I received my SCSI2SD in the mail yesterday to be used in a non-turbo slab. Locally, the smallest micro SD card I can find is 8 GB. I'm unable to initialize the SD card from NS 3.3 setup, so I'm looking for pointers on how to properly setup this device. Firmware is updated to 4.4. Initially, I used the utility to create one disk 2 GB in size. I found that with the termination resistor packs in place, my external CD-ROM would not be recognized. I removed the resistor packs from the SCSI2SD and was able to boot from the CD-ROM (set to ID 4). However, the install failed because it could not initialize the SD card. So, I then configured the SD card to have four 2 GB partitions (ID 0,1,2,3), but upon booting from floppy, the CD-ROM wasn't seen. What am I doing wrong? Do I need to reinstall the resistor packs to terminate the SCSI2SD? Are there any special parameters I need to specify in the utility to allow the NS installer to initialize the SD card? I feel like I'm asking too many questions, but at this point I'm a little lost.
TL;DR - I need help setting up a SCSI2SD device to work with a non-turbo NeXTStation.
Thanks in advance!
22 views and no responses. I know a few of you have successfully installed and booted NeXTSTEP on a SCSI2SD card. What tricks did you use to initialize the card and install the operating system?
You probably need to set the (virtual) geometry of the SCI2SD device. I'm sure the format process interrupts with a "cylinder group too large" error message, right? AFAIK NeXTStep tries to optimize the format based on the geometry of the drive but the defaults reported by SCSI2SD are so "out of line" that this fails.
I reported that to Michael McMaster (the inventor of SCSI2SD) and since V 4.3 you can set the geometry like this:
1) Use scsi2sd-util to load existing settings from the SCSI2SD.
2) Use the new scsi2sd-util "Save to File ..." option to save a config file
3) Open the config file, and change sectorsPerTrack to 139 and headsPerCylinder to 4
4) Use the new scsi2sd-util "Open file ..." option to open the modified config file
5) Save the settings to the SCSI2SD.
(I lazily copied this from an E-Mail from Michael)
Alternatively you can just dump an image of a bootable HD onto the SD card using you Mac (dd...) or PC.
HTH, bobo68
FWIW
The last SCSI2SD I received had a black insert on the termination power and led jumper pins. I wasn't paying attention and didn't notice it wasn't an electrical jumper, just a bit of plastic to help mechanically stablize the pins.
Cause me all sorts of problems until I added a real jumper.
Quote from: "bobo68"You probably need to set the (virtual) geometry of the SCI2SD device. I'm sure the format process interrupts with a "cylinder group too large" error message, right? AFAIK NeXTStep tries to optimize the format based on the geometry of the drive but the defaults reported by SCSI2SD are so "out of line" that this fails.
I reported that to Michael McMaster (the inventor of SCSI2SD) and since V 4.3 you can set the geometry like this:
1) Use scsi2sd-util to load existing settings from the SCSI2SD.
2) Use the new scsi2sd-util "Save to File ..." option to save a config file
3) Open the config file, and change sectorsPerTrack to 139 and headsPerCylinder to 4
4) Use the new scsi2sd-util "Open file ..." option to open the modified config file
5) Save the settings to the SCSI2SD.
(I lazily copied this from an E-Mail from Michael)
Alternatively you can just dump an image of a bootable HD onto the SD card using you Mac (dd...) or PC.
HTH, bobo68
Thank you. This helped immensely. I wasn't aware that I could export a .xml file and edit those parameters. I got further than I did before using similar values to what you provided, but a few minutes after the installer began copying files to the disk, two errors were thrown: "IO error on pagein (bread)" and "IO error on page in (breadDirect)". These two messages looped repeatedly to the output window. Not sure what this means, but it's better than before.
EDIT: To add to my response - No, the install process does not get interrupted with a "cylinder group too large" error message. Prior to today, the error I got said something along the lines of unable to initialize disk. I'm paraphrasing here because I can't remember the specific message. I'm still tinkering with the setup as I have not yet been able to successfully install NS 3.3 onto this slab yet.
dd-ing a system install to a modern piece of technology is not feasible for me. For one, I don't have an image to dump to disk and if I did I have no way for my Mac or PC to interface with a 50-pin SCSI disk. If anything changes, I'll post an update. Thank you guys for your responses.
