
This did not contain API documentation, but rather, very sketchy, implicative
programming references.
To make a long story short ("TOO LATE", they cried!), I've been trying to
make use of my 1522 and my Viper tape drive for 4 months, with a steady
dialog of one sort or another being maintained with Adaptec. Recently, through
a person there whose job description included 'handling escalation', I've
gotten to the brink of getting some kind of _CONCRETE_ (maybe plaster of Paris)
response, mostly by touting the advantages to their marketing of having a
386bsd driver. I should _SOON_ get to talk with an engineer who can help me
with developing a 1522 driver!
Now, here's where you come in. Can everyone who would have liked to have had
a 1522 driver in 386bsd , *PLEASE*, send me email. I'm hoping the weight of
community opinion/need will speed up the process.
thx,
Dave S.