VOGONS


First post, by pshipkov

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Anyone ever got these two SCSI controllers to do anything useful ?
The ones here refuse to cooperate.

A while ago bought AHA-1535A from Ebay seller.
Its BIOS never starts initializing during POST.
I thought the controller is busted. Seller refunded me.
Bought a second controller since then - same.
There is a chance both of them are broken, but i doubt it.
Both are in very good physical condition.

The situation with Always IN-2000 is different.
BIOS kicks-in during POST but never recognizes the storage device.
I don't have SCSI HDDs. Only CF cards through ZuluSCSI and Acard adapters.
So maybe something there.
Long ago had another IN-2000 controller who exhibited the same issues.

Am i missing something here ?

retro bits and bytes

Reply 1 of 15, by maxtherabbit

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The IN-2000 you sent me works fine. If I recall correctly it only works on the default I/O port, if you change the DIPs to something else it will just silently detect nothing

I conversely only have real SCSI spinning rust, no solid state abominations. 😉

Reply 2 of 15, by pshipkov

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Ok, that is a good sign.
Can you confirm the state of the dip switches - just in case i keep doing the wrong moves here ?

retro bits and bytes

Reply 3 of 15, by Horun

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The 1535 is a PnP type ISA and has a weird bios. I used the DOS Adaptec 1535CFG files to enable the Ctrl+A on mine a few years ago (in 2019?? irrc)
Here is the CFG util and a Hex of the text of what is inside...

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 4 of 15, by pshipkov

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Thanks.
Yes, it seems like a weird contraption.
Can you confirm that the SCSI BIOS actually initializes during POST ?
If so - what hardware you tested on ? Motherboard, etc.

retro bits and bytes

Reply 5 of 15, by Horun

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Will have to find the card and see what notes I left. There are some OEM 1535 that the bios can be enabled but will not give the Ctrl+A, they came with some scsi CDR burners iirc....

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 6 of 15, by pshipkov

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Ok, let me know if you get to it eventually.
So far 2 different cards don't do anything at POST.

retro bits and bytes

Reply 7 of 15, by Horun

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Found the card with driver floppies but not much for notes other than it works and BIOS does not show on boot. Think I have some pictures of testing the scsi card in my older phone, will go look.....need to charge it first

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 8 of 15, by pshipkov

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Do you remember what class hardware you tested the card with ?
So far i tested mine on 286 and 386 machines, but want to see if it will behave differently on 486 and later ones. Maybe is missing instructions or who knows what in the early generations.
Unlikely, but still.

retro bits and bytes

Reply 9 of 15, by Horun

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It tested was on a Pentium board, found a few pictures but not of the boot screen. I should retest it and make some good notes.

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 10 of 15, by pshipkov

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Thanks.
Ok, will run it today on 486 and P3 class mobos.

retro bits and bytes

Reply 11 of 15, by pshipkov

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Ok, made the Always IN-2000 guy work.
Turns out it does not handle well higher ISA bus frequencies.
Had to slow things down to 10-15MHz to get it rolling.
Something interesting - it can boot from disk partitions previously created on CF/SD cards through IDE controllers. Very useful.

retro bits and bytes

Reply 12 of 15, by Horun

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Great ! Do you have the manual and aspi driver for the In-2000 ?

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 13 of 15, by maxtherabbit

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I found the Always ASPI driver on the metropoli BBS archive

Reply 15 of 15, by Horun

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Yep max ! the In2_as.zip file is good. the DOS and Netware zip has dupe headers (as all small case and all caps for same files), it needs be extracted carefully.
The manuals in text are/were on Programmers corner, grabbed em a few years ago.. Stason is just a TH99 website...
attached the manuals
added: because the In-2000 supports HD's w/o any aspi driver, the aspi driver is only needed for cdroms, tapes, zips, etc with their drivers iirc.

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun