SGI: Hardware

Hello,

(me again) I have now successfully connected a LG IDE DVD multiwriter to an O2 via an ACARD 7720 SCSIDE adaptor.

To be more precise, it´s a LG GSA-4081B which is praised by the manufacturer to read and write all formats including DVD-RAM.
The UDF file format is built-in since IRIX 6.5.20 AFAIK
(though formatting via GUI still does not work - one must try the formatRMedia [/device] command instead).

Tested so far is reading of data from CD and DVD - none of the frequent SCSI errors I got with my Indigo2 .
I have some reason to estimate that writing CD and DVD will also work via cdrecord.prodvd.

But what makes it worth posting here is the fact that the blue plastic cover neatly fits the LG drive,
only the position of the eject button is slightly different.
This gap can be bridged with a piece of metal ar plastic glued in place (the way I did it, better ideas welcome).
Audio output, volume control and LEDs vanish behind the blue cover, though.
The inner, black plastic part can also be mounted, if one doesn´t mind to stymy it using a sharp knife and also use some glue with it.

Find this Interesting? Have a look at the similarities between the original CDROM and the DVD multiwrite drive and see for yourself:
(hope you don´t mind that this pic is large )

I have got to get one of those working on my Octane!

I had a simillar problem with my new CD-ROM drive. I just used a cable clip (without nail) that fits nicely over the original mechanism, no glue was needed.

Erik

Now there´s some progress to report about.

The drive is properly recognized by IRX apparently

but trying to UDF format a DVD-RAM via GUI

does bring up an error about the formatRMedia usage

Now manually entered:

1# formatRMedia -u -d/dev/rdsk/dks0d4s0
The formatting software was not able to get access to the drive.
Make sure that no shells, views, or other programs are using the media in the drive and try again

...oops, must have been the volume descriptor!

2# formatRMedia -u -d/dev/rdsk/dks0d4vol
error code 1 on exit of mkfp.

that does not look too promising, does it?
Only

3# formatRMedia -u -d/dev/rdsk/dks0d4vh

returns no error, but makes no sense (and does nothing)
the XCDroast & cdrecord.proDVD device scan gives

but as soon as XCDroast accesses the drive



to my very surprise XCDroast wrote to the DVDRAM like a charm



next I have to get me some other type of writeable DVD (DVD-R, DVD-RW, whatever).

...So, the ACARD 7720 SCSIDE adaptor fits perfectly inside the O2 CDROM top bay? ...Wow!, It is so cool!

...I'll be happy if you post the exactly ACARD sufix model... even when I suspect it is the AEC-7720U Ultra SCSI-to-IDE Bridge, true ?

Thanks in advance!

good news and bad news...

as usual, the bad ones first: I seem to have been too excited about the mechanics...
I completely forgot that in that O2 there´s an Yamaha V769970 instead of an ACARD 7720U:



and for the good ones:
all of a sudden UDF formatting of a DVD-RAM worked flawlessly,
even without the need to open a shell for it... pure GUI:



guess what? I tried again (same medium) and it fell back into its old behaviour.

Well, doesn´t really matter... I can copy from/to DVD-RAM now as if it were a harddisk. Nice!

Please let me know hwo this performs. I have the SCSI DVD-RAM drive from SGI and have had problems with the data integrity on some writes (i.e. I get a file of <nulls>). Other times, all is OK. I wonder if I got a bad drive or cable.

You've got a Phaser 350 ?! I hate you ! i am soooooo jealous !

edefault wrote: guess what? I tried again (same medium) and it fell back into its old behaviour.

If you go to that cdfreaks site that I mentioned you will see a LOT of comments about various media. Before you get too carried away, perhaps get some media which is claimed to be always-good for test purposes.

Well, doesn´t really matter... I can copy from/to DVD-RAM now as if it were a harddisk. Nice!

How slow do you find that to be ? I want to do the same thing but the figures are reportedly pretty bad. 15 minutes per gigabyte ?

squeen wrote: Please let me know hwo this performs. I have the SCSI DVD-RAM drive from SGI and have had problems with the data integrity on some writes (i.e. I get a file of <nulls>). Other times, all is OK. I wonder if I got a bad drive or cable.

