Hello again from Gregg C Levine
I know that John. However, I did state that I happened to be a lurker,
and that I came from that world. And that I have worked with the I386
port for NetBSD. My only work with NetBSD/vax has been in emulation
mode. I'm not a na=EFf, just someone who's more of a lurker, then an
actual participant. I have not had the chance to track down the
hardware for such work. So while I appreciate the reminder, it wasn't
really necessary.
-------------------
Gregg C Levine hansolofalcon@worldnet.att.net
------------------------------------------------------------
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: port-vax-owner@NetBSD.org [mailto:port-vax-owner@NetBSD.org]
On
> Behalf Of John Klos
> Sent: Friday, July 25, 2003 10:12 PM
> To: Gregg C Levine
> Cc: port-vax@NetBSD.org
> Subject: RE: largest disk in a vs4000/90
>=20
> Hi,
>=20
> > Antonio, how do you prepare your disk drives for your operating
> > system? I seem to recall, and just had it proven for the operating
> > systems for the Evil Empire, that the drive needs to be formatted
> > before it can be used. Normally the hardware manufacturer provides
the
> > media for that purpose. Sometimes it's floppy, and a CD, sometimes
two
> > floppies.
>=20
> This is a NetBSD mailing list, not a DOS / Windows mailing list;
> therefore, one can usually assume, if it isn't clear enough from the
> context, that "formatting" refers to low level formatting. While
older
> SCSI drives can sometimes benefit from low level formatting, it's
not a
> commonly performed operation.
>=20
> DOS / Windows refers to the partitioning of a drive as "formatting"
> because of the fact that DOS' / Windows' origins are the floppy
disk,
> where formatting really was formatting. It's incorrect usage of the
term.
>=20
> Hardware manufacturers sell the drives already formatted, but not
> partitioned. The disks you get are DOS / Windows programs to
overcome the
> various limitations of the 8086 BIOSes, generally.
>=20
> > That being stated, can an IDE/ATA type drive be attached to a VAX,
via
> > the appropriate after-market board? Or even a non-DEC specified,
SCSI
> > disk drive, again via an after-market board? Remember, I am
normally a
> > lurker who typically uses the Intel family of neurotic hardware.
>=20
> Most SCSI drives can, generally, be connected to most SCSI
controllers. So
> yes, a non-DEC SCSI drive can be connected to a VAX SCSI controller.
>=20
> Regarding IDE, a company named Acard makes IDE to SCSI adapters. I
have a
> number of them, and they make an IDE drive appear to be just like a
SCSI
> drive on the SCSI bus. So yes, one could connect an IDE drive to a
VAX
> using one of these adapters.
>=20
> John Klos
> Sixgirls Computing Labs