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Hello,
I use the 1640 slim scsi PCMCIA card with my zip drive. I like
adaptec stuff because they seem to support nearly everything and their
cards seem to get OS support. The Zip drive is very handy to keep my
downloads and other stuff off the computer (Try fitting the new 8 meg
IE-3.0 Full Version file you downloaded on a floppy). I went with the
SCSI version because it is faster and all my active computers have
SCSI. Hey, it is nice to be able to back up my notebook to my
external Exabyte 8200 8mm tape drive.
I read that Linux supports both versions of the zip drive so as a test
I put the slackware distribution on zip disks (it takes at least
two) and will try to install it on the notebook (U*ix on the GO!). It
seems all I need is to make up the boot and root disks and I am all
set. I have not tried to install yet, but at least managing the
slackware files I get off the web site is easier.
I run the Zip under DOS/OS2/Win31/Win95 (the slim scsi has not run
under Win95 yet.) I think it is a reasonable good system.
The downsides are:
1. The slim SCSI PCMCIA comes with the SCSI I connector (50 pin
Centronics). I needed to get a 50 pin Female to Female adapter to
hook up the card to the zip drive. It is not too bad as I got a cheap
$30 portable scsi CD-Rom that has the 50 pin Centronic on back. What
I complain about is that I need a 25-pin D to 50 pin Female cable!
Adaptec does sell a SCSI II cable for about $30 dollars, but most of
my external scsi stuff is still SCSI I.
2. Under OS/2 I needed to grab a new 152x driver from internet. You
cannot install OS/2 Warp from a CD-ROM connected to a PCMCIA SCSI
card. I had to create 20 floppy disks or so, but the rest was from
the CD-Rom after the base OS/2 was installed.
73 Eric ecottrell@doble.com