Very Computer

-V

--

Software Designer, BNR
Research Triangle Park, NC
Time is nature's way of making sure that everything doesn't happen at once.

    Bakki> Hi, Anyone tried the iomega Jazz drive? Appreciate your
    Bakki> opinions.  Thanks, Bakki

Hello Bakki,
        Yes, I have an iomega Jaz drive.  Its an internal model
connected to my Adaptec 2940 SCSI host.  I'm relatively new to Linux,
and have been experimenting quite a bit with my system to get it
working.  I'd like to share a little of my experience with the Jaz
drive to get this thread going.

        Apparently, the production Linux kernel (1.2.13) that came
with my Slackware 3.0 distribution doesn't support the Adaptec 2940
SCSI host.  Without knowing how to upgrade the SCSI driver for the
1.2.13 kernel to one with support for the Adaptec 2940, I down-loaded
the 1.3.77 kernel (which does have a driver for the 2940) which
compiled fine and immediately recognized the 2940.

        I popped in a 1 Gbyte cartridge into the Jaz drive and had no
problems partitioning it with fdisk and making ext2 file-systems on
it.  I mounted it and was able to read and write files to it with no
problem.

        However, then I started having problems.  Apparently the Jaz
drive will turn off its spindle motor whenever there is no disk
activity for some amount of time.  I hadn't accessed the Jaz drive for
a period of about 10 minutes or so, and when I went to access it again
(i.e. just to do an `ls') the Jaz drive's light flashed and I could
hear the spindle motor starting up, but then the 1.3.77 kernel
crashed.  Error messages scrolled over my screen so fast that I
couldn't read them, and Control-Q (to stop the screen from scrolling)
and Control-Alt-Delete had no effect.

        Without knowing what else to do, I pressed my reset button.
This of course clobbered my file-systems (which I discovered during
the following Linux boot sequence).  I booted Linux from a floppy and
tried to fix my hard drive file-systems with `fsck' but failed in the
attempt (perhaps because of my inexperience).  Since I wasn't able to
back up my system to the Jaz cartridge (which is why I purchased the
Jaz drive - to do backups) I had to reinstall Linux from my Slackware
3.0 CD.

Some Thoughts and Musings:
--------------------------
  1)    I was using a non production Linux kernel (1.3.77), so I may
     have tickled a bug in it.  I tried the same experiment again
     (using the Jaz drive after the spindle motor had shut down) with
     the same effect - I had to press the reset button on my computer
     which clobbered my file-systems.

        I would like to send in the error messages as a bug report to
     the kernel developers, but the error messages scroll by too fast
     on the screen to read them (and I can't find a way to stop the
     screen from scrolling, e.g. Control-Q doesn't work after the
     error messages start scrolling).

        Also, since I can't access my file-systems after I reset my
     computer, I cannot access any log files the kernel may be writing
     which would contain the error messages. I am reluctant to perform
     the same experiment again because it takes quite some time to
     reinstall Linux from my Slackware 3.0 CD.

  2)    I have been successful using the Jaz drive with another
     operating system on the same computer (Windows '95).  I have had
     no problems with the Jaz drive and Windows '95.

  3)    The Jaz drive is the only SCSI device in my computer.  My
     other two hard drives and CD drive are IDE.

  3)    The Adaptec 2940 has a BIOS which can be selectively Enabled
     and Disabled.  When it is Enabled, I receive a peculiar error
     message when my computer is first turned on, which reads:

        Int 13h  Device not found
        BIOS not installed!

     This seems to be an innocuous error message.  Windows '95 doesn't
     seem to care whether the Adaptec 2940's BIOS is Enabled or
     Disabled - I can access the Jaz drive just fine either way.

        However, according to the version of the SCSI HOWTO which I
     have (which may be out of date by now) the Linux SCSI driver for
     the Adaptec 2940 requires that the 2940's BIOS be enabled.