Success! I was finally able to initialize the 2 GB SDHC card and install NeXTSTEP 3.3.
So that it may help others, here is the configuration file I used for my non-turbo slab:
<SCSI2SD>
<SCSITarget id="0">
<enabled>true</enabled>
<unitAttention>false</unitAttention>
<parity>false</parity>
<!-- ********************************************************
Only set to true when using with a fast SCSI2 host
controller. This can cause problems with older/slower
hardware.
********************************************************* -->
<enableScsi2>false</enableScsi2>
<!-- ********************************************************
Setting to 'true' will result in increased performance at the
cost of lower noise immunity.
Only set to true when using short cables with only 1 or two
devices. This should remain off when using external SCSI1 DB25
cables.
********************************************************* -->
<disableGlitchFilter>true</disableGlitchFilter>
<!-- ********************************************************
Space separated list. Available options:
apple Returns Apple-specific mode pages
********************************************************* -->
<quirks></quirks>
<!-- ********************************************************
0x0 Fixed hard drive.
0x1 Removable drive.
0x2 Optical drive (ie. CD drive).
0x3 1.44MB Floppy Drive.
********************************************************* -->
<deviceType>0x0</deviceType>
<!-- ********************************************************
Device type modifier is usually 0x00. Only change this if your
OS requires some special value.
0x4C Data General Micropolis disk
********************************************************* -->
<deviceTypeModifier>0x00</deviceTypeModifier>
<!-- ********************************************************
SD card offset, as a sector number (always 512 bytes).
********************************************************* -->
<sdSectorStart>0</sdSectorStart>
<!-- ********************************************************
Drive geometry settings.
********************************************************* -->
<scsiSectors>3905900</scsiSectors>
<bytesPerSector>512</bytesPerSector>
<sectorsPerTrack>139</sectorsPerTrack>
<headsPerCylinder>4</headsPerCylinder>
<!-- ********************************************************
Drive identification information. The SCSI2SD doesn't
care what these are set to. Use these strings to trick a OS
thinking a specific hard drive model is attached.
********************************************************* -->
<!-- 8 character vendor string -->
<!-- For Apple HD SC Setup/Drive Setup, use ' SEAGATE' -->
<vendor>SEAGATE</vendor>
<!-- 16 character produce identifier -->
<!-- For Apple HD SC Setup/Drive Setup, use ' ST225N' -->
<prodId>ST1255ND</prodId>
<!-- 4 character product revision number -->
<!-- For Apple HD SC Setup/Drive Setup, use '1.0 ' -->
<revision>0009</revision>
<!-- 16 character serial number -->
<serial>ML64203MF6QLC</serial>
</SCSITarget>
<SCSITarget id="1">
<enabled>false</enabled>
<unitAttention>false</unitAttention>
<parity>false</parity>
<!-- ********************************************************
Only set to true when using with a fast SCSI2 host
controller. This can cause problems with older/slower
hardware.
********************************************************* -->
<enableScsi2>false</enableScsi2>
<!-- ********************************************************
Setting to 'true' will result in increased performance at the
cost of lower noise immunity.
Only set to true when using short cables with only 1 or two
devices. This should remain off when using external SCSI1 DB25
cables.
********************************************************* -->
<disableGlitchFilter>false</disableGlitchFilter>
<!-- ********************************************************
Space separated list. Available options:
apple Returns Apple-specific mode pages
********************************************************* -->
<quirks></quirks>
<!-- ********************************************************
0x0 Fixed hard drive.
0x1 Removable drive.
0x2 Optical drive (ie. CD drive).
0x3 1.44MB Floppy Drive.
********************************************************* -->
<deviceType>0x0</deviceType>
<!-- ********************************************************
Device type modifier is usually 0x00. Only change this if your
OS requires some special value.
