Subject: anyone working on SCSI/Ethernet boxes
To: None <port-mac68k@NetBSD.ORG>
From: John P. Wittkoski <jpw@netscape.com>
List: port-mac68k
Date: 10/22/1996 11:13:18
Hey all,
Do I remember someone talking about working on support for
those SCSI/Ethernet boxes on the list a few months ago?
If so, here is a little info for you (or anyone else who
may be interested)
I currently know of 3 different versions of these boxes:
Dayna SCSI/Link
Xircom Pocket Ethernet
Dayna Pocket SCSI/Link
Here's what I found:
As anyone who has seen the two "Pocket" versions knows,
they look exactly the same. Having access to on of the
Xircom models, I can tell you that it is EXACTLY the
same as Dayna model. In fact, it is manufactured by Dayna!
The circuit board on the inside says "Dayna Pocket SCSI/Link"
on it. I suspect the only difference is some minor changes
in the ROMs to report a different manufacturer when the
device is probed via the SCSI bus.
Since also having access to a Dayna SCSI/Link, I can
say that the the only different between the SCSI/Link
and the Pocket SCSI/Link is the size of the componants.
They use slightly different device packaging in the
Pocket version to reduce the size.
In conclusion:
Other than the manufacturer listed in the ROMs, these
three devices should be the same. So when one is supported,
all three should work! (Less porting effort is good :-) )
But wait, there might be more:
Cabletron used to manufacture a device for _PCs_ that
was a SCSI Ethernet interface. They even have a description
of the SCSI commands that were used to access that device
(ftp://ftp.ctron.com/pub/apple.dni/misc/scsi.txt)
(Why this description for this PC product is under the
Mac directory I don't really know.) It's probably a
long shot, but perhaps these Dayna devices use similar
(or the same?) SCSI commands? Companies often
purchase or OEM a design to speed time to market.
Has anyone ever seen one of these Cabletron PC SCSI/Ethernet
adaptors? They don't make then anymore, but it might be
interesting to see how close the design is to the Dayna
devices. The Cabletron devices in question are the EA4xx
models.
I don't have time right now to actually make some code
that sends the Cabletron SCSI commands to the Dayna boxes,
but perhaps some other industrious person can...
--John