[plug] Card Trek: The Search for SCSI

[Craig Foster]

If you're looking for the original ISA UDS-IS11 Rev3D SCSI-1 card that
came with your scanner, I have a handful here.
(Nothing like have an ex-Umax tech in the list now, is there ^_^ )
When da ya wannit?? Off-list may be preferable...

Regards,

Craig Foster

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Trent Lloyd [mailto:trentlloyd at iprimus.com.au]
> Sent: Wednesday, 24 October 2001 11:53 PM
> To: plug at plug.linux.org.au
> Subject: Re: [plug] Card Trek: The Search for SCSI
>
>
> damn :/
>
> At 11:12 PM 24/10/01 +0800, you wrote:
> >Today was my day off so I went hunting for a SCSI card.  I
> needed something
> >that could be plugged into my wife's computer so she could
> use the old UMAX
> >scanner we bought several years ago.  She's been begging
> me for months to
> >hook up the scanner. I had stolen the original SCSI 2 card
> to use with the
> >server to do backups.
> >
> >I don't really know much about SCSI cards.  All I really
> knew was that I
> >didn't want anything too expensive.  I was hoping to get
> away with spending
> >around $50.
> >
> >So my wife and I started shopping around in the city.  It's
> >reasonably close to home and it meant we could do some
> other stuff we needed
> >to do there as well.  Two birds, one stone sorta thing.
> Or that was the plan.
> >
> >The first place we went to was along the way on the
> fringes of the city.  It
> >had a guy in his forties or fifties sitting behind a long
> counter like you
> >expect to see at a hotel check-in.  He was working on his
> computer and I
> >thought he was the secretary.  It turns out he was the
> sole sales assistant.
> >He was dressed in a suit and I sensed that he expected his
> customers to be
> >likewise attired.  I was in jeans and a t-shirt.  I asked
> him if he had any
> >cheap SCSI cards that were compatible with linux.  He
> looked at me for a
> >moment as though I had just uttered a blasphemy (there
> were Windows ME
> >posters everywhere), then tapped a few keys on his
> computer.  He then asked,
> >"what card was I after?" Great, I thought.  A choice.  I
> told him that I
> >wasn't after any particular card.  I just needed something that was
> >compatible with SCSI 2 and that had linux drivers
> available.  He nodded,
> >punched a few keys on his computer again, and then told me
> that they had no
> >SCSI cards whatsoever.  That there had been a shortage due
> to the events of
> >September 11th.  He even speculated that the shortage was
> because the
> >military had snatched them all up.  I smiled, nodded and left.
> >
> >The next place we visited was a few blocks further down
> the road.  By local
> >standards this place it was huge.  It had two exits.  You
> enter by one,
> >through a turnstile, and exit through the other. The place
> was pretty full.
> >The phone was ringing all the time and sales assistants
> were rushing around
> >frantically. I thought that we would surely find a card to
> suit our purposes
> >here.  So we browsed.  We found lots of graphics cards,
> networking cards, tv
> >turner cards, a bunch of hard drives safely locked in a
> glass cabinet, but no
> >SCSI cards.  They must keep them in the back, I thought.
> So I managed to
> >attract the attention of one of the sales assistants, a
> petite chinese girl.
> >And I asked her if they had any SCSI cards.  She told me
> that they didn't
> >stock any SCSI cards.  That there wasn't a demand for
> them.  So we thanked
> >her and made our goodbyes.  I failed to mention that she
> had a stack of SCSI
> >hard drives in the glass cabinet.
> >
> >We had lunch and did some errands before moving onto the
> next place.  A
> >national franchise store.  They too had lots of glass
> cabinets filled with
> >nifty toys. Unfortunately none of the cabinets held SCSI
> cards.  So my wife
> >asked the sales assistant if they had any.  The sales
> assistant checked her
> >computer and then reported that they didn't stock SCSI
> cards in this state,
> >that they were only available over east.  Something to
> remember when over
> >east: buy lots of SCSI cards and sell them at home.  I'd
> make a killing.
> >
> >The next place we visited held some personal history.  I
> had once tried to
> >buy a mobile phone there.  I had asked to examine one of
> the phones so I
> >could feel how heavy it was only to be told by the elderly
> sales assistant
> >that that was against store policy.  I told him what he
> could do with his
> >policy and promptly left.  As a result I wasn't too
> hopeful, but we were
> >running short of options and it was in the area.  So we
> entered the store and
> >I saw that everything had changed.  There wasn't an
> elderly sales assistant
> >in sight.  It was all sleek and professional boys.  We had
> a quick look
> >around but couldn't seen any SCSI cards.  One of the boys
> noticed our worried
> >looks and asked us if we needed any assistance.  So I
> asked him if they had
> >any SCSI cards.  He asked me how to spell SCSI.  Twice.  We left.
> >
> >By this tme I was getting really frustrated.  My wife was
> getting sore feet.
> >We had walked all over the city and had yet to find any
> SCSI cards let alone a
> >cheap one that worked with linux.  But fortune favours the
> brave, or so they
> >say, and the next place we visited actually had a solitary
> SCSI card for sale.
> >Unfortunately, it was $165.  I could have bought a brand
> new USB scanner for
> >only a little more.
> >
> >My wife had had enough but I had one more ace up my
> sleeve.  I knew of a
> >second-hand store that just might have something for us.
> I would have gone
> >there first but the other stores were closer to our
> errands.  So we headed
> >over there.  It was a good 2-3 km walk.  We do a lot of
> walking so it
> >wouldn't have been a bother except my wife had worn her
> CFM boots and they
> >were starting to hurt. So, to put it mildly, we were less
> than pleased when
> >we discovered that the store was closed.
> >
> >We'd both had enough by then and so we headed home.  I
> don't think my wife
> >will be bugging me about the scanner any time soon.  A-ha!
>  My ploy worked.
> >Perhaps I'll surprise her and buy a card online and have
> it delivered.
> >
> >skribe
> >--
> >Public key information available at:
> >http://www.amber.com.au/~skribe/publickey.html
> >Key fingerprint = A855 9CA3 953B 5195 C518  12F2 0E05 DCCD
> 5A88 E8A4
> >
> >Where there is much light there is also much shadow.
> >                 -- Goethe
>
>
>
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