🚀 go-pugleaf

Craig Sanders (cas@muffin.pronet.com) wrote:

: I'm going to be getting myself a new motherboard soon for my machine
: here, and will also need to get two more complete Linux computers in the
: near future if some projects I am working on get to a suitable state.

: I'm seriously thinking of getting an ASUS SP3G motherboard - the built
: in SCSI, EIDE, and 72-pin SIMMS and everything else makes it sound
: ideal.  It also seems to be the most recommended board for Linux.

The SP3G actually only has ISA IDE, ie, not Local Bus, and not EIDE.
Other than that, it's great!! I've had one for a few weeks now running
mainly Linux, and occasionally Dos/Windows without any problems. (dx2/66,
1x IDE drive, 1x SCSI-2 drive, 1x SCSI CD-ROM, PCI Video).
One thing to remember though is that as it uses the Saturn II bios, memory
interleave is always on, and so you must add SIMM's in pairs!!

: However, I've also heard that the NCR 53c810 SCSI controller doesn't
: work 100% reliably at the moment.  That it is still very much an
: experimental driver.

I've had no problems with the current driver. The only thing is that it's
missing a few of the "extra" scsi features, in particular disconnection, 
although there is currently an alpha version that supports these so it
shouldnt be long before they are in the standard kernel.

: Does anyone have either an ASUS SP3G and use the built-in SCSI, or have
: another board with an NCR 53c810 SCSI controller card installed?

I;m using the internal, although I know people using the SC200 card installed
and they are having no problems.

: How well does it work?  Is it reliable?

: What sort of conditions does it fail under?

As I said above, i've had no problems with it, nor have any of the people
I know who have them.

: Is swapping to a SCSI drive a problem?

With the current driver not supporting dis/reconnection, swap performance
wouldnt be brilliant, but as I said the new driver is coming...

: Is swapping to SCSI a problem when another SCSI device (e.g. tape drive
: or cd-rom) is using the SCSI bus a problem?

As above..

: If I do buy one, is there anything I should watch out for.

Watch out for the PCI-SP3 - it has an older version of the Saturn chipset,
and apparently has a few bugs.

: Any replies to these questions - or just comments about the ASUS SP3G and/or
: the NCR 53c810 SCSI controller - would be greatly appreciated.  I have to
: make a decision within the next week or so...

Buy it, you wont regret it!!

  Scott.