scsi on a G5

B

bookem

danno
Anyone know of a scsi card that is G5 compatible? I need to plug in a Nikon LS-4500 film scanner, so it's scsi 2 i need. Checked Adaptec's website, but nothing mentioned. The Adaptec 2906 card I have will not fit.
 
Seen on : http://www.attotech.com/macsup.html
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ATTO ExpressPCI SCSI and ExpressPCI Fibre Channel host adapters fully support Mac OS X, including OS X version 10.3. Our OS X drivers are available for download on the ATTO Service & Support web page at http://www.attotech.com/software/. Installation instructions are included with each download package. In addition to the host adapter drivers, ATTO also provides an OS X NVRAM configuration utility, ExpressPCI Configuration Tool, that is also available for download in the Service & Support area of our web site.

ExpressStripe for Mac OS X, ATTO's premiere disk storage application, provides RAID 0 and benchmarking capabilities for Mac OS X users. ExpressStripe is bundled with the ExpressRAID application or can be purchased and downloaded directly from the ATTO web store at http://store.yahoo.com/atto/.

Xserve users can enjoy the peak performance of Apple's 64-bit/66MHz PCI bus by using ExpressPCI UL3S-66 and UL3D-66 SCSI host adapters. These host adapters are designed to optimize systems such as Xserve which feature a 64-bit/66MHz PCI bus architecture. Buy yours today on our ATTO Store.

For peak performance, Apple G5 users can select from a variety of ATTO PCI-X enabled host adapters. See our hot topics page for the latest support information

Unleash the power of Mac G5 with Panther-optimized ATTO host adapters. Click here to learn which ATTO host adapter is best suited for your video system
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I think that some of there products should work like :ExpressPCI UL4S

Titanium31
 
All those ATTO adapters are Ultra160 or above from what I can see. Plus the cheapest one is $349, which seems kinda expensive justy for using with a scanner.

Does anyone know how well the Adaptec USB2-SCSI converter works? I already have an Orange FW-SCSI converter, but it's pretty useless with anything scanner like.
 
either a really good price or what? Found the same card HERE for nearly $400! These cards are not low-end, very low price would be suspicious.
 
Other World Computer (http://www.macsales.com) is a very reputable place, probably the most reputable when it comes to purchasing performance upgrades for Macs. I have purchased both my GigaDesign G4/800 CPU upgrade as well as an ATI Rage 128 Pro PCI card from them and they've been great to deal with. They are a large sponsor of http://www.xlr8yourmac.com and you can find many many positive experiences with them there.

The reason the cards you're seeing there are cheap is, they are not retail boxed cards. Basically they are pulls from new PowerMacs. You get the card only, no manuals, no software, no pretty packaging. OWC does the warranty on it, if the card fails, they replace it from their stock, it doesn't go back to ATTO.

Brian
 
btoneill said:
Check this: http://eshop.macsales.com/Catalog_Item.cfm?ID=5755&Item=APL661AU3LD

Only $85, and they claim G5 compatiblity. They are really good with actually knowing what works where, and actaully testing to make sure it works.

Brian
Click to expand...

I am not sure that It works with PCI-X perhaps only PCI , so only on G5 1.6 ..but 'bookem" have a 1.6 so let's go ...
I think that only UL4S & UL4D from ATTO works on PCI-X , but not sure ..

Titanium
 
PCI-X is backwards compatible with PCI. PCI-X is just an extension to PCI, think of it like USB 1.1 and USB 2.0, ones faster then the other, but they use the same connectors, and are backwards compatible.

Brian
 
I have also read the statements that G5 PCI-X is backward compatible. This is not true. Unless you want to take a band saw to your older SCSI card and lose some connectors in the process. Adaptec 2930U (great for scanners) WILL NOT INSTALL into G5, physically impossible! It would need a notch. Inside G5 PCI-X connex have 3 "holes" for PCI card to fit into. ATI video cards fit but Adaptec SCSI NO WAY. So those who are aware of the actual situation please advise. I am now looking also for G5 SCSI card for backward compatibility to older basic 50 pin SCSI. Will any of the above mentioned actually do this?
 
pci-x is backwards compat with pci, to a point. don't think of usb1.1 vs 2.0, think more of agp 1x vs 2x,4x,8x. the agp slot has under gone changes in the past. the 1x slot is backwards when compared to a newer slot, and therefore not compatible with newer mobos. but 2x thru 8x are compatible. the same goes for pci. the early pci cards had more pins on them, the newer cards have less, and pci-x is compatible with newer pci, but not older pci. so if your scsi pci card is older, it will not fit in a g5, but if it is newer, then it will. the problem these folks seem to have is that they want the old scsi, which noone makes newer cards for. if they want scsi, they will have to get a card the says it is g5 compatible ( if it is advertised as such, by the law it has to work, or they can be sued). the card will not be 50 pin, but scsi is backwards compatible. i have found all kinds of scsi adaptors on ebay. just get one that will change the new scsi pin out on the card to match the pin out on your device.

btw, at this point, a more important question comes up, is this old scsi device you are trying to use compatible with a g5 and 10.3?, better check that first, because if its not, then there is no point in getting a scsi card, no is there. i have found that over 90% of 50 pin scsi devices are not compatible with os x without some kind of beta hack or patch, which are generally not very stable.
 
Also, a lot of the SCSI cards out there are 5v cards, and the G5 machine will only function with 3.3v PCI cards. It can even damage the G5 to operate it with a 5v card installed.

Best to check with the manufacturer of the card for G5 compatibility before risking a multi-thousand dollar investment to laziness.
 
Whelp, I hear you on the old compatibility issue but I've looked into my particular device and Silverfast (scanner software) has recent OS-X software that is rated to drive my Hell Saphir Ultra 2 scanner. I was using it on OS X 10.3.8 just weeks ago on dual G4 (sold) before I bought the G5. Having heard the backward C_____ claims I thought I'd be good, but noooooo, they mucked me all up now! The darned software was $250 and you have to buy for your scanner only! That DOES suck. I tried the Hex hack to kill the watermark on the demo but no go after that. I guess I butchered it. Anyway, yup it would be nice to be able to run some of the old SCSI stuff through G5. But at this point I'm thinking that maybe an old Mac might be the way. Get a seriously cheap older G4 or something on eBay and try and fit a Gb ethernet card to it. Then maybe Timbuktu over to it for scanning and stuff so I don't have to supply it a monitor. Sort of a Dual Dual set-up. Anyway, guess there's a million ways to skin a cat. Thanks all.
 
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