Subject: REVIEW: Squirrel PCMCIA SCSI Interface
From: [email-masked] (Edmund Vermeulen)
Date: 28 Mar 1995 21:51:33 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews

PRODUCT NAME

	Squirrel SCSI Interface, software version 1.06

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

	The Squirrel is a SCSI host adapter for the Amiga 600 and Amiga 1200
that uses the PCMCIA (credit card) slot.

AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION

	Name:		HiSoft
	Address:	The Old School
			Greenfield
			Bedford
			MK45 5 BR
			UK

	Telephone:	+44 (0)1525 718181
	Fax:		+44 (0)1525 713716

LIST PRICE

	69 UK Pounds.  My friend paid 249 Dutch guilders.

SPECIAL HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS

	HARDWARE

		An A600 or A1200.

	SOFTWARE

		None listed.

MACHINE USED FOR TESTING

	A1200 with MTEC 68030/28 MHz board with 4 MB Fast RAM
	Internal 545 MB Seagate 3,5" hard drive
	Goliath power supply

	SCSI devices tested with the Squirrel:

		Quantum LPS 52 and Quantum Lightning 540 hard disks
		Archive DAT tape streamer
		NEC CDR-25 CD-ROM reader

INSTALLATION

	The Squirrel needs to be inserted in the PCMCIA slot on the right of
the computer. This should be easy, but it wasn't on the one I tried, because
part of the glued-on lid stuck out just a little bit, preventing it from
sliding in properly.  When I pressed the lid while inserting the device, the
Squirrel could be inserted quite easily. The manual warns about not using
too much force because of the delicate pins on the PCMCIA port.  The
Squirrel may be inserted and removed from the computer even when it is
switched on:  PCMCIA was designed for this, and it can be very handy if you
need to use other PCMCIA peripherals, such as a modem, without having to
switch the computer off. The "squirrelscsi.device" is automatically
dismounted when the Squirrel is removed.

	Next, the software has to be installed. This is done using the
standard Commodore Installer and is very easy. The squirrelscsi.device is
installed and the User-Startup file is modified to include a SCSIMounter
command for each SCSI address, since the Squirrel is not automounting. The
user can also install the CD32 emulator or make a boot disk for the Squirrel
or for the CD32 emulator.

REVIEW

	When Commodore (RIP) first introduced the PCMCIA port on the A600,
they told us that this industry standard interface would mean the
possibility to add all kinds of devices from memory expansion to modems and
network adapters.  These have been slow to arrive, but now more and more
peripherals for the Amiga use the credit card slot.  At first, only memory
cards could be used, but now there is an external IDE controller
(Overdrive), CD-ROM adapters (Overdrive and Tandem) and modems can now also
be used (using Erik Quackenbush's pcmcom.device).

	The Squirrel is the first PCMCIA SCSI adapter designed specifically
for the Amiga. It can't be used on a notebook PC because of physical
limitations (it's thicker than PCMCIA 2.0 specifications allow), and also
there is currently no software driver available for PCs.

	The Squirrel is a small, black, plastic box about the size of a
credit card but much thicker (about one centimetre).  It has an (ugly) yellow
sticker on top. The cable is fixed to the casing and has a standard 50 pin
Centronics-style connector on the end.  It's about 40 cm long, which is quite
short.

	The Squirrel device driver is fully compatible with Commodore's
standards for SCSI host adapters. It uses RDB (Ridged Disk Block), and you
can use HDToolBox to partition hard disks.

	The Squirrel comes with three disks of software. The first one
contains the software needed to operate the interface (the device driver,
HDToolBox, SCSIMounter, Installer and the CD32 emulator). The other two
disks contain useful stuff from the Aminet ftp sites in LhA archived form.
The software version included was 1.06.

	All SCSI devices that I had available (Quantum LPS 52 and Quantum
Lightning 540 hard disks, Archive DAT tape streamer, NEC CDR-25 CD-ROM
reader) worked fine with the Squirrel. The hard disks obtained the same
speed as on an A3000.  The DAT tape streamer was tested with AmiBack and the
TapeWorm filesystem.  The CD-ROM reader was tested with Commodore's
CDFileSystem that is part of Workbench 3.1.

