On Sat, 3 Jan 1998, der Mouse wrote:

> (Using the 10-byte read operation for blocks
> past the 1G mark would be even better, of course, but I suppose that
> would be too much to expect.)

Using that would be too much to expect of many of the SCSI disks
of that era, quite possibly. The reason this came to mind instantly
is because the Emulex EDSI<->SCSI board used in the Sun 3 shoeboxen
only understood six-byte commands, and NetBSD/sun3, if I recall
correctly, actually had to be hacked to make sure it didn't send
10-byte commands if the block number fit into a six-byte command.

> I also find myself wondering whether the Sun-3 ROMs got this right, or
> whether I was just (un)lucky and happened to get blocks below the 1G
> mark for /ufsboot...perhaps someday I'll investigate that.

I'd bet dollars to doughnuts Sun wouldn't have bothered. After all,
their disks couldn't do it. :-)

cjs

Curt Sampson    cjs@portal.ca	   Info at http://www.portal.ca/
Internet Portal Services, Inc.	   Through infinite mist, software reverberates
Vancouver, BC  (604) 257-9400	   In code possess'd of invisible folly.