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| Author | RaSCSI - SCSI device emulation for System 7 Macs (Read 16182 times) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Bolkonskij
Administrator 1024 MB  Posts: 2023 
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on: December 27, 2021, 18:44
I just realized that we have no thread for it yet. How dare we! I just ordered my RaSCSI that I'll use with a Raspberry Pi I had running around. What is it, you ask? The RaSCSI board is plugged into a Pi and extends it with a SCSI interface. So you just hook up your enhanced Pi via SCSI cable with your retro Mac. Then, with the RaSCSI software the Pi will emulate SCSI devices like hard disks, CD-ROM drives or network adapters. It aims to be the ultimate SCSI solution for retro computers. My hope is to get my IIci online via the Ethernet interface and to get an external storage for backups. I'll post here how that fares :-) What about you guys? Anyone got a RaSCSI yet? |
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Last Edit: January 05, 2022, 09:24 by Bolkonskij
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BilduKat
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2 MB  Posts: 3 System 7 Newcomer!
Reply #1 on: January 05, 2022, 06:21
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I've been setting up an SE/30 with a RaSCSI over the holidays. There are quite a few setup steps but they have done a fabulous job of making setup easy and VERY functional!. It's really amazing all of the things you can do with a RaSCSI. The main feature that made me get the RaSCSI over other options was DaynaPort ETHERNET compatibility. Considering I have 2 SE/30's both without ethernet, this was VERY compelling! It's been an adventure getting things setup. Not b/c of the RaSCSi, rather, I'm still repairing my SE/30's ! The one that has clear video has SCSI bus termination problems (I suspected the RaSCSI and even found a non functional Termination switch on the RaSCSI while trying to diagnose the problem !!!). I soldered a jumper over the RaSCSI termination switch and tried it on my other SE/30. It worked !! I just need to fix the bus errors (Mac #1) and fix teh jail-bar display (Mac #2) then I can continue setting up the RaSCSI for Ethernet, webproxy and Appleshare server (all on the Raspberry Pi it uses). Fun Fun !! ;-)
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Bolkonskij
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Administrator 1024 MB Posts: 2023
Reply #2 on: January 05, 2022, 20:50
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Welcome to our cozy little corner of the internet, BilduKat!  Great to hear from another RaSCSI user. Also love the proposed versatility. Can't wait to get mine, even more so now after your report. It might be the best thing that happened to retro Macs in a long time. The only aspect I'm a bit nervous about is the RaSCSI app. I decided to not read into it until I've got mine, but from what I understand you control the little friend solely via an Android app? I always tend to fear for OS updates breaking stuff ... How long did it take you to read up on setup and actually getting it going? Those SE/30s are lovely machines. But they appear to be finicky hardware. @Knezzen has one too and every time we talk about it, something is broken. :-D Kudos to my old battle horse IIci, which just keeps going and going. Well, after a recap of logicboard and PSU nowadays, of course. But then everything needs some fresh paint once in a while and my IIci has been going strong since 1989! So apart from emulating a DaynaPort Ethernet device, what else did you use your RaSCSI for? External HDD? CD-ROM drive?
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BilduKat
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2 MB Posts: 3 System 7 Newcomer!
Reply #3 on: January 11, 2022, 23:47
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I was looking for a HD replacement and an ethernet card for the Se/30 for a long time and when I saw that they were experimenting with adding ethernet capability to the RaSCSI, it became a MUST HAVE item :-) Ethernet cards are incredibly hard to find for these machines. The Webproxy and the Appleshare server were added on later by the devs (as I understand it). The setup was quite easy through the Web UI. Her's the basic process: I downloaded the OS prepared by RaSCSI & copied it to my SD card with the RaPi SD card utility. Plugged a Kb/m/mon/eth to the RaPi, logged in and ran updates (according to RaSCSI github instructions. Premade scripts are in the OS). I then checked the IP of the RaPI and connected to it via another Mac on the network with a web browser. This opens the Web UI and all of the setup can be done here. That even includes copying Mac software and mounting CDs (more than 1 at a time too!). SAVE your new "configuration" as "default" so that it will load it on power up and your golden! Mac Librarian has a great video on setting it up :-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qRG-0Pne-I I'm using mine externally but you could mount it internal if you want. I really love the idea of having a fully functional retro Mac with a simultaneously fully functional linux box inside ! Might have to add a switch and a few more Pi's inside the Mac just for fun!!! Maybe when PiStorm makes their project for the Mac, my SE/30 will "officially" become a micro RaspberryPI server rack :-) I can dream can't i ! ;-)
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Bolkonskij
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Administrator 1024 MB Posts: 2023
Reply #4 on: January 12, 2022, 15:41
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The possibilities are an invitation to dream, but the solution isn't getting me excited yet. I got my RaSCSI today. The setup process is, unfortunately, as un-Mac as conceivable. It starts with having to install a OS on the Pi. So essentially you need three computers for this solution: a Pi, a "modern" machine and the old Mac of course. The setup description on the github page could need some more details. Just one example: "SSH into your Pi" assumes people are aware that they first need to hook up their Pi to a monitor and activate SSH because it's deactivated by default. I don't even have a HDMI capable monitor, so I'll take it to the TV now. All in all and about an hour in, I find it a bit bodgy as a solution. It's not intimidating, but rather a typical Unix-style makeshift solution. It appears to be a task you spend one or two evenings on if you're not used to playing with a Pi - and it's not a particularly enjoyable task. Good ol' days where you just plugged something into your Mac and ran an installer to make it work. Will report later on how it went.
