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Seagate ST01 SCSI Host Adapter, 16K ROM Version 3.3

Cloudschatze

Cloudschatze

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Received this guy as part of a recent bulk purchase. I've not heretofore used any of the ST01/ST02 cards, but find this particular variant somewhat interesting. While the Seagate family of 8-bit SCSI cards are somewhat limited, given the seeming lack of ASPI/CAM drivers, if you're simply looking to throw a SCSI hard-drive into an older system with minimal fuss (or CompactFlash card solution, as I'm generally wont to do), this late-model variant is a pretty reasonable option.

As far as hard-drive support goes, it compares favorably with its contemporaries, with features like extended BIOS translation (allowing for drives < 8GB), termination power, and an exceptionally short boot time.

Seagate, remarkably enough, still hosts a document that covers the features and configuration/setup options for entire ST01/ST02 product range:
ftp://ftp.seagate.com/pub/techsuppt/controllers/st01-02.txt

Despite the glowing remarks, I really don't have any plans for this card, so if you happen to have any interest (and any esoteric 8-bit soundcards for possible trade), let me know. :)
 
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For any potential purchasers, note that a BIOS upgrade is available (somewhere in my files) that removes the issue with supporting Seagate drives only.
 
Chuck(G) said:
For any potential purchasers, note that a BIOS upgrade is available (somewhere in my files) that removes the issue with supporting Seagate drives only.
Click to expand...

It already has 3.3 (soldered, not socketed). Is there a BIOS version later than that? Granted, the only SCSI hard-drive I have just happens to be a Seagate, but I was under the impression that the Seagate-only limitation was removed in 3.2 onward?
 
No, I think you've got the latest BIOS. For some reason, I thought that there was a 4.01, but if there ever was, I can't find it now.

Note that I think this still limits one to <512 MiB, for whatever that's worth.
 
Chuck(G) said:
Note that I think this still limits one to <512 MiB, for whatever that's worth.
Click to expand...

I'm using a 4.3GB drive without trouble. :)

I'm only familiar with the 1GB barrier, as pertains to SCSI, which is what the extended translation in BIOS 3.3 addresses. The following is an excerpt from the linked Seagate document:

Addendum from the Seagate Tech Support BBS: The ST01/02 has a newer
board layout that can be identified by the ROM BIOS chip with a
version number 3.3 sticker.

Unlike previous versions of the ST01/02, this release will support
drives with more than 1024 cylinders...
Click to expand...
 
Chuck(G) said:
Hmmm, the 1GB limit on SCSI drives is due to the 6-byte CDB issue. If the newer BIOS can use the 10 byte CDB, that's cool.
Click to expand...

I assume that the SCSI device that can only accept 6-byte Command Descriptor Blocks is limited to using the read command and write command that uses 21-bit LBA. As far as I understood, SCSI devices with a boot loader/BIOS do not suffer from the 504MB hard disk drive barrier, as they translate the C,H,S values to LBA values and unlike ATA, do not have a different set of C,H,S limits. I believe the next major barrier would be the limits of standard Int 13, 8.4GB. The PC's BIOS would need to support Enhanced Int 13, as would the OS, and the SCSI controller's boot ROM may need to as well.
 
Chuck(G) said:
For any potential purchasers, note that a BIOS upgrade is available (somewhere in my files) that removes the issue with supporting Seagate drives only.
Click to expand...

I need to do that upgrade to my cards(s), do I need an emprom programmer to do so?
 
If the on-board chip can be disabled, the newer BIOS file could always be put somewhere else (more convenient).

I'd be very interested to know what kind of DOS file-system throughput these can deliver, in an XT.
 
Well, it's not fast. But 8-bit SCSI solutions are kind of limited anyway.

The ST01 basically uses a TI workalike of the NCR 53C400 chip, which in turn, is nothing more than an NCR 5380 with ISA interface logic and a bit of local SRAM for buffering and scratchpad. I do mean "a bit"--the chip doesn't have enough memory to hold a single 512 byte sector.

So draw your own conclusions.
 
Hmm, thanks. I don't know enough about SCSI to really draw much conclusion unfortunately!
 
Unknown_K said:
If you are stuck with an 8 bit bus (PC/XT) how fast does the SCSI need to be anyway.
Click to expand...

Good question. The problem with SCSI, particularly the narrow kind is that it's high latency; that is, it takes a fair amount of dancing to get it going. That's why you see a lot of caching SCSI controllers for the 16-bit bus.
 
Chuck(G) said:
Good question. The problem with SCSI, particularly the narrow kind is that it's high latency; that is, it takes a fair amount of dancing to get it going. That's why you see a lot of caching SCSI controllers for the 16-bit bus.
Click to expand...
16 bit SCSI controllers with cache SIMM slots are kind of rare, do you mean there are models with some cache soldered on board? There were a few varieties for VLB , but they were 32bit.

I could be wrong but I figured the cache SCSI cards were popular on slow CPU machines because the SCSI drives of the day didn't have much cache and the CPU could not keep up with the raw transfers so the cards just read data to cache and waited for the CPU to need it. It also helped the cards would cache the next block on the drive assuming the OS would ask for it next anyway (also sped up writes to disk as long as you didn't turn off the computer before the cache was written). Once systems used DMA (and RAM got cheap for use with smartdrive) caching controllers were pretty much just for servers.
 
One of the first 16-bit SCSI controllers I bought was the CSC FastCache--it had up to 10MB in SIMMs on it. Or consider the early WD7000 FASST controller--the thing was a memory pig but got decent performace. Take a look at the protocol timings for SCSI-1 and SCSI-2. SCSI is best suited to large transfer volumes.
 
Hi ST01/02 users!

I have an ST02 (with floppy) and V3.2. Can sombody send me the Bios file of the latest version 3.3?

Thanks guys!

Cheers
Dolby
 
I definitely need this card as is for my CP/M computer. I know that sounds crazy, but the CP/M computer uses a ST225N SCSI HD and this card will let me low level format the ST225N and do a bad sector analysis. What do you want for it?

I might be able to find some vintage 8-bit sound cards in my "extras" box.

Charles, clong6@jhu.edu
 
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Charles said:
I might be able to find some vintage 8-bit sound cards in my "extras" box.
Click to expand...

Turn up anything? :)

To address the use of ROM 3.3 with the older ST01/ST02 boards, per the document I linked to in the parent post:

"Addendum from the Seagate Tech Support BBS: The ST01/02 has a newer
board layout that can be identified by the ROM BIOS chip with a
version number 3.3 sticker.

Unlike previous versions of the ST01/02, this release will support
drives with more than 1024 cylinders and the ability to disable the
floppy controller portion on the ST02. This provides compatibility
with the Swift and Wren families of Seagate disc drives. Please note
that there is no possibility of ROM upgrades to older versions of the
ST01/02 SCSI host adapter."
 
I have version 3.3, is in a 27128 eprom and works in older versions of ST01/02 cards. Desoldered
v3.3 from the original card, make an eprom copy, put the copy in an old ST01/02 card and works well.
 
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