Adaptec 1522 question

[Bruce R. Larson]

In article <1990Nov20.021203.3045 at medtron.medtronic.com>, dt4100c at medtron.medtronic.com (Derek Terveer) writes:
> jgd at rsiatl.UUCP (John G. DeArmond) writes:
> 
> >I was recently in a large chain PC store the other day trying to make an
> >emergency SCSI controller purchase.  The store had the usual ST-02s and the
> >like and then one of the people in the service department pulled out an
> >Adaptec board labeled AHA1522.  This is a half-card configuration with 
> >a blue-million jumpers and a couple of ASIC chips.
> 
> I have heard conflicting information about this card.  Supposedly, this is
> a non bus-mastering version of the 1542 SCSI controller card.  I was told by
> someone, at adaptec ts, i believe, that the 1522 should look just like a 1542
> to applications.  I was told by Esix that the 1522 would require a different
> driver and that initially they were would come out with one in a month, but
> now they seem to have no plans to create one.
> 
I meant to respond to John originally, but I didn't get the chance.

I got one of the first 1522's shipped to the East coast to test as
a non-busmastering, inexpensive host adapter for non-busmastering
motherboards.

My Everex Step/33 does not support busmastering, but it been running
very faithfully (and faster than a scared rabbit) with a 1542A for over
a year.  When I swapped in the 1522, the system would boot but exit
with an error something like `srcmount error' when trying to mount
the filesystems, so I presume that at least on my machine it will not
act as a plug-in replacement for the 1542A.  I tried this with
386/ix 2.0.2 and ISC UNIC 2.2.

An intersting note is that I got more performance out of my disks
under DOS with the 1522 than with the 1542.  Am I paying a penalty
due to the absence of busmaster support?  Probably.

Final note is that I seem to recall that Adaptec introduced the 1522
as a top quality DOS-based host adapter that would retail for under $200.
It could be just the thing for those clone motherboards that will be 
dedicated to DOS for life.  I think that the flourishing of IDE drives
took the wind out of their sales.  


Bruce R. Larson
Integral Resources, Milton MA
Internet: ires.com!blarson at cs.umb.edu
Uucp:     ..!cs.umb.edu!ires.com!blarson