Very Computer

It looks like the following are the required parameters, according to the
"SunOS 5.1 Adding and Maintaining Devices and Drivers" manual.  Is there
any way to empirically determine the values of these parameters?
        total # cylinders
        # cylinders for bad blocks
        # sectors per logical track
        # heads
        rotational speed in rpm (why on earth is this needed?)

If I guess the #cyls, #heads and sectors/track to add up to the correct size
(assuming 512 bytes sectors) will it work anyway?

Any pointers appreciated.

--
___________________

I'm trying to install Sol-2.3 on a DSP3105. This works fine until the reboot
after installation. Then I get trapped by the infamous "tagged command dis-
connected" message and the system ties up and is unusable.

I remember some time ago someone posted a message containing the solution to
this problem but I did not save it because I never thought it would be of any
relevance to me :-( (it's a mod to /etc/system:scsi-options or something like
that).

Did you manage to install Sol-2.x on any non-Sun disk drive (especially any
kind of Digital Storage Product? I am going to try a DSP3160 this evening)?

TIA - Hans
--

German National Research Center for Computer Science (GMD)

I'm trying to install Sol-2.3 on a DSP3105. This works fine until the reboot
after installation. Then I get trapped by the infamous "tagged command dis-
connected" message and the system ties up and is unusable.

I remember some time ago someone posted a message containing the solution to
this problem but I did not save it because I never thought it would be of any
relevance to me :-( (it's a mod to /etc/system:scsi-options or something like
that).

Did you manage to install Sol-2.x on any non-Sun disk drive (especially any
kind of Digital Storage Product? I am going to try a DSP3160 this evening)?

TIA - Hans
--

German National Research Center for Computer Science (GMD)

Quote:>(I've followed up because this is the easiest way to post :-)
>I'm trying to install Sol-2.3 on a DSP3105. This works fine until the reboot
>after installation. Then I get trapped by the infamous "tagged command dis-
>connected" message and the system ties up and is unusable.
>I remember some time ago someone posted a message containing the solution to
>this problem but I did not save it because I never thought it would be of any
>relevance to me :-( (it's a mod to /etc/system:scsi-options or something like
>that).

#define SCSI_OPTIONS_DR         0x8     /* Global disconnect/reconnect  */
#define SCSI_OPTIONS_LINK       0x10    /* Global linked commands */
#define SCSI_OPTIONS_SYNC       0x20    /* Global synchronous xfer capability */
#define SCSI_OPTIONS_PARITY     0x40    /* Global parity support */
#define SCSI_OPTIONS_TAG        0x80    /*   "    tagged command support */
#define SCSI_OPTIONS_FAST       0x100   /*   "    FAST scsi support */
#define SCSI_OPTIONS_WIDE       0x200   /*   "    WIDE scsi support */

The default on most systems is 0x1f8 (everything - wide)

To switch of tagged commands put the following in /etc/system:

        set scsi_options = 0x178

Installing from CD is usually not a problem because the kernel is
booted with:

    set scsi_options=0x58 (slow & dumb SCSI)

This works for all disks worth having.
I think you can boot from CD and edit /etc/system (or perhaps you can
but single user)

Quote:>Did you manage to install Sol-2.x on any non-Sun disk drive (especially any
>kind of Digital Storage Product? I am going to try a DSP3160 this evening)?

Casper

-Steve Jay

Quote:>(I've followed up because this is the easiest way to post :-)

>I'm trying to install Sol-2.3 on a DSP3105. This works fine until the reboot
>after installation. Then I get trapped by the infamous "tagged command dis-
>connected" message and the system ties up and is unusable.

>I remember some time ago someone posted a message containing the solution to
>this problem but I did not save it because I never thought it would be of any
>relevance to me :-( (it's a mod to /etc/system:scsi-options or something like
>that).

>Did you manage to install Sol-2.x on any non-Sun disk drive (especially any
>kind of Digital Storage Product? I am going to try a DSP3160 this evening)?

(FWIW, I removed Solaris 2.X each time after a couple of hours to days,
and "backed up" to Solaris 1.1 after I decided that the new OS was too
unstable for real use - nothing to do with the drive though!)
                                                                Z

--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Syed Zaeem Hosain          P. O. Box 610097            (408) 441-7021 |

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Most suggested that the paramters are only used for optimisation, and it is
ok to guess values so that (#cylinders) * (#head)s * (#sectors/track) adds
up to the total number of blocks on the disk.  The rotational speed is
apparently used to work out the optimal interleave.

I have successfully got one 3rd party disk going using the UNIX command
factor to give the prime factors of the number of blocks and guessing
likely combinations.

I also tried scsiping, a public domain program to measure these parameters,
but it didn't work until I had formatted the disk anyway!

Thanks again to all.

--
___________________

Quote:>I also tried scsiping, a public domain program to measure these parameters,
>but it didn't work until I had formatted the disk anyway!

under trace. I found that format uses the _FNDELAY flag on its open call. Adding
this flag to scsiping solved the problem.

Quote:>I have found a solution to this one (under 4.1.3 anyway). I could not work out
>how format could find the drive but scsiping could not until I ran both programs
>under trace. I found that format uses the _FNDELAY flag on its open call. Adding
>this flag to scsiping solved the problem.

Casper