I'm finally cleaning off me desks, and am finding some genuinely odd things...

digitalwanderer · Feb 19, 2003, 03:28 PM

...which is kind of embarressing, but when has that ever stopped me from babbling about something?

I haven't cleaned off me computer desks, (Blue & Bubbles, they sit opposite each other in a tiny room on their own massive corner hutch units. Oh, and me wife's desk and two leather office chairs along with a couple of file cabinets and a pretty good sized floorsafe.), in about...oh, let's just call it a couple of years now.

I've finally gotten sick of pushing back piles to find a place to set my coffee cup down.

I just found a seagate barricuda 4.3 ultra scsi drive under a pile of papers I'd forgotten about. I've never used a SCSI device before, is this thing worth buying a cable for to play around with or not? (And what kind of cable do I NEED? Does it hook up to an IDE port or is there a SCSI port on one of my mobos? )

Sorry for the stupid question, but I figured this would be a good place to list stuff I find and don't understand....I think I'm going to have a lot of it. (Oh, I've found TWO mobos so far...

)

DriveEuro · Feb 19, 2003, 04:38 PM

DIG, you have to buy a scsi controller card. Hooks up in your PCI slot. Costs too much to be worth it. Lets leave it at that.

Zardon · Feb 19, 2003, 04:49 PM

you can pick up a scsi card for very little nowadays. its well worth a play with digital if you get one at the right price. and knowing you and your shopping around you very may well be able

NaumoJR · Feb 19, 2003, 10:25 PM

Quote:

I've finally gotten sick of pushing back piles to find a place to set my coffee cup down.

hahah

I know how that goes. I actually cleaned my desk off this weekend too.

Got tired of looking at my mountian of Coke cans.

MikeDaMan · Feb 19, 2003, 11:10 PM

normally when it comes to desk cleaning for me I just open a few droors and wipe everything from the top of the desk into it with my arm. Thats seems to work rather well except that now i have to build enough courage to clean the droors

NaumoJR · Feb 19, 2003, 11:20 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by MikeDaMan
normally when it comes to desk cleaning for me I just open a few droors and wipe everything from the top of the desk into it with my arm. Thats seems to work rather well except that now i have to build enough courage to clean the droors

I find myself doing that a lot too.

Frodo301 · Feb 20, 2003, 12:04 AM

I think a messy desk comes with the territory of being a hardware geek like we all are. My desk is chuk full of everything from cds, dvds, hardware, you get the picture. And I know where everything is and can tell when anyone has messed with anything while they are using the 'puter wrote that because my oldest daughter is hovering nearby waiting to get on the 'puter. Now she is embarassed.

Matth · Feb 20, 2003, 12:28 PM

I know the feeling... every horizontal surface has a pile of junk on it.

Secondhand SCSI controllers are not that expensive - I run my scanner on an Adaptec 2940U/UW that only cost me £10 - it was a Compaq OEM model that was actually flashable to a recent retail BIOS.

There are also many flavours of SCSI

1. Signalling rate
5Mb/ASYNC ("normal"), 10Mb (Fast), 20 Mb (Ultra)

2. Width
8 bit/Narrow/"normal" - 50 pin
16 bit/WIDE - 68 pin

3. Interface
Most are single ended, but alternatives are LVD (low voltage differential) or HVD (high voltage differential)
On some drives, you may be able to select the mode - be sure to get it right - OR ELSE!

Internal ribbon cables are not that dear either, but external cables are expensive.

A narrow controller can run a chain of 7 devices, a Wide controller can run 15, with a maximum of 7 of those being narrow.

Feb 20, 2003, 09:31 PM

how big is the scsi drive?... if its pretty big then i would use it... heck its a lot faster (depending on which scsi it is... if its one of the old slow ones then bump that dawg...)

Ryoko · Feb 20, 2003, 09:40 PM

a 4.3gig will not outrun today's drives, heck i'll bet a 30gb ide hd can beat it.

my brother spent $600 on an adaptec 3200 scsi raid controller, and $400 on cables and drives, and my $200 ide raid array beats his array in every test except for average seek...

digitalwanderer · Feb 20, 2003, 10:09 PM

Thanks everybody. So if I can find meself a cheap SCSI card at a show it'd be a decent thing for adding to Babs or a friends old clunker to give 'em a little breathing room at least....it's good for something.