0x4C Data General Micropolis disk
********************************************************* -->
<deviceTypeModifier>0x0</deviceTypeModifier>
<!-- ********************************************************
SD card offset, as a sector number (always 512 bytes).
********************************************************* -->
<sdSectorStart>4194303</sdSectorStart>
<!-- ********************************************************
Drive geometry settings.
********************************************************* -->
<scsiSectors>4194303</scsiSectors>
<bytesPerSector>512</bytesPerSector>
<sectorsPerTrack>63</sectorsPerTrack>
<headsPerCylinder>255</headsPerCylinder>
<!-- ********************************************************
Drive identification information. The SCSI2SD doesn't
care what these are set to. Use these strings to trick a OS
thinking a specific hard drive model is attached.
********************************************************* -->
<!-- 8 character vendor string -->
<!-- For Apple HD SC Setup/Drive Setup, use ' SEAGATE' -->
<vendor>Quantum </vendor>
<!-- 16 character produce identifier -->
<!-- For Apple HD SC Setup/Drive Setup, use ' ST225N' -->
<prodId>Fireball </prodId>
<!-- 4 character product revision number -->
<!-- For Apple HD SC Setup/Drive Setup, use '1.0 ' -->
<revision>03 </revision>
<!-- 16 character serial number -->
<serial>ML64203MF6QLL </serial>
</SCSITarget>
<SCSITarget id="2">
<enabled>false</enabled>
<unitAttention>false</unitAttention>
<parity>false</parity>
<!-- ********************************************************
Only set to true when using with a fast SCSI2 host
controller. This can cause problems with older/slower
hardware.
********************************************************* -->
<enableScsi2>false</enableScsi2>
<!-- ********************************************************
Setting to 'true' will result in increased performance at the
cost of lower noise immunity.
Only set to true when using short cables with only 1 or two
devices. This should remain off when using external SCSI1 DB25
cables.
********************************************************* -->
<disableGlitchFilter>false</disableGlitchFilter>
<!-- ********************************************************
Space separated list. Available options:
apple Returns Apple-specific mode pages
********************************************************* -->
<quirks></quirks>
<!-- ********************************************************
0x0 Fixed hard drive.
0x1 Removable drive.
0x2 Optical drive (ie. CD drive).
0x3 1.44MB Floppy Drive.
********************************************************* -->
<deviceType>0x0</deviceType>
<!-- ********************************************************
Device type modifier is usually 0x00. Only change this if your
OS requires some special value.
0x4C Data General Micropolis disk
********************************************************* -->
<deviceTypeModifier>0x0</deviceTypeModifier>
<!-- ********************************************************
SD card offset, as a sector number (always 512 bytes).
********************************************************* -->
<sdSectorStart>0</sdSectorStart>
<!-- ********************************************************
Drive geometry settings.
********************************************************* -->
<scsiSectors>4194303</scsiSectors>
<bytesPerSector>512</bytesPerSector>
<sectorsPerTrack>63</sectorsPerTrack>
<headsPerCylinder>255</headsPerCylinder>
<!-- ********************************************************
Drive identification information. The SCSI2SD doesn't
care what these are set to. Use these strings to trick a OS
thinking a specific hard drive model is attached.
********************************************************* -->
<!-- 8 character vendor string -->
<!-- For Apple HD SC Setup/Drive Setup, use ' SEAGATE' -->
<vendor> codesrc</vendor>
<!-- 16 character produce identifier -->
<!-- For Apple HD SC Setup/Drive Setup, use ' ST225N' -->
<prodId> SCSI2SD</prodId>
<!-- 4 character product revision number -->
<!-- For Apple HD SC Setup/Drive Setup, use '1.0 ' -->
<revision> 4.2</revision>
<!-- 16 character serial number -->
<serial>1234567812345678</serial>
</SCSITarget>
<SCSITarget id="3">
<enabled>false</enabled>
<unitAttention>false</unitAttention>
<parity>false</parity>
<!-- ********************************************************
Only set to true when using with a fast SCSI2 host
controller. This can cause problems with older/slower
hardware.