Last Edit: January 12, 2022, 16:14 by Bolkonskij
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BilduKat
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2 MB Posts: 3 System 7 Newcomer!
Reply #5 on: January 12, 2022, 20:16
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Yes. I have to agree with you. One does end up turning into a Pi administrator to get this done. This is my first Pi experience (I do tinker with Linux but am in no way competent!) I had to ask the creator of the RaSCSI on discord how to login to the Pi ! Embarrassing but necessary at the time. My RaSCSI ended up having bad termination switches so i had to test it, remove the switch and jumper the connections (there are 2 switches in the block). Then I discovered that the Mac also had SCSI termination problems (the scsi chip has some corrosion. I'll try to fix that today) I knew I was in for an adventure, I just didn't know how big it was going to be :-)
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Bolkonskij
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Administrator 1024 MB Posts: 2023
Reply #6 on: January 13, 2022, 16:09
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Yes, definitely not straightforward. I'm right in the middle of installing the RASCSI + web interface now. Next on the plan is to create a hard disk image and look into the networking stuff. (+ making it boot into the RASCSI software on startup) I'd say based on how experienced you are, this takes 3-5 hours to setup including googling, reading up etc. (arguably, a lot of time is also just waiting which you can use otherwise, like browsing the S7T forum )EDIT: Install is through, I did the config via web interface, setup the DaynaPort emulation and added the RaSCSI image from the Mac Garden. Shows up on desktop, the SCSI devices are detected. Trying to mount the DaynaPort drivers on the bootstrap image gives me an error though. Gotta look for an alternate source. Bonus point that the web interface works fine from my G4, so I did all the stuff from the PowerMac. Neat!
Last Edit: January 14, 2022, 07:10 by Bolkonskij
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cballero
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1024 MB Posts: 1179 System 7, today and forever
Reply #7 on: January 13, 2022, 21:47
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So this thing is like a virtual SCSI manager on steroids then? Wow!!! 
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Bolkonskij
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Administrator 1024 MB Posts: 2023
Reply #8 on: January 14, 2022, 18:01
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Indeed. Preserves the feel of using the old hardware but gives you the flexibility of modern emulation. Need another hard disk? Here we go! Want a virtual ethernet card? Check. Been using it for about 2 hours now and all I can say is that it works reliably with System 7.1. In fact, I'm posting this from the very IIci running iCab 2.9.9. 68030 power :-) I'm looking forward to bring my System 6 partition online as well, just for the kicks of it. Not that there'd be much to do, I assume. I could dial into a BBS and maybe dig up a gopher client.
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cballero
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1024 MB Posts: 1179 System 7, today and forever
Reply #9 on: January 14, 2022, 20:40
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Neat!! And I'm sure System 6.08 could even access ftp sites! I wonder if it can work under Mac OS 8.x-9.2.2?  I may want to nab one and see if I could use it with my 6360, Beige G3, Pismo and PB 2400c too! 
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Bolkonskij
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Administrator 1024 MB Posts: 2023
Reply #10 on: January 17, 2022, 16:30
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Odd RaSCSI. Turning it off (via web Interface!) while my IIci was running makes it freeze. So it's always first turn off the IIci and THEN the RaSCSI. Now upon booting I got greeted with a Welcome to Macintosh followed by a system error with "Illegal instruction". All I had connected was the RaSCSI with the Ethernet emulation. Odd. Turned it off, rebooted. Lo and behold the Mac comes back on fine. I noticed it being a bit more crashy lately. I don't know what your experience is @BilduKat ? It used to run perfectly fine for hours on end but ever since adding the RaSCSI with DaynaPort emulation I get freezes or lags (unresponsive for 5-10 seconds) every once in a while. I have a bad internet connection, so it could be that the connection is lost and that irritates the TCP/IP stack? But then, connection lost was pretty common in the old modem days and shouldn't bother Mac OS much, hm? Anyway, I stand by my initial impression. This is a solution, but a somewhat bodgey one.
Last Edit: January 17, 2022, 18:08 by Bolkonskij
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cballero
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1024 MB Posts: 1179 System 7, today and forever
Reply #11 on: January 17, 2022, 18:00
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Welcome to the amazing world of SCSI conflicts again!
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Bolkonskij
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Administrator 1024 MB Posts: 2023
Reply #12 on: January 17, 2022, 19:06
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I'm not sure what it is. It's not like a typical "oh, this SCSI ID#3 is taken and you want #3 as well so I'll crash" thing. And it used to work fine for a few days. Odd beast, that RaSCSI. Great possibilties, but also a bit odd. I hope they can iron out some of that stuff with future updates.
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zChris
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16 MB Posts: 20 System 7 Newcomer!
Reply #13 on: April 07, 2022, 15:27
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have you guys seen that there is another solution called BlueSCSI ? https://scsi.blue/
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Bolkonskij
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Administrator 1024 MB Posts: 2023
Reply #14 on: May 14, 2022, 13:59
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Does anyone know what software to use on Mac OS to create floppy disk images for RaSCSI that can be mounted and read? My attempts with DiskCopy 6.x resulted in being seen as "unknown non-Mac format" (Lido) on the SE after transfering and mounting them via the RaSCSI panel.
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