The A1291 SCSI Kit is the first expansion module for our Performance Series II products — the A1230 Turbo+ Performance Series II and the A1218 RAM+ Performance Series II. This module adds a high-performance external DMA SCSI interface to a Performance Series II peripheral and uses the latest in active termination technology for stable, noise free SCSI data transfer.
The A1291 SCSI Kit is the first expansion module for the Performance Series II peripherals and provides the single most asked for add-on for the Amiga 1200: a SCSI interface. The performance and flexibility of SCSI devices is unsurpassed, and the A1291 SCSI Kit allows you take full advantage of virtually any SCSI device on the market such as: CD-ROMs, Removable Media drives, Tape backup drives, etc.
| FEATURE | BENEFIT |
|---|---|
| High-performance GVP SCSI Interface | The IDE hard drive interface in the Amiga 1200 was designed primarily for the PC clone market and IDE drives are generally slower than SCSI drives. The IDE interface also allows a maximum of two hard drives only. SCSI allows a larger number (up to seven) and wider variety of devices (Tape Drives, CD-ROM, Removable Media) to be connected to the A1200. |
| DMA SCSI Interface Design | The A1200's IDE hard drive interface does not take advantage of DMA (Direct Memory Access) and data transfer slows down when the computer is running a lot of tasks. DMA allows the transfer of data to and from a SCSI device without slowing down any other tasks in the system. Data will always be transferred as fast as possible, even under heavy multitasking loads. |
| Breakthrough Advance in GVP SCSI Interface | The SCSI interface on the A1291 SCSI Kit was designed to outperform all previous GVP SCSI interface designs and all IDE interfaces. |
| External Industry Standard SCSI port | The external SCSI port on the A1291 SCSI Kit is the same port found on all of GVP's SCSI peripherals, and even many Macintosh and IBM PCs. External SCSI devices can be shared between computer systems easily and without hassle. |
| Active Termination technology | The A1291 SCSI Kit uses the latest in active termination technology to prevent noise induced errors on the SCSI bus. This technology actively adjusts to the termination needs to the SCSI bus rather than simply providing a preset termination value. |
| GVP's Custom DPRC Chip | Provides reliable, proven SCSI interface technology similar to that found on all of our SCSI products. This unique custom chip handles all of the DMA transfer processes, including direct access to the onboard memory of a Performance Series II peripheral for maximum performance and minimal overhead. |
| Uses GVP's high-performance FAAASTROM SCSI Driver | The A1291 SCSI Kit includes an onboard EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) containing the newest revision to our award-winning FAAASTROM SCSI driver. With over 100,000 units shipped, this guarantees the best performance and compatibility with virtually any SCSI device ever made. |
| Includes FAAASTPREP hard disk installation software. | Use our FAAASTPREP 2.5 program for simple, easy-to-use, prepping and partitioning on any hard drives connected the A1291 SCSI Kit. This is our fourth generation of hard disk installation software while most competitors are still working with their first generation... |
| Designed using Surface Mount Technology (SMT) | GVP has been using Surface Mount Technology since late 1990 because it means higher reliability and longer life. |
| One-Year warranty | Buying a GVP product will give you peace of mind knowing that we will be around to service your current and future needs. |
Applications
The A1291 SCSI Kit provides a high-performance SCSI interface for the Amiga 1200 and adds to the already versatile uses for the A1200. An examples might be using the A1200 (with A1291 SCSI Kit and Performance Series II peripheral) as the central point of a display or informational kiosk. A SCSI CD-ROM drive or other mass storage device can provide informative displays to passersby in full AGA color with sound! Or the A1291 SCSI Kit can be an invaluable addition to a rendering lab where SyQuest or other removable media is used to shuffle images and animations from machine to machine for rendering, touch-up, or single frame recording. Let your imagination decide...
System Requirements
The A1291 SCSI Kit requires a GVP Performance Series II peripheral — A1230 Turbo+ or A1218 RAM+.
Recommended Additional Equipment
The Amiga 1200 is a versatile machine with many strengths. The following equipment is recommended along with the A1291 SCSI Kit to take advantage of this versatility:
The table below indicates test results from DiskSpeed 4.2 using a Maxtor 540S drive attached to the A1291 SCSI Kit which was connected to an A1230 Turbo+ Performance Series II.
| DiskSpeed 4.2 and SCSISpeed 4.2 Test Configuration and options | Test results in Bytes/Second |
|---|---|
| DiskSpeed 4.2 Read (FAST RAM, longword-aligned, 262,144 byte buffer) | 3,248,495 |
| DiskSpeed 4.2 Write (FAST RAM, longword-aligned, 262,144 byte buffer) | 3,230,394 |
| SCSISpeed 4.2 Read (FAST RAM, 262,144 byte buffer) | 3,753,902 |
| NOTE: The BUSHOLD option of the GVPSCSI.DEVICE was set to 6 via user controllable preferences software for this test; the default setting is normally 3. The drive was also set to Synchronous mode operation and GVPSCSI.DEVICE was set to use High-Speed mode. | |
| A1291 SCSI Kit Technical Specifications | |
|---|---|
| External SCSI Port | Industry standard DB25 |
| SCSI Termination | Active Termination to keep termination levels stabilized and prevent data errors due to noise interference. |
| SCSI Protocol | SCSI-II Command Set supported |