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Xref: sserve comp.os.linux:47643 comp.os.386bsd.questions:3738 comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware:59985 comp.windows.x.i386unix:2453 Newsgroups: comp.os.linux,comp.os.386bsd.questions,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware,comp.windows.x.i386unix Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!darwin.sura.net!ra!tantalus.nrl.navy.mil!eric From: eric@tantalus.nrl.navy.mil (Eric Youngdale) Subject: Re: SUMMARY: 486DX2/66 for Unix conclusions (fairly long) Message-ID: <CA29EH.Czu@ra.nrl.navy.mil> Sender: usenet@ra.nrl.navy.mil Organization: Naval Research Laboratory References: <mr2CA1Az4.J2E@netcom.com> <1993Jul12.122937.20476@taylor.uucp> <21s0p0$s6q@umd5.umd.edu> Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1993 16:49:29 GMT Lines: 41 In article <21s0p0$s6q@umd5.umd.edu> mark@roissy.umd.edu (Mark Sienkiewicz) writes: >I'm going to buy another IDE controller and attach 2 more IDE disks >to it. This limits me to 4 disks, compared to 5 for a single SCSI bus >(if the CPU, tape, and CDROM use up 3 of the addresses). It also saves >me the price difference between a SCSI disk and an IDE disk. The problem with this approach is that the disk controller may not be able to handle simultaneous operations on both disks. This could tend to slow things down a bit. A well written scsi driver can have multiple outstanding commands, so that your disk access for drive 1 does not go to hell when you start heavily using disk 2. >And I'll buy a CDROM drive that plugs into an ISA bus for roughly half >the price of a SCSI CDROM drive. That would be nice if there were such a thing. Some of the cheap CDROM drives are supposedly IDE, but in general you cannot connect them to a regular IDE controller. You need a dedicated controller which takes up another ISA slot, and another IRQ number. >And I'll try to find a non-scsi tape drive too, but that's a bit harder. >It seems that tape drives now come in 3 forms: > - attach to the floppy controller and use weird protocols > - SCSI > - direct ISA bus 9-track drives for > $3000 >So I may break down and buy a SCSI tape drive and controller for it. I >don't look forward to spending > $1000 on it, especially when there are >tape drives that cost only $200. It can often be difficult to get drivers for some of the "weird protocol" tape drives with unix variants. Also, you do not need to spend that much money for a scsi tape drive in the first place. I got a Wangtek 5150ES scsi tape drive from the misc.forsale.computers.* newsgroups - it ran me about 330$ for a new OEM version (i.e. no DOS drivers). -Eric -- "When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a lawyer."