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  From: Adrian Butterworth <adrian@econ-outlook.com.au>
  To  : Kirsty <process9@lynx.net.au>
  Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 00:49:35 +1030

Re: SCSI Controllers for a Hard Drive

Hi Kirsty
I've used some ISA & PCI adaptec's, and a PCI NCR over 
the last couple of years with linux, with varying results
but preferred the NCR to any of the adaptecs.
A few months ago however I installed an Advansys 
PCI ultra I got with a burner in a non critical server.
I'd been reluctant to use it before because advansys
wasn't known to me. It worked absolutely flawlessly
in fact, so good I took it out & put it in one
of my important servers in lieu of a PCI ultra adaptec.
I subsequently bought another for a new server
I was building, which has also performed flawlessly.

Unlike the adaptecs they boot quickly, recognise
every device I've put to them including drives,
magneto-opticals, burners and dats, have never
given an error (vs many errors a day on every Adaptec
I've used) and are cheap, you can pick them up around $130.
I've even managed to use one to salvage data from disks
the others had given up as dead.

Advansys have provided linux drivers since 1995
and all kernels since v1.3.58 have included it, they even
include linux drivers (for old kernels) on the floppy.

I'm beginning to believe, like NIC's, Operating systems
and even whole PC's the brandnames aren't really ahead on
anything but marketing, hype and price. So don't feel you
have to buy an adaptec any more than you have to buy NT.
There are good alternatives like advansys.

regards
Adrian


---from the systems--------
> [root@server /root]# cat /proc/pci
> PCI devices found:
...
>   Bus  0, device  15, function  0:
>     SCSI storage controller: Advanced System Products ABP940U (rev 3).
>       Medium devsel.  Fast back-to-back capable.  IRQ 11.  Master Capable.  Latency=64.  Min Gnt=4.Max Lat=4.
>       I/O at 0xf000.
>       Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xffae7f00.
...
> [root@server /root]# cat /proc/scsi/advansys/0
> AdvanSys SCSI 3.1D: PCI Ultra 16 CDB: IO F000/F, IRQ 11
...
> Linux Driver Statistics for AdvanSys SCSI Host 0:
>  command 0, queuecommand 929590, abort 0, reset 0, biosparam 0
>  interrupt 929630, callback 929584, done 929590
>  exe_noerror 929584, exe_busy 0, exe_error 0, exe_unknown 0
>  build_error 0
>  cont_cnt 929584, cont_xfer 27957651.0 kb avg_xfer 30.0 kb
>  Active and Waiting Request Queues (Time Unit: 100 HZ):
>  target 0
>    active: cnt [cur 0, max 1, tot 929584], time [min 0, max 5599, avg 4.8]
>    waiting: cnt [cur 0, max 0, tot 0], time [min 0, max 0, avg 0.0]

and another production server:
> [root@bert adrian]# cat /proc/pci    
> PCI devices found:
...
>   Bus  0, device  13, function  0:
>     SCSI storage controller: Advanced System Products ABP940U (rev 3).
>       Medium devsel.  Fast back-to-back capable.  IRQ 11.  Master Capable.  Latency=64.  Min Gnt=4.Max Lat=4.
>       I/O at 0xf000.
>       Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xffae7f00.
...
> [adrian@bert adrian]$ cat /proc/scsi/advansys/0
> AdvanSys SCSI 3.1D: PCI Ultra 16 CDB: IO F000/F, IRQ 11
> Linux Driver Statistics for AdvanSys SCSI Host 0:
>  command 0, queuecommand 32740, abort 0, reset 0, biosparam 1
>  interrupt 32750, callback 32734, done 32740
>  exe_noerror 32734, exe_busy 4821, exe_error 0, exe_unknown 0
...

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