********************************************************* -->
<enableScsi2>false</enableScsi2>
<!-- ********************************************************
Setting to 'true' will result in increased performance at the
cost of lower noise immunity.
Only set to true when using short cables with only 1 or two
devices. This should remain off when using external SCSI1 DB25
cables.
********************************************************* -->
<disableGlitchFilter>false</disableGlitchFilter>
<!-- ********************************************************
Space separated list. Available options:
apple Returns Apple-specific mode pages
********************************************************* -->
<quirks></quirks>
<!-- ********************************************************
0x0 Fixed hard drive.
0x1 Removable drive.
0x2 Optical drive (ie. CD drive).
0x3 1.44MB Floppy Drive.
********************************************************* -->
<deviceType>0x0</deviceType>
<!-- ********************************************************
Device type modifier is usually 0x00. Only change this if your
OS requires some special value.
0x4C Data General Micropolis disk
********************************************************* -->
<deviceTypeModifier>0x0</deviceTypeModifier>
<!-- ********************************************************
SD card offset, as a sector number (always 512 bytes).
********************************************************* -->
<sdSectorStart>0</sdSectorStart>
<!-- ********************************************************
Drive geometry settings.
********************************************************* -->
<scsiSectors>4194303</scsiSectors>
<bytesPerSector>512</bytesPerSector>
<sectorsPerTrack>63</sectorsPerTrack>
<headsPerCylinder>255</headsPerCylinder>
<!-- ********************************************************
Drive identification information. The SCSI2SD doesn't
care what these are set to. Use these strings to trick a OS
thinking a specific hard drive model is attached.
********************************************************* -->
<!-- 8 character vendor string -->
<!-- For Apple HD SC Setup/Drive Setup, use ' SEAGATE' -->
<vendor> codesrc</vendor>
<!-- 16 character produce identifier -->
<!-- For Apple HD SC Setup/Drive Setup, use ' ST225N' -->
<prodId> SCSI2SD</prodId>
<!-- 4 character product revision number -->
<!-- For Apple HD SC Setup/Drive Setup, use '1.0 ' -->
<revision> 4.2</revision>
<!-- 16 character serial number -->
<serial>1234567812345678</serial>
</SCSITarget>
</SCSI2SD>
I will say that the system seems to run slower from the SD card than the Quantum Fireball I had installed before. However, I don't have any benchmarks to confirm this and the Fireball is, well, toast. I have not tried to disable the GlitchFilter to see if performance improves. Lastly, using this configuration, the SD card will appear to be about 1.9 GB in size.
Edited: 9/12/2015
Reason: Updated config file to reflect current setup.
This is good stuff. Will have to stash it away in the "remember" file, and will share with some Mac folks in case it helps them in the future.
It would be interesting if folks could contribute the original vendor/device types of OEM NeXT drives... 330mb and 660mb full-height drives in the case of the Cube, I believe. That way the console messages at verbose boot would even be correct!
You're welcome, SlateBlue.
What your config file boils down to is one SCSI device with SCSI id 0 and the geometry I mentioned. Additionally you specified some drive id info which I did not have to do to make SCSI2SD work with my NeXTstation Turbo. I also did not have to move the sdSectorStart.
What happened that it suddenly worked for you between the two posts?
You will see the "cylinder group too large" message only if you are using the Terminal or (I think) have a look at the Console.
Quotedd-ing a system install to a modern piece of technology is not feasible for me...
You can dd the image onto the sdcard which you plug into you Mac or PC. No need for SCSI. There are images out there - Google is your friend. :)
Quote from: "pl212"It would be interesting if folks could contribute the original vendor/device types of OEM NeXT drives... 330mb and 660mb full-height drives in the case of the Cube, I believe. That way the console messages at verbose boot would even be correct!
I have several different OEM NeXT drives, I'll try to hook them up this weekend and get that info.
Quote from: "bobo68"You're welcome, SlateBlue.
What your config file boils down to is one SCSI device with SCSI id 0 and the geometry I mentioned. Additionally you specified some drive id info which I did not have to do to make SCSI2SD work with my NeXTstation Turbo. I also did not have to move the sdSectorStart.
