SCSI Help Anyone?

[scrappysphinx]

Good Morning to all,

Ok guys heres the situation. Last night i was gifted the following item via freecycle:

SCSI Box

The black front flips down and behind that there is space for 3 scsi items. Inside the case i was gifted is a 4gb HDD, a Tape Drive and a 2x CDRom. I am hoping to use these (Maybe not all of the items but hopefully at least the CDROM and maybe the HDD) with my A1200 via a surf squirrel.

Now the problem,

The surf squirrel has a connector like this: this

and the gifted scsi box has a connector like this: this

Not having much knowledge of scsi items does anyone know if the above device will possibly work with an amiga and if so does anyone know of or can provide a link to or even have a cable or converter available?

Thanks guys

Mike

 

[Harrison]

Re: SCSI Help Anyone?

It looks like the two connectors you posted are:

The Surf Squirrel has a SCSI I Centronics 50 pin connector

and the external SCSI unit has a SCSI III HD68 68 pin connector

Is the Squirrel connector Male and the SCSI unit HD68 connector female?

If so you need the SCSI adapter Centronics 50 Female to HD68 Male, like this or this.

Most SCSI devices and controllers are backwardly compatible so you should be able to get these devices working with the SCSI Squirrel controller. With SCSI just make sure you have installed the SCSI drivers for the controller (squirrel in this case) first and that it is seeing the controller card correctly. Then power down the system, set each SCSI device to a unique SCSI ID number and make sure the last device in the SCSI chain is terminated (either a termination switch is found on the device or you have to connect a terminator block to the second SCSI port on the last device in the chain).

You will obviously also need drivers for the devices. For the CD drive the Squirrel comes with drivers that should work. Failing that there are other drivers available. The HD should also be easy to setup with the Squirrel's own drivers installed. Not sure about the tape drive though. Have a look on aminet and see if anyone has written any drivers for the model you have.

 

[scrappysphinx]

Re: SCSI Help Anyone?

Thanks for the reply and the link Harrison.
As i said i'm not really interested in the Tape drive so that will be removed and probably advertised in the recycle bin after i've moved house (no idea if it works or if anyone would be interested).
I just figured that the scsi box was free and worth trying out to see if i could get the cdrom and HDD working.
I will certainly think about buying the cable but again it will have to wait until after i've moved (leaving current property on 26/11).

Thanks Again

Mike

 

[Kin Hell]

Re: SCSI Help Anyone?

I concur:

The Connector on your Gift is a 68Pin SCSI III connector. The one on your Surf Squirrel is a Centronics 50-way connector. Your first link for the Centronics 50-way is dead & amiga-hardware.com doesn't show a clear enough picture to decide if its Male or Female.

Tbah, I think you will have issues with the TAPE & CDROMS on a SCSI I controller. The Surf Squirrel isn't the best of SCSI controllers either.

As a matter of interest, have you looked inside the gift box? I'd guess it's all on 68 Pin cable, but could be wrong not knowing anything about the gift product.

I'll also have a rummage through my cables & see what I have. I know I have 25 way to 50 way Centronics....

 

[Harrison]

Re: SCSI Help Anyone?

I've updated my original post. I was thinking that you don't actually need a cable, but just an adapter.

You will need a SCSI adapter Centronics 50 Female to HD68 Male which looks like this:

 

[scrappysphinx]

Re: SCSI Help Anyone?

Hey Guys, i apprecaite the help. To be honest i'm not even sure any of the devices work including the squirrel. The squirrel was bought from ebay but was advertised as a game so got it for a couple of quid but no mention of working status. The gift was grabbed off freecycle but the guy had no way to test it so again no idea if its even working. I can take photos of the actual unit but that will have to be done tomorrow as i cannot find the camera at the minute.

*EDIT* Found the camera and have updated the links in my original post with pictures taken of the actual connectors.

 

[Harrison]

Re: SCSI Help Anyone?

Good job you posted actual pictures because I don't think the connectors on "the gift" box are HD68, but look like they are actually SCSI 2 50-pin High Density (HD50) connectors. The dip switches to the left probably set the SCSI IDs for each device.

So you would need a Centronics 50 pin female to HD50 male adapter like this.

 

[Zetr0]

Re: SCSI Help Anyone?

@All

before we throw which SCSI logic the devices use (ie. SCSI / SCSI2 and SCSI3) it comes down to the device not the actual connection.

there are many flavours of both SCSI 2 and SCSI 3, the later still waiting for a formal standard I believe.

you have

U2Wide / U2Narrow in SE / LVD and HVD - 68 or 80 pin connetions (mostly high density)
U3Wide / U3Narrow in SE / LVD and HVD - 68 or 80 pin connection (mostly high density)

(narrow = 68pin / Wide = 80 pin)

the above are just connections (cables and sockets) this doesnt infer logic of the device. as you may know most SCSI devices are backwards compatible, with initial SCSI commands, but some of the newer devices may not be (especially those have explcit DMA transfer requirementsl), that comes down to the manufacture I am afraid to say.

from what I have been able to research, the SCSI chassis can house any SCSI drive via 68HD connector, you can ofcourse convert this to wide or even 50pin connections internally without fuss.

now my research on the Surf Squirrel comes up with some interesting results,

http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/search.pl? ... e=dec&pid=

there are two versions one of them is a SCSI2 controller, which obviously supports the SCSI logic set.