Feb 19, 2003, 03:28 PM	#1
digitalwanderer Colour Commentator Join Date: May 2002 Location: Highland, IN USA Posts: 5,619 Rep Power: 0	I'm finally cleaning off me desks, and am finding some genuinely odd things... ...which is kind of embarressing, but when has that ever stopped me from babbling about something? I haven't cleaned off me computer desks, (Blue & Bubbles, they sit opposite each other in a tiny room on their own massive corner hutch units. Oh, and me wife's desk and two leather office chairs along with a couple of file cabinets and a pretty good sized floorsafe.), in about...oh, let's just call it a couple of years now. I've finally gotten sick of pushing back piles to find a place to set my coffee cup down. I just found a seagate barricuda 4.3 ultra scsi drive under a pile of papers I'd forgotten about. I've never used a SCSI device before, is this thing worth buying a cable for to play around with or not? (And what kind of cable do I NEED? Does it hook up to an IDE port or is there a SCSI port on one of my mobos? ) Sorry for the stupid question, but I figured this would be a good place to list stuff I find and don't understand....I think I'm going to have a lot of it. (Oh, I've found TWO mobos so far... ) __________________ WTF is up with the sigs?

Feb 19, 2003, 04:38 PM	#2
DriveEuro HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Gurnee Illinois Posts: 4,677 Rep Power: 0	DIG, you have to buy a scsi controller card. Hooks up in your PCI slot. Costs too much to be worth it. Lets leave it at that. __________________ [color=orange]ASUS P4P800 Deluxe [color=black]-[/color] 2.4C --> 3300mhz [color=black]-[/color] Mushkin PC3200 at 220 5-2-2-2 (cpu limited) [color=black]-[/color] BBAti 9800Pro at 430/375 [/color] [color=black]3[/color][color=gray]D[/color]M[color=black]a[/color][color=gray]r[/color]k[color=yellow]01[/color] [color=black]3[/color][color=gray]D[/color]M[color=black]a[/color][color=gray]r[/color]k[color=yellow]03[/color] 16001200 12801024

Feb 19, 2003, 11:10 PM	#5
MikeDaMan DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 874 Rep Power: 0	normally when it comes to desk cleaning for me I just open a few droors and wipe everything from the top of the desk into it with my arm. Thats seems to work rather well except that now i have to build enough courage to clean the droors __________________ DFI Lanpart UT 250GB motherboard. 1GB 2X512 Crucial Ballistix PC 3200. AMD Athlon 64 3400+. Retail ATI Radeon X850XT PE AGP

Feb 20, 2003, 10:09 PM	Thread Starter #11
digitalwanderer Colour Commentator Join Date: May 2002 Location: Highland, IN USA Posts: 5,619 Rep Power: 0	Thanks. Thanks everybody. So if I can find meself a cheap SCSI card at a show it'd be a decent thing for adding to Babs or a friends old clunker to give 'em a little breathing room at least....it's good for something. __________________ WTF is up with the sigs?

Feb 19, 2003, 04:49 PM	#3
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,480 Rep Power: 179	you can pick up a scsi card for very little nowadays. its well worth a play with digital if you get one at the right price. and knowing you and your shopping around you very may well be able

Feb 20, 2003, 12:04 AM	#7
Frodo301 Outraged Join Date: May 2002 Location: The mountains Posts: 584 Rep Power: 0	I think a messy desk comes with the territory of being a hardware geek like we all are. My desk is chuk full of everything from cds, dvds, hardware, you get the picture. And I know where everything is and can tell when anyone has messed with anything while they are using the 'puter wrote that because my oldest daughter is hovering nearby waiting to get on the 'puter. Now she is embarassed.

Feb 20, 2003, 12:28 PM	#8
Matth Flash Banner Hater Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: UK Posts: 3,426 Rep Power: 93 System Specs	I know the feeling... every horizontal surface has a pile of junk on it. Secondhand SCSI controllers are not that expensive - I run my scanner on an Adaptec 2940U/UW that only cost me £10 - it was a Compaq OEM model that was actually flashable to a recent retail BIOS. There are also many flavours of SCSI 1. Signalling rate 5Mb/ASYNC ("normal"), 10Mb (Fast), 20 Mb (Ultra) 2. Width 8 bit/Narrow/"normal" - 50 pin 16 bit/WIDE - 68 pin 3. Interface Most are single ended, but alternatives are LVD (low voltage differential) or HVD (high voltage differential) On some drives, you may be able to select the mode - be sure to get it right - OR ELSE! Internal ribbon cables are not that dear either, but external cables are expensive. A narrow controller can run a chain of 7 devices, a Wide controller can run 15, with a maximum of 7 of those being narrow.

Feb 20, 2003, 09:31 PM	#9
generalstupid Guest Posts: n/a	how big is the scsi drive?... if its pretty big then i would use it... heck its a lot faster (depending on which scsi it is... if its one of the old slow ones then bump that dawg...)

Feb 20, 2003, 09:40 PM	#10
Ryoko American Soldier Join Date: May 2002 Location: Williamsburg, VA Posts: 1,725 Rep Power: 0	a 4.3gig will not outrun today's drives, heck i'll bet a 30gb ide hd can beat it. my brother spent $600 on an adaptec 3200 scsi raid controller, and $400 on cables and drives, and my $200 ide raid array beats his array in every test except for average seek...