🚀 go-pugleaf

schuster@panix.com (Michael Schuster) wrote:

>In article <Pine.OSF.3.91.960308133424.3754C-100000-100000-100000@leonis.nus.sg>,
>>	Is there a method to use an external scsi to parallel converter 
>>on a scsi zip drive? Know if such things exist, where I can get one?

>Reposted for the fourteen quadrillionth time:



>Several people have asked about the possibility of transporting the SCSI
>ZIP drive to PC's having no SCSI host ... in particular whether there is a
>way to use a parallel port adaptor.

>The Adaptec [Trantor] MiniSCSI series won't work by themselves, since 
>they draw power from the SCSI device and the ZIP drive does not 
>provide TRMPWR.

>However, Iomega still makes a similar adaptor, currently the PPA-3, which
>is bundled with some Bernoulli drives. It costs about $180 and is available
>direct, or from the special PC/Mac Connection Iomega order line.

>There are two gotchas:

>1. Cabling. The Bernoulli drives use standard 50-pin Centronics
>connectors, and the PPA-3 is built to plug directly in. So, to connect a
>Zip drive you have to make a custom cable having a female Centronics-50 on
>one end and a male DB-25 on the other. This can be improvised using a "Mac
>System Cable" and a F-F Centronics-50 gender changer.

>2. Power. The PPA-3 is designed to draw power from the Bernoulli drive.
>Not via the TRMPWR pin on the SCSI cable, but through a special mini phone
>jack on the back. The PPA-3 has a short cable coming out of the side,
>terminating in a mini phone plug. Iomega sells an optional power supply
>for $25.

>It's pretty obvious that the PPA-3 requires 5 VDC, tip positive, at some
>small current draw. However, looking inside it is apparent that there is
>**NO** regulation or reverse polarity protection on this plug. So be very
>careful what you connect, or you could easily fry the PPA-3 ... a cheap
>unregulated wall wart would be asking for trouble.

>You could easily construct a y-cable to power the SCSI ZIP and the PPA-3
>from the same Iomega power cube, though.

>That being said - we rigged together cables and power this morning, and
>tried the combination on a DOS machine having the Acculogic multi-io card
>with SMC EPP port. Just typing "guest", it works exactly like a parallel 
>port Zip drive, except that the SCSI ID on the drive is not 7 like the 
>PP model. We achieved the same throughput under DOS as with the PP version 
>on the same machine. Very easy and gratifying, if a little messy. 

>This should probably work on the upcoming Jaz drive, etc.

>-- 
>Mike Schuster       |        schuster@panix.com | 70346.1745@CompuServe.COM
>------------------- | schuster@shell.portal.com | schuster@mem.po.com 

Pretty elaborate.   I'm not advanced enought to do all the above.  I
just run the Trantor mini SCSI from the parallel port to my external
CD-ROM and plug the Zip-drive into the CD-ROM.  Works fine.  Course,
you need a CD-ROM from somewhere to do it.   

Now maybe you high(er) tech follks can tell me if my setup will still
work if I convert to WIN 95?

Thanks , Fred W. Hillier