should that the device works fine, you should easly be able to use large disks and CD/DVDRW's on the chain without any issue, I will have a look for a guide in seting up a SCSI chain, its can be a lot tricky for the un-initiated

@Scrappy

not sure if you know anything about old style BNC networking, where you would have a chain. from that chain you would have a host and several devices. at the end of the chain you would have termmination.

now a lot of SE (Single Ended) Hardidsks have this feature, but some connections require extra termination power (LDV/HDV) low voltage differential and High voltage Differential (the latter i doubt you will ever use, thats for LOOONG chains!!!!) but most SCSI 2/3 HDD's are SE/LDV,

again... gonna hunt for a good guide my friend.

btw, you can get converters for as little as £1 (and that will convert 68pin to 50 or 80 etc etc.)

 

[imnogeek]

Re: SCSI Help Anyone?

@scrappysphinx

if all the internal drives have a 50pin connector that would take this..

Then I have a gathered 50 way SCSI cable that has 2 centronix (one at each end) to fit your Squirrel, I can add a Terminator to the other end, and you would have 3 of above pic to connect to your drives... downside is you would need to make holes bigger on back og box to accomodate. Free postage only, or collect.

Edit: reference Kin below, saw piccys, still stands thks

 

[Kin Hell]

Re: SCSI Help Anyone?

Just so we don't look total dicks here, Methinks the Author of this thread has changed the original Ref. pictures H & I were referring to! 8)

 

[scrappysphinx]

Re: SCSI Help Anyone?

@kin

No intentions to make you guys look like dicks. apologies, just thought actual pictures would be better than images taken from web.

@the rest

Theres a lot of information and suggestions being thrown around and me not having much knowledge of scsi or bnc networking as zetr0 asked i'm a little confused!

Let me try and clear the situation up a little.

The gifted scsi box uses 50 pin hardware and came with a CDRom drive, 4.3gb HDD and a Tape drive already installed. Here are shots of the box's internal connectors and the corresponding connector on the back of the CDRom drive (all devices have same connector).

Internal
CDRom

I would like to keep the scsi box as it is (its very flat and the a1200 will sit on top of it) and use the HDD and CDRom with the surf squirrel so i would like a cable or converter to convert the connection on the back of the scsi box to fit the surf squirrel. I am not bothered about the tape drive as i dont know how to use it or what i would use it for and it will likely be offered in the recycle bin once i've moved home. I don't know whether this will work or whether i will need to find an external cdrom to use with the surf squirrel but as the scsi box was free i thought i would at least try. From what as been posted i believe harrison was on the right lines with the converter advertised in post 7.

My Surf Squirrel has this connection.

The Gifted SCSI box has this connection on the back of the machine.

 

[Kin Hell]

Re: SCSI Help Anyone?

No worries m8. If I have my shades on making a remark like that, I'm O.K. about it.

Get the Centronics 50 pin female to HD50 male adapter like as Harrison says. You should be good to go if the devices are okay. It's probably best not to worry about the connectors inside. Another can of worms entirely, but what intrigues me, are the connections on the back of the actual devices!?

Do they have a bridge arrangement back to a normal SCSI port on the device itself?
Sometimes they slap a SCSI Drive in like a caddy, which has that 3 row connector on the back of it.
A bit like CompaQ SCSI drives....

Some pics would be cool if you could!? It'll make Zetr0 go all Gooey!

 

[scrappysphinx]

Re: SCSI Help Anyone?

They are in a sort of tin can that can be pulled out and i assume behind that white connector are the original 50 pin and power connectors of the devices.

 

[imnogeek]

Re: SCSI Help Anyone?

OK, if I'm not mistaken these look like caddies and the CD drives etc will be inside these caddies. The suggestion I gave is not so good as this would not allow the use of the caddies.

 

[Zetr0]

Re: SCSI Help Anyone?

@Scrappy

sorry with my reply earlier, I didnt mean to add to any confusion. Lets see if i can make it clearer now.

as the guys have been saying you need a 50pin centronics female to 68HD (high densitiy) male connector, theres plenty on fleabay, I will PM you.
from that you are good to go as long as all the devices work

now the inside pic is notthing more than an interface for the caddy and device. nowt to write home about other than its a 96pin ZIF connector that the company used as an interface

now let me clear the bnc thingy up.. BNC is an old networking methodology for computers (before the use of RJ45 Twisted Pair that is so common today) the thing with a BNC computer network, its very much like a SCSI chain. the best way I can describe it is that SCSI is more of a network of devices with a host, than a daisy chain like say IDE

still looking for a nice how-to for you

 

[Harrison]

Re: SCSI Help Anyone?

as the guys have been saying you need a 50pin centronics female to 68HD (high densitiy) male connector, theres plenty on fleabay, I will PM you.
from that you are good to go as long as all the devices work

From his pictures of the actual connectors I changed my mind on that one Zetr0 and as already mentioned we think he needs a Centronics 50 pin female to HD50 male adapter.

 

[Kin Hell]

Re: SCSI Help Anyone?

I call a "strike 2" & say the same as H I'm afraid. But only based on the more recent pictures scrappysphinx put up for us. Tbh, it was a shame you couldn't have got these up first. :wink:

Harrisons link