SCSI and IDE

[scafe]

This isnt exactly amiga related but i have always got the best advise here.
I recently got a SCSI CD_R drive for free and i wish to use it on my PC which runs linux. However i use EIDE, and what i wanted to know is would it be ok to install a PCI SCSI interface card and run it alongside my onboard IDE interface. It doesnt neet to be bootable but i was worried about IRQ conflicts and such. :-?

[xeron]

IRQ conflicts and such? Nahh.. modern PCs cope quite well. It took them many years, but PCI and a decent plug and play OS is as good as Amiga autoconfig ever was these days.

Just shove it in, and if its a fairly standard card, linux should be able to use it.

[scafe]

Thanx again! :-D

[Floid]

scafe wrote:
This isnt exactly amiga related but i have always got the best advise here.
I recently got a SCSI CD_R drive for free and i wish to use it on my PC which runs linux. However i use EIDE, and what i wanted to know is would it be ok to install a PCI SCSI interface card and run it alongside my onboard IDE interface. It doesnt neet to be bootable but i was worried about IRQ conflicts and such. :-?

Should be fine.  IRQ conflicts are a worry with *any* hardware, but with PCI, you have a fighting chance.  (That is, the hardware, BIOS, PnP support etc is *supposed* to help you avoid it.  You only have a problem if... those things cause you a problem.)

If you don't need boot support, BIOSless Symbios/LSI cards can be had for $6 these days, and as far as I know, should be fine under Linux.  Adaptec 2940UWs are popular (deservedly or not), and becoming cheap as dirt on eBay as well.  (The 2940UW has a full BIOS for booting; you can just ignore it if you don't need it.  Plenty of Symbios/LSI cards have BIOSes as well.)

I'd love to show you an example of the absolute dirt-cheapest you could use, but eBay doesn't seem to be running any of the lowest-cost LSI/Symbiosen at the moment (or rather, PCSurplusOnline.com has a few, at *three* for $9, but they don't have internal connectors, which I assume you'd want.)  Still, tons of 2940Us on eBay as low as $5, and 2940UWs (if you want the possibility of wide SCSI) aren't much higher than that, so you might as well go with the crowd; if it *doesn't* work with Linux, any Linux user who's touched SCSI would be guaranteed to be able to lend support.

Even that makes it sound scary, though.  I expect you should just be able to throw the card in and have it work.

[Floid]

Whoops, OK, you're in the UK... 2940-family cards are still cheaper on eBay.co.uk than Symbios ones, so may as well stick with those.

One thing to note... doublecheck your PCI slots before you buy, make sure they can fit a card with a connector like the one you order. (The notches are clipped/not depending what voltages the cards need, and depending on the age of your machine, you may or may not be able to fit the particular card you order. I forget which notch signifies what voltage and whether it's more of an issue on older or newer machines... Just do the quick visual comparison before you go and spend your money.)