	I also tried to format a hard disk partition with Professional Filing
System by Michiel Pelt, but SCSIMounter doesn't seem to work with PFS
partitions. I didn't succeed in making a mount file for it, but it should be
possible.

	I wasn't able to test the CD32 emulator software that is part of the
Squirrel package because of the lack of CD32 titles on my part.

PERFORMANCE

	I've tested the Squirrel using DiskSpeed 4.1 with a Quantum
Lightning 540S that is normally used in my A3000. These are the results.

	 MKSoft DiskSpeed 4.1  Copyright ) 1989-91 MKSoft Development
	 ------------------------------------------------------------
	 CPU: 68030  OS Version: 39.106  Normal Video DMA
	 Device:  QD1:    Buffers: 30
	 Comments: Squirrel + Quantum 540, FFS Intl

	 CPU Speed Rating: 1556

	 Testing directory manipulation speed.
	 File Create:           29 files/sec  |  CPU Available: 0%
	 File Open:            124 files/sec  |  CPU Available: 0%
	 Directory Scan:       352 files/sec  |  CPU Available: 0%
	 File Delete:          219 files/sec  |  CPU Available: 0%

	 Seek/Read:             93 seeks/sec  |  CPU Available: 0%

	 Testing with a 262144 byte, MEMF_FAST, LONG-aligned buffer.
	 Create file:       938540 bytes/sec  |  CPU Available: 0%
	 Write to file:    1079994 bytes/sec  |  CPU Available: 0%
	 Read from file:   1223768 bytes/sec  |  CPU Available: 0%

	 Average CPU Available: 0%  |  CPU Availability index: 0

	The results are roughly the same as on my A3000, and in some cases
even slightly faster. As you can see, the Squirrel achieved about 1.2 MB/sec
when reading from a file.  According to HiSoft, the Squirrel can
theoretically obtain 3 MB/sec data transfers on an accelerated A1200.

	The big difference on the A1200 compared to the A3000 is that the
Squirrel leaves 0% CPU available on the A1200, effectively blocking
multitasking during SCSI transfers, while the A3000 leaves 46% free on
average (77% during reads).

DOCUMENTATION

	The documentation is very good. It looks very professional and
explains all the technical details you might want to know. I do miss a
troubleshooting chapter with simple 'What To Do If...' questions and answers.

LIKES

	The Squirrel gives good value for money. It works as expected and
has good performance, nice documentation and good support.

DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS

	The casing could be better, especially the lid that stuck out,
preventing the Squirrel from being inserted.  The cable is a little bit on
the short side.  The Squirrel doesn't have automounting or autobooting
capabilities, so you must have an internal hard disk or use a boot disk.  The
driver leaves 0% CPU available during SCSI transfers, which is not a nice
thing on a multitasking computer. I hope HiSoft can fix this in a future
update of the driver software.

COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS

	There are other SCSI host adapters for the PCMCIA port, but they can
only be used on PCs since there aren't any Amiga drivers available for them
(yet?).  The cheapest one I've seen for the PC was almost twice as expensive
as the Squirrel, so PC owners: eat your heart out!

	Another possibility would be to use a SCSI adapter that connects to
the trapdoor expansion slot of the A1200. I've personally only seen the GVP
in action, and it is also a fine product.

BUGS

	None that I have encountered.

VENDOR SUPPORT

	The Squirrel SCSI Interface comes with 30 days of free technical
support, which is available by telephone, letter or fax.  I've also seen
employees of HiSoft present on the Internet, and the update to version 1.05
of the software (1.06 is the current version) was placed on Aminet.

	At extra cost, it's also possible to get extended support called
Silver and Gold Support which gives you lifetime support and access to a
support conference on CIX and to their own BBS and free software updates.
These extended support schemes seem a bit expensive to me.

CONCLUSIONS

	I can recommend the Squirrel to anyone who wants to add a CD-ROM or
other SCSI devices to his/her A1200. If only HiSoft could manage to change
the driver so that it doesn't totally block multitasking during SCSI
transfers, then things would be even better.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

	This review is freely distributable. It was written by Edmund
Vermeulen ([email-masked]). The Squirrel Interface used for this
review belongs to Alex van der Voort.

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