96 lines
4.6 KiB
HTML
96 lines
4.6 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN">
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<TITLE>Jaz-drive HOWTO: Jaz Hardware</TITLE>
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<HR>
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<H2><A NAME="s2">2. Jaz Hardware</A></H2>
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<H2><A NAME="ss2.1">2.1 The Jaz Drives</A>
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</H2>
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<P>Jaz drives are SCSI devices and are available as an external drive
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with a 50-pin SCSI-2 self-terminating interface or an internal 3-1/2
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format drive with a 50-pin header interface.
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<P>Both the internal and external devices are available in either
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1 or 2 Gigabyte capacity, so there are four different Jaz drives
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available.
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<H2><A NAME="ss2.2">2.2 The Jaz "Disks"</A>
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</H2>
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<P>Jaz disks are a cartridge-style removable media containing a stack
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of three 3.5" platters. From here out, I'll be using the terms
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"cartridge" and "disk" interchangeably to mean the Jaz media.
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<P>The 1Gb and 2Gb cartridges appear similar, but there is actually a
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subtle difference in their shape which prevents a 2Gb cartridge from
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being fully inserted into a 1Gb drive. Obviously, this means that
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you can't use a 2Gb cartridge in a 1Gb drive.
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<P>The 2-Gb capacity Jaz drives can read, write, and format both 2-Gb
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and 1-Gb Jaz cartridges.
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<H2><A NAME="ss2.3">2.3 The Jaz Jet Host Adapter</A>
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</H2>
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<P>Iomega markets a SCSI host adapter under the name Jaz Jet. However,
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there are at least two different SCSI chipsets that are used. For this
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reason, the Jaz Jet isn't necessarily the best SCSI adapter to buy if
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you need one for your Jaz drive. You're better off getting a card that
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you <EM>know</EM> your Linux distribution will support (see the next section).
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<P>
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<P>One of the Jaz Jet cards is based on the Adaptec 7800 family of adapters.
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Linux 2.0 supports this adapter with the aic7xxx driver. This driver is built
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into most of the standard 2.x SCSI-capable kernels supplied with most Linux
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distributions.
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<P>The other adapter is based on the Advanced Systems chipset. At boot
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time the board gives a message like:
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<P><CODE>Jaz Jet PCI SCSI adapter Copyright Advanced Systems 1996</CODE>
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<P>Depending on your Linux distribution, you may need to build a custom
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kernel (with the CONFIG_SCSI_ADVANSYS variable set) to use this adapter.
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<P>Personally, I don't like surprises, so if I were going to buy an adapter
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card, I would get a name-brand card with a 50-pin connector, so that I knew
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that what I was getting was supported.
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<H2><A NAME="ss2.4">2.4 Other SCSI Host Adapters</A>
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</H2>
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<P>If you're using an Ultra-Wide SCSI card with a 68-pin connector, you'll
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need to get an adapter or another cable. The adapters do indeed work just
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fine with the Jaz drive, but can be rather pricey, so if you're buying a
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SCSI card primarily for the purpose of connecting the Jaz drive, you're
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better off picking up a card with a 50pin connector on it.
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<P>If you're looking for a suggestion, I like the Adaptec AHA-2930U - it's
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cheap, it's fast, and the Jaz drive just plugs right in using the supplied
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cable with no adapter hassles. Unfortunately, support for this card is
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fairly new, so unless you have a fairly new Linux distribution (2.2.x
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kernel), it probably isn't supported. There are patches to the aic7xxx
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driver for 2.0.36 kernels that support this card, however. The AHA-2940U
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is an excellent choice as well, and it has been supported for a lot longer,
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it's just more expensive.
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<H2><A NAME="ss2.5">2.5 Kernel Driver Issues</A>
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</H2>
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<P>As always, be sure that your Linux distribution supports a particular card
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EXPLICITLY before making a purchase. Many manufacturers, like Adaptec, have
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cards with numbers and letters <EM>similar</EM> to each other that are
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actually <EM>completely different chipsets</EM>, and therefore use
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<EM>completely different drivers</EM>.
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<P>Configuring the Linux kernel for a SCSI card is the subject of a complete
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document in itself, so I won't go into that here.
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<P>Info on rebuilding the kernel should be found in /usr/src/linux/README,
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or in /usr/src/linux/Documentation/ directory for the 2.x kernels.
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If these files don't exist, make sure that you have installed the kernel
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package source for your distribution.
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<P>You can also check out
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<A HREF="http://metalab.unc.edu/mdw/HOWTO/Kernel-HOWTO.html"> Brian Ward's Kernel-HOWTO</A><HR>
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<A HREF="Jaz-Drive-HOWTO-3.html">Next</A>
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<A HREF="Jaz-Drive-HOWTO-1.html">Previous</A>
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