[rescue] on the subject of the 4D/xx...

[Mike Nicewonger]

On Tue, 10 Jul 2001, you wrote:
> At 05:08 PM 7/10/01 -0500, you wrote:
> >Is there something these machines need in the way of bytes/sector or
> >otherwise in order to boot from a CDROM drive? I have a Sun-branded ROM
> >drive in a 411 box that works fine on all of my SPARC boxes (of course),
> >but the SGI hates it. Both the PROM and IRIX complain loudly. I have
> >another similar (2x, caddy-loaded) drive that I've brought home from work
> >that is equally liked by both my Sun and SGI machines.

Some of the 1x Sony built Sun CD-ROM's (CDU-8012/3?) won't work on much of
anything except Sun. Although I have seen some issues with faster drives on
SS2's while attempting to load Linux.
  
> Early SUNs and SGI machines require a 512 byte mode CD-ROM.  Today's
> CD-ROM's won't work.  

This is not true. I have a 6 month old Plextor 40x that does indeed work on my
older Sun, SGI and HP machines that require 512 byte block. Also, most newer
SCSI CD-ROM drives will automatically switch to the correct block size. this is
mostly true for Toshiba drives. I personally like the Plextor drives which have
a jumper for 512 byte.

> You can typically find a SCSI 512 byte mode drive on
> Ebay for $20-$30.  Starting with the Indigo, they could use normal drives.

Of course be careful. I see more than a few vendors on eBay whom have not a
clue what is and isn't bootable.

Mike N