[9fans] LSI Logic 53C1030 SCSI

[9fans] LSI Logic 53C1030 SCSI

[David du Colombier]

Hello,

I recently bought an IBM xSeries 235 server to run Plan 9.
Since SCSI is not supported on this computer, I used an IDE hard disk
to install Plan 9.
Everything, except the Broadcom BCM5703X network device, is running
fine. Since the undocumented Broadcom will probably never be
supported, I ordered an Intel 82541.

As I would like to use my two SCSI hard disks, I tried to modify
Nigel Roles's SCSI driver to support my LSI Logic 53C1030 SCSI
controller.
I only added the PCI ID of my controller in the driver located at
/sys/src/9/pc/sd53c8xx.c.
This was easily done by adding two lines:

#define SYM_1030_DID 0x0030
...
{ SYM_1030_DID, 0xff, "SYM53C1030", Burst128, 16, 64,
  Prefetch|LocalRAM|BigFifo|Wide|Ultra|Ultra2 },

I successfully compiled and installed the new kernel.

My SCSI controller seems to be well recognized during the boot,
as Plan 9 displays:
sd53c8xx: SYM53C1030 rev. 8.87 intr=9 command=8157
sd53c8xx: SYM53C1030 rev. 8.87 intr=9 command=8157

Then I boot on local and log in. Finally, Plan 9 is stuck after
displaying:
sd53c8xx: bios scntl3(22) stest2(88)

My controller does not seem to be supported by the current driver.

I have no driver programming skill, so I wonder if you have some
ideas to modify Nigel Roles's driver to support my SCSI controller.

I made a video [1] to show the failed starting of Plan 9,
using the modified SCSI driver.
I also furnish the result of "dmesg" [2] when booting on the
Slackware Linux 12.0 installation CD-ROM.
Finally, I furnish the result of "pci -v" [3] when running Plan 9
on the IDE hard disk of this computer.

[1] http://www.9grid.fr/plan9/boot.mp4
[2] http://www.9grid.fr/plan9/dmesg
[3] http://www.9grid.fr/plan9/pci-v

Thank you.

--
David du Colombier

Re: [9fans] LSI Logic 53C1030 SCSI

[erik quanstrom]

> My controller does not seem to be supported by the current driver.
>
> I have no driver programming skill, so I wonder if you have some
> ideas to modify Nigel Roles's driver to support my SCSI controller.

the linux driver you're using weighs in at 32kloc.  wow.

it appears that linux uses a different driver for your device than linux
uses for the devices that sd538xx.c supports.  the size of the drivers
involved makes it pretty difficult to determine if the current driver
could support your card.

if you felt like spending some time on the problem, it seems pretty
clear that you're getting to cribbios() in sd53c8xxenable but reset
is hanging.  if you wanted to narrow down the problem further, you
could use a binary search with print statements and figure which
line is hanging the machine.

if i had the documentation and the time, it would be fun to get this
sort of part going.  i have some similar hardware that's not
supported.  (check the 9fans archive.) but the problem is i don't have
either and the payoff of getting a couple of old, slow, small drives
going isn't quite there for me.  (actually i have two chassis with
hot-swappable raid backplanes and 18gb drives.) you should get better
performance out of a $50 ata hard drive these days.

- erik

Re: [9fans] LSI Logic 53C1030 SCSI

[Charles Forsyth]

> the payoff of getting a couple of old, slow, small drives
> going isn't quite there for me.  (actually i have two chassis with
> hot-swappable raid backplanes and 18gb drives.) you should get better
> performance out of a $50 ata hard drive these days.

recently i decided to archive a dozen or so different varieties of scsi
drive (fast/ultra/fast-wide/lvd) onto several big SATA drives
(they'd all have fit on one big SATA but i wanted to separate two categories).
when i started, i was idly wondering what to do with drives after i copied them--
surely i could use them in some constructive way.
after each copy i did md5sums of the original drive, and the partition holding
the copy on SATA.  after that, there was no question that i would take all the
SCSI drives for recycling.  the SATA drives are much, much faster that the `fastest'
of the old SCSI drives.

i've kept several types of Symbios card just in case i come across some more
data i'd like to copy from SCSI, but i'm unlikely to bother putting them in a machine.
i also had a SCSI QIC tape drive, but that broke down as soon as i started to copy
the data from the tapes, so all that went too. fortunately i'd copied those tapes onto
Zip drives years ago, and even more surprisingly, i could read those, so i copied that
data into my normal file system to sort through it.  if i'd begrudged the space, i could
have copied all the data onto a chunk of one of my tiny USB storage keys.

it's really not worth the time and effort trying to do a driver just to keep the SCSI drives in service.

Re: [9fans] LSI Logic 53C1030 SCSI

[dave.l]

>  after that, there was no question that i would take all the
> SCSI drives for recycling.  the SATA drives are much, much faster
> that the `fastest'
> of the old SCSI drives.

... and less likely to die.
How old are those drives?
My very vague rule of thumb is that the bathtub failure curve for most
moving computer machinery
rises steeply after at most about 5 years,
so if they're already a few years old ...

> it's really not worth the time and effort trying to do a driver just
> to keep the SCSI drives in service.

... for the couple of years before they inevitably die.

More usefully:
disassemble the drive(s) and use the platters for scaring crows and
art installations.

DaveL

I'm jumping off the top of Guy's Hospital
to support the Myasthenia Gravis Association.

Please support me!

http://www.justgiving.com/davelukes-abseil

Re: [9fans] LSI Logic 53C1030 SCSI

[Charles Forsyth]

> How old are those drives?
> My very vague rule of thumb is that the bathtub failure curve for most
> moving computer machinery
> rises steeply after at most about 5 years,
> so if they're already a few years old ...

they varied: typically 7 or 8, some 10 to 15

Re: [9fans] LSI Logic 53C1030 SCSI

[dave.l]

Bet they weren't spinning all that time.

Interestingly,
no matter what the manufacturers claim,
the small amount of real-world research I have seen,
as well as my own experience,
still says "5 years" for disk drives.

Also, as you say, the same timescales render them obsolete
in terms of storage and speed anyway.

DaveL

On 29 Apr 2008, at 12:50, Charles Forsyth wrote:

>> How old are those drives?
>> My very vague rule of thumb is that the bathtub failure curve for
>> most
>> moving computer machinery
>> rises steeply after at most about 5 years,
>> so if they're already a few years old ...
>
> they varied: typically 7 or 8, some 10 to 15
>
>

I'm jumping off the top of Guy's Hospital
to support the Myasthenia Gravis Association.

Please support me!

http://www.justgiving.com/davelukes-abseil