68kMLA Classic Interface

This is a version of the 68kMLA forums for viewing on your favorite old mac. Visitors on modern platforms may prefer the main site.

Click here to select a new forum.
Nubus SCSI for system 6
Posted by: opualuan on 2024-08-16 19:49:31
Building a IIci system with bluescsiV2, onboard scsi is very slow. Looking at nubus scsi (fwb jackhammwr, atto SEIV, others?). I’m running system 6 on this machine, any experience with this combo? Jackhammer manual says system 6 is not supported but should work, Atto manual says nothing about OS.

Appreciate any related experience you can share…
Posted by: Unknown_K on 2024-08-16 23:36:50
The older Silicon Express II cards are 2x as fast as built in SCSI and probably work under OS 6 (haven't tried).

Thing is they are hard to find.

There are other 50 pin Nubus SCSI cards out there as well.
Posted by: Snial on 2024-08-17 00:31:43
The older Silicon Express II cards are 2x as fast as built in SCSI and probably work under OS 6 (haven't tried).

Thing is they are hard to find.

There are other 50 pin Nubus SCSI cards out there as well.
I guess someone needs to develop a NuBus direct to SD or SSD card.
Posted by: Unknown_K on 2024-08-17 12:46:58
Nubus is so slow that a Nubus SATA card with mounting for a laptop HD would be fine.

Personally, I like the old SCSI cards and have quite a few from back in the days they were cheap.
Posted by: ArmorAlley on 2024-08-18 08:12:53
Building a IIci system with bluescsiV2, onboard scsi is very slow. Looking at nubus scsi (fwb jackhammwr, atto SEIV, others?). I’m running system 6 on this machine, any experience with this combo? Jackhammer manual says system 6 is not supported but should work, Atto manual says nothing about OS.

Appreciate any related experience you can share…
Any RAM above 32MB is perfect for a RAM disk. The RAM disk is as fast, if not faster than an LVD-SCSI drive on a 40MB/s Jackhammer.
Do bear in mind that RAM is volatile, so the contents of the RAM disk will be lost once the power is turned off.
The control panel RAMDisk can load up the RAM disk with a system folder (and other software) and then reboot the IIci to boot from the RAM disk.

The IIci was all but the fastest Macintosh in 1989-1990 (until the IIfx came along) but it was a very powerful machine in its time. With an SD card or a RAM disk instead of the standard hard drive, it will be more responsive still. System 6 should fly on this configuration.
I have a FWB Jackhammer in my IIfx running System 6 and it is fast but the SCSI2SD is also very responsive.

I don't wish to dampen your enthusiasm but I have a funny feeling that NuBus cards are in need now of recapping as well as some general maintenance and this has had a great impact on their availability. Many that haven't been repaired are now lying in drawers. I suspect that LVD SCSI cards are hard to get and very pricey when you do find them.
Posted by: olePigeon on 2024-08-22 10:24:56
Building a IIci system with bluescsiV2, onboard scsi is very slow. Looking at nubus scsi (fwb jackhammwr, atto SEIV, others?). I’m running system 6 on this machine, any experience with this combo? Jackhammer manual says system 6 is not supported but should work, Atto manual says nothing about OS.

Appreciate any related experience you can share…
Any reason you're sticking with System 6? I'd recommend System 7 Pro for a IIci. It's almost feature comparable with 7.5, but everything is modular, so you can disable all the extra stuff and make a memory-light lean system.
Posted by: opualuan on 2024-08-23 18:27:23
Never hear of system 7 pro. I plan to use the system for older software that doesn’t work correctly under 7 (I use 7.5.5 on my other mac) or using 32-bit addressing.

Appreciate the insight on ram disk (not sure if this works w/32-bit addressing). I’m up for recapping a scsi if anyone has one to offer!
Posted by: Arbee on 2024-08-24 08:45:16
System 7 Pro was the marketing name for 7.1.1. In 24-bit mode it's a reasonable mid-point between being ancient with 6.0.8 and needing a lot of RAM for 7.5.0 or 7.5.5.
1