What happened that it suddenly worked for you between the two posts?
You will see the "cylinder group too large" message only if you are using the Terminal or (I think) have a look at the Console.
Quotedd-ing a system install to a modern piece of technology is not feasible for me...
You can dd the image onto the sdcard which you plug into you Mac or PC. No need for SCSI. There are images out there - Google is your friend. :)
If you'll notice, there was about 4 hours between those two posts. ;) All I did was edit the config file in a text editor using some of the parameters you specified, and I made some arbitrary tweaks such as adding drive model and serial number. After doing so, I ran the installer again and it successfully initialized the SD card and installed the operating system. I didn't have a reason to add the offset value; I just did it.
The only thing my Google search yielded was a link to download 3.3 User. After successfully installing the operating system, I used dd to create an image which is stored on my Linux PC. If someone needs a copy, I might be available for best friend status.
I have the original hard disk that came from this slab. It's a Quantum ProDrive and I'm thinking it has a 1988 or 1989 date on it. I can snap a photo of the label and upload it here. I'm not sure of its size.
Quote from: "pl212"It would be interesting if folks could contribute the original vendor/device types of OEM NeXT drives... 330mb and 660mb full-height drives in the case of the Cube, I believe. That way the console messages at verbose boot would even be correct!
a list of manufacturers/models and disk geometry can be found in /etc/disktab of NeXTSTEP 1.0a (maybe in later releases too, I didn't check).
Quote from: "pergamon"I have several different OEM NeXT drives, I'll try to hook them up this weekend and get that info.
The scsimodes command should give you good info, e.g.
scsimodes /dev/rsd0a
SCSI information for /dev/rsd0a
Drive type: SEAGATE ST43400N
512 bytes per sector
99 sectors per track
21 tracks per cylinder
2737 cylinder per volume (including spare cylinders)
9 spare sectors per cylinder
21 alternate tracks per volume
5688446 usable sectors on volume
(from Mark Tacchi, "Adding On without Flipping Out")
Quote from: "SlateBlue"The only thing my Google search yielded was a link to download 3.3 User.
Do "nextstep iso download" at Google -> Boom (as Steve would have said)
Quote from: "SlateBlue"I have the original hard disk that came from this slab. It's a Quantum ProDrive and I'm thinking it has a 1988 or 1989 date on it. I can snap a photo of the label and upload it here. I'm not sure of its size.
I have a similar drive in my Color slab, also with the plastic front. They are not that unusual. The plastic was really meant to be the front panel when used in an open enclosing.
Quote from: "SlateBlue"After successfully installing the operating system, I used dd to create an image which is stored on my Linux PC. If someone needs a copy, I might be available for best friend status.
there are dd images available of almost every system release.
here
http://www.nextcomputers.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3406&start=17and here
https://winworldpc.com/product/nextstep
Quote from: "bobo68"Quote from: "SlateBlue"The only thing my Google search yielded was a link to download 3.3 User.
Do "nextstep iso download" at Google -> Boom (as Steve would have said)
Quote from: "SlateBlue"I have the original hard disk that came from this slab. It's a Quantum ProDrive and I'm thinking it has a 1988 or 1989 date on it. I can snap a photo of the label and upload it here. I'm not sure of its size.
I have a similar drive in my Color slab, also with the plastic front. They are not that unusual. The plastic was really meant to be the front panel when used in an open enclosing.
I'm 29 years old. The first computer I built used an IDE hard drive and ran Windows XP. Having never seen a hard drive with a plastic front panel and LED, I do indeed find it to be unusual. I was in diapers when most of you were hacking away on these machines. It goes without saying that I'm making new discoveries when working with vintage hardware. It's like taking a modern automotive technician, sitting him down at a workbench and having him rebuild a carburetor. It's not that he can't do it, he just never had to. So, all of the old parts and tech are new concepts to this gentleman. Give him the tools and little education, and he will succeed in his given task.
