Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!mailrus!ames!killer!elg From: elg@killer.UUCP (Eric Green) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Getting a Hard Drive Message-ID: <4032@killer.UUCP> Date: 9 May 88 05:44:59 GMT References: <52184@sun.uucp> Organization: The Unix(R) Connection, Dallas, Texas Lines: 35 in article <52184@sun.uucp>, cmcmanis%pepper@Sun.COM (Chuck McManis) says: > In article <15377@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU> (Thomas Sarver) writes: >> I'm interested in getting a ST506 controller for my A1000. > > Nothing is available commercially that costs less than a similar SCSI > interface. ST506 is officially a dinosaur. Those cheap PC drives you > see advertised are nothing more than a mechanisim. You must add > Power Supply, Casework, Software, Cables, etc. Software: usually provided with the interface (at least, with the Commodore and C Ltd. interfaces for the Amiga 2000). Cables: a nightmare. At least, out here in the boondocks, where the nearest regional distributor is 500 miles away. Power supply, casework: Less of a nightmare. Any electronics hacker worth his salt has a back room full of that kind of stuff :-). But you still end up at about the same cost in the comparison of ST506 vs. SCSI. SCSI host adaptors are slightly cheaper than ST506 interfaces -- e.g. the C. Ltd. controller only has 4 chips on it. The drives are more expensive, but not excessively so nowdays -- I've seen Mac drives advertised for little more than ST506 drives. The end result is about the same. The only time it should be an issue is when one controller is DMA and one is not (e.g. the Commodore controller vs. the C Ltd. controller -- although with the FFS, the C Ltd. controller still can moveit.) The above are Amiga 2000 products, of course.... C Ltd. might still make their A-1000 stuff, but it'll naturally be low quantity (almost "on-demand") and thus high priced. -- Eric Lee Green {cuae2,ihnp4}!killer!elg Snail Mail P.O. Box 92191 Lafayette, LA 70509 "Is a dream a lie that don't come true, or is it something worse?"