Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!oddjob!ncar!gatech!bloom-beacon!bu-cs!dartvax!eleazar.dartmouth.edu!earleh From: earleh@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Earle R. Horton) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer Subject: Re: Disk-driver incompatibility with System 6.0 may have been found Summary: I don't think so. Keywords: disk driver System 6.0 _Status Message-ID: <9303@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> Date: 15 Jul 88 22:56:41 GMT References: <6569@coherent.com> <6683@coherent.com> Sender: news@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU Reply-To: earleh@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Earle R. Horton) Distribution: comp Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH Lines: 61 In article <6683@coherent.com> dplatt@coherent.com (Dave Platt) writes: ... >I've received some confirmation from various quarters that Apple has, in >fact, changed the SCSI-disk-driver interface somewhat in System 6.0, and >that this change is causing a number of third-party SCSI drivers to >malfunction. ... >Fortunately, the problems that result from this little bobble aren't too >hard to work around... boot System 4.2 before formatting, initializing, >or erasing your third-party disk drives if you've noticed problems under >6.0. I haven't seen any problems occur while actually _using_ one of >the affected disks under 6.0, as long as it was initialized under an >earlier version of the system. WELL, I HAVE!! The NOVA 30 by MicroTech won't work AT ALL with System Tools 6.0 on a Mac Plus. This is a unit which was initialized under System 4.2, and used successfully for months. Booting from the Version 6.0 System Tools floppy, with the NOVA turned on, gets me a "This Disk is Damaged, Do You Want to Initialize It?" dialog, with the NOVA HD Icon in it. I shudder to think what would have happened had I chosen "Initialize!" A call to MicroTech resulted in assurances that they were working on a driver which would be ready "real soon now" and the technician taking my name, address, and disk serial number so they could mail me one. He also said something to the effect: "Yeah, Apple changed a bunch of stuff and didn't tell us about it." The way they are working around the new SCSI interface is they have disassembled the new Apple code, and are working on a new driver/formatter. Disassembling the code? Doesn't Apple tell their 3rd-party developers anything? Nice goin' Apple! Disassembly of resource 'PTCH' #117 in the new System file reveals that Apple seems to have hung a bunch of stuff on top of the SCSIDispatch trap call, to what end I can only guess. Personally, I don't think I really need any of this stuff, and would like to try out the new System BEFORE MicroTech fixes their format program. Since I think Disk First Aid is useless, and use the MicroTech driver for my disk, and only have the one hard disk on my Mac Plus, I figured I would find where SCSIDispatch gets patched and rip the little sucker out for now: File: System Resource: 'PTCH' #117 Offset: 000045E8 Patch: 303C 0015 A647 --> 303C 0015 4E71 ^^^^ ^^^^ The NOVA has worked all day with System Tools 6.0 installed on it, and the SCSIDispatch patch bypassed. Performance appears normal, and everybody is happy. The Mac Plus goes "Clink-Klank" when I hit ^G in emacs, etc., etc... Earle Horton Disclaimer: Apply this patch at your own risk. Use Apple Computer Company equipment under the same conditions. Earle R. Horton. H.B. 8000, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755