Thanks to all of you for sharing your knowledge. Do any of you think it may be wise to create a Sticky containing collective information about SCSI2SD config files and system images? I believe it would be a great reference for both skilled veterans and new fellas like myself.
Quote from: "mikeboss"Quote from: "SlateBlue"After successfully installing the operating system, I used dd to create an image which is stored on my Linux PC. If someone needs a copy, I might be available for best friend status.
there are dd images available of almost every system release.
here http://www.nextcomputers.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3406&start=17
and here https://winworldpc.com/product/nextstep
Thanks for sharing this. WinworldPC is where I found the NS3.3 User image. Since I have a one-track mind, I didn't really pay attention to the other download links.
Quote from: "SlateBlue"Quote from: "mikeboss"Quote from: "SlateBlue"After successfully installing the operating system, I used dd to create an image which is stored on my Linux PC. If someone needs a copy, I might be available for best friend status.
there are dd images available of almost every system release.
here http://www.nextcomputers.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3406&start=17
and here https://winworldpc.com/product/nextstep
Thanks for sharing this. WinworldPC is where I found the NS3.3 User image. Since I have a one-track mind, I didn't really pay attention to the other download links.
I ordered one and am looking forward to trying it , now just need to order the Micro sd .
I didn't quite understand this useful point:
Quote from: "bobo68"
Alternatively you can just dump an image of a bootable HD onto the SD card using you Mac (dd...) or PC.
I'd like to use dd to do exactly this job, I have a dd dumped image of my NeXT scsi drive - my question is: how does one then format an SD card in OS X so that it's then mountable by, say, diskutil in OS X, as say, /dev/rdisk2s1, and then written to by dd; unmounted, and then readable by black hardware?
I wondered whether the boot blocks would be copied, etc.
But first I need to be able to properly format and then mount it so it's visible by dd.
I also have an SCI2SD unit - I would try that next, to build a new bootable disk on the sd card that way, but dd seemed easiest.
(You can easily use dd over ssh to dd an entire NeXT scsi disk over the net, albeit slowly.)
Any tips appreciated. I'm sure someone has done this before, so sorry for any repetition.
Thanks.
Quote from: "bobo68"You probably need to set the (virtual) geometry of the SCI2SD device. I'm sure the format process interrupts with a "cylinder group too large" error message, right? AFAIK NeXTStep tries to optimize the format based on the geometry of the drive but the defaults reported by SCSI2SD are so "out of line" that this fails.
I reported that to Michael McMaster (the inventor of SCSI2SD) and since V 4.3 you can set the geometry like this:
1) Use scsi2sd-util to load existing settings from the SCSI2SD.
2) Use the new scsi2sd-util "Save to File ..." option to save a config file
3) Open the config file, and change sectorsPerTrack to 139 and headsPerCylinder to 4
4) Use the new scsi2sd-util "Open file ..." option to open the modified config file
5) Save the settings to the SCSI2SD.
(I lazily copied this from an E-Mail from Michael)
Alternatively you can just dump an image of a bootable HD onto the SD card using you Mac (dd...) or PC.
HTH, bobo68
No need to format the SD card. dd does a block copy so the SD card gets the format of the image file (.iso, ...).
In fact you have to unmount the target SD drive so dd can write to it without interference. see
http://www.thelinuxdaily.com/2010/01/writing-images-to-disk-on-mac-osx-with-dd/ or
http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/how-to-create-disk-image-on-mac-os-x-with-dd-command/ for examples. The second one is meant to create an image from the disk so you just have to reverse "if" and "of" parameters in step 3.
The funny thing is that this kind of image copy worked for me with an SCSI2SD without setting a proper geometry.
Thanks, I think this is exactly correct, and was my understanding from using dd in other situations.
Quote from: "bobo68"No need to format the SD card. dd does a block copy so the SD card gets the format of the image file (.iso, ...).
In fact you have to unmount the target SD drive so dd can write to it without interference.
The funny thing is that this kind of image copy worked for me with an SCSI2SD without setting a proper geometry.
