Re: [tlug] iodata

["SN_Diamond" <Norman.Diamond@example.com>]

> * The ATA<->SCSI translater card doesn't do a very good job of
>   translation.  You can't boot a sparc or an alpha from the drive, which
>   is a good sign that things are wrong,

Some machines have BIOSes that can boot via PCMCIA cards but I think they
handle even fewer varieties of PCMCIA cards than Linux does.  Some BIOSes
can't boot via PCMCIA cards at all.  I don't think this is a sign that
things are wrong.

Some translator cards are worse than others.  For some, no one has figured
out how to write a Linux or *BSD driver.  This is a sign that something is
wrong.  For others, Linux (and I guess probably *BSD) drivers work
perfectly, but Windows 2000 drivers cause corruption in the hard disks that
are connected at the other side.  This might be a sign that something is
wrong, though of course Monopolysoft is at least partly to blame.

But actually in the original message I didn't see any mention of PCMCIA
cards.  How do you know the writer wasn't talking about disks with USB
connections?  Or maybe actual SCSI disks since he didn't even say if they're
mobile or not?

> * The drives themselves are of ultra-low quality.  The ones that I've torn
>   apart have been Samsung, and none have survived six months of use.

I didn't know Samsung made notebook-size drives.  (Except, if the original
writer was talking about SCSI disks that need AC power supplies, then maybe
you mean desktop-size drives.)