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Source: Julien Pierre (madbrain@thetaband.com)
Moderator: Trevor Smith (trevor@haligonian.com)
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In the process of upgrading disk subsystems in two OS/2 servers, I
went for the new Adaptec 29160 Ultra160 SCSI controllers and Ultra160
drives. I received them and plugged one Adaptec controller into a
machine. Unfortunately, to my surprise, unlike any other Adaptec
product I have used before, the driver disk only came with drivers
for DOS, Windows, NT and Novell, but not OS/2. A visit to the Adaptec
website showed nothing else. I tried the Adaptec OS/2 drivers for the
2940 U2W series, but they wouldn't recognize the new card at all. I
called Adaptec technical support and after more than a half hour on
hold, the technician - who told me I was the first one to ever call
on an Ultra160 card - acknowledged that there were no OS/2 drivers
for the card currently. I insisted and inquired to know if there were
any plans in the future for OS/2 drivers, and he said that OS/2
drivers were underway and would be coming end of Q1 to beginning of
Q2.

The reason I think this is significant and I'm posting it to WarpCast
is the conjunction of this lack of OS/2 drivers with the press
release on Adaptec's web site at:

  http://www.adaptec.com/adaptec/press/release000118a.html 

dated 1/18/2000, which states that the popular Adaptec 2940 series
"will continue to be supported but will no longer be available for
purchase". This means that until Adaptec releases its OS/2 drivers
for the 29160 series, you won't be able to purchase a
high-performance SCSI controller from Adaptec for use under OS/2,
except from existing stocks.

In the meantime, I am returning my two Adaptec 29160 boards and
settling for Ultra2. But even though it was still in stock, I didn't
want to go for an already-obsoleted Adaptec 2940 U2W, which cost only
$10 dollars less than the new 29160 model. Instead, I am going for
the Tekram DC390 U2W which have OS/2 drivers from both Tekram and
Symbios. In fact, I am getting three Tekram Ultra 2 for the same
price of the two Adaptec Ultra 160.
 
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