Have you tried the patch(es)? They fix the following bug:
916895 - Data written to a udf fs on a DVD-RAM is randomly corrupted

about performance of DVD-RAM drives... the IDE drive I interfaced on an
O2 performs or _not_ - by now I wouldn´t recommend this for day-to-day
or missiom critical use... it always reads CD and DVD, but writes randomly
(could not figure out what the reason is). With some media (or from time to time?) it goes

1# formatRMedia -u -d /dev/rdsk/dks0d4vol
dksc0d4vol: [Alert] Illegal request: Illegal logical block address (asc=0x21, asq=0x0), Block #8945912 CDB: 2a 0 0 88 80 f8 0 0 20 0
error code 1 on exit of mkfp.

I have a native SCSI DVD-RAM and am running 6.5.22 (which AFAIK
includes the patch) on an Indigo2 R10k machine - a combination that
yet not a single time has shown or reported any erroneous (erratic?)
behaviour. I´m using this for backups and am pretty content with it.

hamei:
phaser350 printers are pretty cheap at eBay, especially those ones with a worn out paper transport rubber wheel.
I got mine with that for about 100$ and fixed it myself. Not too difficult if you have the service manual at hand
The black stix for Phaser printers are for _free_, did you know? No other printer works cheaper...

another addendum.... about hardware:
far better than the LG fits a Toshiba SD-R5272 which needs no mechanical changes but does not write DVD-RAM.
About Software:
my O2 does not yet recognize audio CDs automatically (dunno why).
The whole thing freezes instead for a minute, and another... and another...
and can be unlocked by pulling the power supply from the drive for a short moment.
Console reports

1% ALERT: SCSI command on (0,4,0) timed out after 60 secs.
ALERT: SCSI bus reset on controller 0.
ALERT: SCSI command on (0,4,0) timed out after 60 secs.
ALERT: SCSI bus reset on controller 0.
ALERT: SCSI command on (0,4,0) timed out after 60 secs.
ALERT: SCSI bus reset on controller 0.
dksc0d4vol: Device not ready: Not ready to perform command (asc=0x4, asq=0x1)
dksc0d4vol: Device not ready: Not ready to perform command (asc=0x4, asq=0x1)
dksc0d4vol: Device not ready: Not ready to perform command (asc=0x4, asq=0x1)
dksc0d4vol: NOT READY; retrying
dksc0d4vol: Device not ready: Not ready to perform command (asc=0x4, asq=0x1)
ALERT: SCSI command on (0,4,0) timed out after 60 secs.
ALERT: SCSI bus reset on controller 0.
ALERT: SCSI command on (0,4,0) timed out after 60 secs.
ALERT: SCSI bus reset on controller 0.
ALERT: SCSI command on (0,4,0) timed out after 60 secs.
ALERT: SCSI bus reset on controller 0.
ALERT: SCSI command on (0,4,0) timed out after 60 secs.
ALERT: SCSI bus reset on controller 0.
ALERT: SCSI command on (0,4,0) timed out after 60 secs.
ALERT: SCSI bus reset on controller 0.

This is driving me nuts!
Especially because I definitely know of someone who has exactly this sort of drive/adaptor/O2 working fine.
But I swear I´ll find out...

edefault wrote: hamei:
phaser350 printers are pretty cheap at eBay,

The black stix for Phaser printers are for _free_, did you know? No other printer works cheaper...

shipping They could be free to buy, but weigh what - 50 lbs or more ?

Success at last!
I have to apologize because I made a really dumb mistake - left the "block size" jumper on the Yamaha adaptor in place where it _mustn´t_ be.

Now everything works fine! mediad automatically recognizes all type of media I could grab...
data CD, CDR. CDRW, audio CD, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DWD-RW, DVD-RAM...
the latter read only though with the Toshiba SD-R5272 which fits so neatly into O2.

Even irixdivx now plays my Steve Martin All of Me DVD:



Great! Btw, will irixdivx evolve further eventually? Version 0.96 IMO means "not yet finished" but there has been no progress since july 2003.

It´s about time for the irix xine port now...

hamei:
you´re damn right - it is very important to ask senders of Phaser350 printers from eBay for extremely good packaging - the first one that reached me was severely damaged during shipment; then another sender in professional manner made use of a huge wooden crate and a lot of hard foam - luckily the printer survived transport.