Re: Zip Disks

Albert Cahalan (albert@ccs.neu.edu)
Sun, 17 Mar 1996 23:49:28 -0500 (EST)

>> Can other devices also be attached? Is this device available
>> standalone, even? I do remember that a parallel port SCSI adapter has
>> been a Frequently Requested Feature, but that documentation has been
>> slow in coming.
>
> The Iomega PPA3 parallel to SCSI HBA is available as a separate product.
> But, it costs almost as much as a ZIP drive, and appears to be hard to
> find. Last time I looked there was no mention of it on Iomega's web
> page, although ISN lists it in their catalogue.

Iomega makes other drives too, including a 1 GB removable media drive
and a tape drive. The driver might work with them.

[from web page]
> * I see that the driver uses polled i/o. Can't you use interrupts ?
>
> No. The design of the ppa protocol uses the wrong wire for the
> signal that should trigger an interrupt. This could be a design
> conflict required by support for the enhanced ports, but I can't
> really tell.

Maybe add an option to use a different cable. There are straight
cables, the PLIP or LapLink cable, and others. With a different
wire you could get an interrupt. (you can even tie two wires
together if the one is only good for an interrupt)