Conference cookie::mru

329.0. "NT SCSI host adapters" by COOKIE::STMARTIN (Andy St.Martin) Wed Apr 16 1997 12:20

    MRU v1.2 for Windows NT is in field test now.  We are now trying
    to determine which of the myriad SCSI host adapters for NT we should
    support in our SPD.
    
    Our first thoughts for explicit support in the SPD are:
        KZPAA    (PCI, Narrow Single-Ended)
        KZPSA    (PCI, Wide Differential)
        AHA-2940 (PCI)
        AHA-1540 (ISA)
    
    The AHA-1540 has some definite problems on Windows NT 4.0.  That is, it
    does not work with 12-byte commands -- out of the box.  By doing some
    fancy Registry editing, a sophisticated user can add a device driver
    parameter after re-booting to have the aha1540.sys device driver accept
    12-byte commands.  Note, many of the medium changer commands are
    12-byte SCSI commands.
    
    Questions:
    
    *   Are there more SCSI adapters we should consider supporting?
    *   Should we drop support for the AHA-1540 since we would have to
        jump through hoops to document how to make it work with medium
        changers?
    *   Is there any need for EISA SCSI adapter support?
    
    Andy St.Martin

	The AHA-1740 may appear in some early Alpha systems that can
	run NT.  I'm told it doesn't like the MUC of the TL820.

    I would vote for dropping the 1540 (the more interesting systems using
    tape robotics tend to not use ISA adapters to attach to their I/O).
    
    And, where does one get the NT field test kit ?

    The MRU field test kits are in
        cookie::aim$public:[mru.v1_2]
    
    robot.tar	  DIGITAL UNIX kit
    robot012.*    OpenVMS kit
    mru_v12*.zip  NT kits
    
    Andy St.Martin