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Here's a followup report to the question I asked a couple days ago. I ended up buying at a local store and playing the if-it- doesn't-work-return-it game. I started with the Panasonic 8x CD-ROM drive. Linux didn't like the card. I hacked the PCMCIA config files so it would recognize the controller, but Panasonic must be using a different version of the QLogic chipset in this SCSI2 card. The QLogic module, which works with the 4x drive's SCSI controller, doesn't work with the 8x's controller. So I got an Adaptec 1460A. Linux recognized it, but the card couldn't see the CD-ROM drive. (Well, it could see it under Win95 but we all know how DOS/Win doesn't care about important things like interrupts and stuff.) Lots of people reported that the Adaptec SCSI2 controller recognized just about anything under the sun, so my guess is the SCSI2 interface on the Panasonic 8x is nonstandard somehow. So back went the drive. I got the 4x which lots of people have reported success with under Linux, and indeed it worked. I daisychained it with a SCSI zip drive and everything is recognized. I swapped the Adaptec card for the Panasonic and everything still worked.* Hot plugging works with both cards as well. I'm debating now whether to return the Adaptec and stick with the Panasonic controller. The only other incidents of note are the cable adapters. They're a mess. Zip drives use the Mac 25-pin plug. The Panasonic uses the 50-pin high density SCSI2 plug. And the Adaptec comes with a 50-pin centronics SCSI plug. Cables that convert from one to the other for plugging between devices (male on both ends) are plentiful. Gender changers and adapters for changing between the types are nearly nonexistent. I had to get a SCSI2->MacSCSI adapter from PC Connection to be able to use the Zip drive. Even then, the sales guy I talked to had to visit the warehouse to look at the thing to make sure it was what we thought it was. These things are also damned expensive. $15-$25 for an adapter, $25-$40 for a cable. I hope this is useful for others considering a SCSI controller under Linux. * Some people reported the Panasonic 4x SCSI2 controller hung linux until they patched the module with a one-number change to the source code. I'd already done this trying to get the 8x controller to work. It works now, so I'm not going to bother testing it with the original module. -- John H. Kim jokim@tuna.mit.edu