That's what I'll try. I am guessing the disk geometry is scribbled onto the SD card blindly at the front which is why you don't have to set anything. The only possible thing that could go wrong is the offset start for the SD card, but it seems like the default works for you. The links you provide are spot-on, thanks. I'll tell you whether it works.
As the link says (slightly edited) you then just use:
sudo sh -c 'gunzip -c NeXT.disk.img.dd.gz | dd of=/dev/disk2
As noted before, since you can use ssh from the NeXT to a Mac or Linux/PC to image disks, if this works then aside from speech there seems to be no need for an intermediate external scsi box.
Thank you so much for these tips. I'll report back.
Quote from: "rcberwick"I am guessing the disk geometry is scribbled onto the SD card blindly at the front which is why you don't have to set anything. The only possible thing that could go wrong is the offset start for the SD card, but it seems like the default works for you. The links you provide are spot-on, thanks. I'll tell you whether it works.
SCSI2SD does not write any configuration info onto the SDs. It is stored on the SCSI2SD board itself. I hope this will change in the future because currently you need to match a SCSI2SD with an appropriate SD.
The disk geometry is important if you install the SCSI2SD directly in the NeXT computer and e.g. format an SD card there. NeXTStep calculated a bad cylinder group size in my case and refused to format the SD.
Quote from: "rcberwick"sudo sh -c 'gunzip -c NeXT.disk.img.dd.gz | dd of=/dev/disk2
As noted before, since you can use ssh from the NeXT to a Mac or Linux/PC to image disks, if this works then aside from speech there seems to be no need for an intermediate external scsi box.
Maybe I'm getting you wrong here but why don't you directly plug the SD card into your Mac (if it has a slot)? Then you can use dd on the Mac.
Good to remember; sure you could do that all in one step. This was to illustrate archiving the NeXT disk image first by transferring it from a NeXT machine scsi disk to a Mac.
Does anyone have a working .xml file for scsi2sd that properly sets up the second scsi id (id 1)?
Can the xml simply be a duplicate
(aside from the ID) of the disk geometry for the first ID?
(This is using an 8gb sd)
Then - one has to format it on the NeXT, makefs, etc., I would assume.
thanks for any tips
I guess I answered my own question - WTFM. The disk tools that NeXT and unix have suffice.
Quote from: "rcberwick"Does anyone have a working .xml file for scsi2sd that properly sets up the second scsi id (id 1)?
Can the xml simply be a duplicate
(aside from the ID) of the disk geometry for the first ID?
(This is using an 8gb sd)
Then - one has to format it on the NeXT, makefs, etc., I would assume.
thanks for any tips
So in corresponding with Mike McMaster at code src , the new bios for the new version 6 Microsd cards is very close to working in NeXTstep. The advantage is they will be significantly faster and more reliable than the version 5 cards but will also sell at a premium because of the faster processor. I'm going to buy a few to help with the beta testing process should be fun. He mentioned someone is helping test on NeXTstep , the more the merrier I always say!
This is good news. Has anyone figured out how to use partition #s with NeXT OS as opposed to just scsi IDs that would work w/ either the v. 5 or 6 cards? That way we could have quite capacious total file storage, even given limits of 2gb/partition. Perhaps the v. 6 addition of LUNs would do the trick?
On another point, in general testing of 3-4 difft vendor SD cards - my own experience has been that the newer premium priced UHS-I cards (ultra HD, rated for 4K cams, e.g., SanDisk Extreme) easily run 15-25x faster than the low-end cards, esp. wrt write speeds.
Quote from: "Rob Blessin Black Hole"So in corresponding with Mike McMaster at code src , the new bios for the new version 6 Microsd cards is very close to working in NeXTstep. The advantage is they will be significantly faster and more reliable than the version 5 cards but will also sell at a premium because of the faster processor. I'm going to buy a few to help with the beta testing process should be fun. He mentioned someone is helping test on NeXTstep , the more the merrier I always say!
I've had no problems installing NeXTSTEP nor OPENSTEP on my Sparcstation 5 with SCSI2SD and a 1gb partition/drive. My 20gb real scsi hdd on the other hand gave me some weird errors and refused to be installed on, as my other thread described.