        The only effect I see which seems to care whether the 2940's
     BIOS is Enabled or not is that Partition Magic (a GUI disk
     partitioner from PowerQuest) hangs when the 2940's BIOS is
     installed, and works perfectly otherwise.  This has the technical
     support people at PowerQuest stumped - they suggested it may be a
     bug in the 2940's BIOS.
--
--
Matt Langston
SLD, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center

http://www.slac.stanford.edu/~langston
(415) 926-3279

Quote:>         However, then I started having problems.  Apparently the Jaz
> drive will turn off its spindle motor whenever there is no disk
> activity for some amount of time.  I hadn't accessed the Jaz drive for
> a period of about 10 minutes or so, and when I went to access it again
> (i.e. just to do an `ls') the Jaz drive's light flashed and I could
> hear the spindle motor starting up, but then the 1.3.77 kernel
> crashed.  Error messages scrolled over my screen so fast that I
> couldn't read them, and Control-Q (to stop the screen from scrolling)
> and Control-Alt-Delete had no effect.

I've had the same problem with 1.2.13 kernels and an NCR53C7xx controller.
I'm assuming the filesystem or scsi controller is timing out while waiting
for the JAZ to upspin after sleeping. Hmmmmm...

Do you have a specific question??

jim   _/ _/ _/ _/ _/

: stuff deleted...
: >         However, then I started having problems.  Apparently the Jaz
: > drive will turn off its spindle motor whenever there is no disk
: > activity for some amount of time.  I hadn't accessed the Jaz drive for
: > a period of about 10 minutes or so, and when I went to access it again
: > (i.e. just to do an `ls') the Jaz drive's light flashed and I could
: > hear the spindle motor starting up, but then the 1.3.77 kernel
: > crashed.  Error messages scrolled over my screen so fast that I
: > couldn't read them, and Control-Q (to stop the screen from scrolling)
: > and Control-Alt-Delete had no effect.
: [more stuff snipped...]
: I've had the same problem with 1.2.13 kernels and an NCR53C7xx controller.
: I'm assuming the filesystem or scsi controller is timing out while waiting
: for the JAZ to upspin after sleeping. Hmmmmm...

  You can set the spin down time using the DOS/Windows utilities.

  I am not using the Jaz drive as a primary/boot drive so I have not
  had this problem at all, but you should be able to set the spin down
  to a very high number or off using the utilties (unfortunatly, they
  are DOS or Windows only).

  As far as using the drive as a primary drive, I don't think I'd
  recommend it for that. Go for an fixed drive for the primary and use
  the Jaz as a secondary.

  I've had no problems at all with my Jaz drive under Linux or Windows
  95 and have been very pleased with the performance and utility of
  the drive!

  -- Tracy Schuhwerk

Quote:>Do you have a specific question??

--

Quote:>Specifically, where are good places to buy them?

I specifically meant,

- a place that has them in stock
- a place that has them for a better price than list

Getting both those conditions met does not seem easy.

--

  ^Hey thanks Matthew for getting the thread somewhere... I've been
concidering using one...

Quote:>  I am not using the Jaz drive as a primary/boot drive so I have not
>  had this problem at all, but you should be able to set the spin down
>  to a very high number or off using the utilties (unfortunatly, they
>  are DOS or Windows only).

After straying from newsgroups... and not having the $ to buy a jaz
anyway.. I finaly came back today planning to post on this.. so it's
nice to see the thread already going :)  Anyway... Why would you not
suggest it as a primary/boot drive?  Would it be too slow? or other
problems?

I have been concidering using a Jaz drive to boot the OS (Linux, OS/2,
& Win95) because i change operating systems rather frequently...
(and although I've tried to follow all the faq's and stuff. i can
never seem to get Linux and OS/2 to peacefully co-exist....)
I'm not sure what problems i might run into using the Jaz as a boot
drive for os/2 or win95.. but it seems from the above post that it
might be possible to do under Linux... though possibly not reliable...