S) 7.0 Misc
Q) 7.1 What is the pin out for ...?
This is my attempt to have every pinout on a PS/2 listed and named. At worst
this will solve the problem of someone refering to a DB9 as 'The little port
with some holes in it and in a 'D' on its side shape' :). And at best it will
provide the information to build cables yourself and hybridize certain cable
sets.
See Appendix E for listing.
Q) 7.2 What is the special SCSI connector by IBM?
I have just bought a third-party SCSI cable for my PS/2, and it works. It
allows you to connect the 60-pin PS/2 SCSI adaptor external connection to any
device with a standard 50-pin Centronics connector. So, there are three
options for getting this type of connector. By the way, the PS/2 SCSI
connector is the same as the one on the RS6000. Of course, the alternative
to all this is to use an internal SCSI device, if possible. The IBM internal
SCSI connections are the same as those found in internal SCSI devices (the
50-pin rectangular connector).
FIRST OPTION:
Buy the IBM cable from your IBM dealer. The part number is 32G4143. It will
cost about $49.
SECOND OPTION:
Buy a third-party cable. I bought mine from Storage Solutions. Their number is
(203)325-0035. Mine cost $75 for a 5' cable. Storage Solutions call the IBM
connector a "60-pin compressed" connector (though they are not really pins -
it's really a kind of edge connector). They also know what you're talking
about if you just call it an RS6000 SCSI cable.
Inmac (1-800-323-6905) also sells them (see their UnixSelect catalog). They
call it a Mini-Centronics (60) connector. They charge a bit more than Storage
Solutions.
There are probably other suppliers.The key piece of information is that it is
the same connector as on RS6000 machines. The IBM connector is *not* a Mini-
SCSI connector. Not all suppliers know this, and they will try to sell you
Mini-SCSI (which has 50 pins and is smaller than the IBM connector).
THIRD SOLUTION:
Make your own. The SCSI connector is available from AMP (1-800-522-6752 or
1-800-526-5142 or (717)564-0100). The AMP part number is 557025-6 (not to be
confused with the 557025-5, which is the same connector, but without
thumbscrews to hold it in the SCSI port). AMP also calls it a CHAMP .050
Series III Plug Cable Connector. I was unable to find any AMP dealers who
could supply this. I had to get it straight from AMP. And it would have been
so complicated for them to supply one as a normal order that they sent me one
as a free sample. In the end I didn't use it though. It turned out to be
almost impossible to solder. It is designed to have each of the tiny SCSI
wires forced into a slot that automatically strips the cable. You'd need a
special tool to do that. By the way, I bought a cheap SCSI cable and cut one
end off, so that I wouldn't have to solder the other end as well.
Q) 7.3 Where are benchmark programs located. What do they mean?
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Benchmarks programs are a good way to compare systems and even better to see
how changes to a system affect it, however, it is unreliably to compare
benchmarks to other benchmarks (even if the programs are the same) unless the
same environments are used.
A very good and pretty much the standard benchmark program is COMPTEST version
2.59 is the latest on 10/94). This is excellent to compare system to system
and describes how to set up the autoexec and config files to run the test
under. This is the control variable and allows apples to be compared to
apples. This is a public domain program and probably the best in its class.
Other standards are somewhat variable as to what they will rate your system as
ALOT of hardware manufacturers (esp. video card) are setting up benchmark
'sniffers' on their hardware to give back excellent numbers to the common
types of benchmark tests. I would like a list of benchmarks known to be
sniffed' for and the hardware that does 'sniff'. The best way to prevent
this is to make new benchmark test constantly and not to buy the benchmark
programs whose creators share what the tests look for with the manufacturers
before they come out. What happens is X-company is coming out with a new
benchmark program, then Hardware R Us requests the parameters of the testing
and figures out what to send back to the benchmarking software to get FAST
but REALISTIC marks. Usually the benchmark company is affiliated with the
hardware company so both benefit.
email:Chris Feeny alkemyst@shadow.net
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