Instruction manual

Eagle 250 Upgrade Instructions, Rev. A00
Chapter 2 - Compatibility
Before you proceed with your upgrade, it’s important to make sure you have all the hardware and
software you’ll need. This chapter discusses the hardware and software compatibility issues that may
arise during your Eagle 250 installation.
SOFTWARE COMPATIBILITY
To be compatible with the AM-138-10 CPU board, the operating system must be AMOS 2.3A, PR 06/00
or later. You cannot use AMOS 1.x with the AM-138-10.
HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY
With the following exceptions, the I/O and other peripheral circuit boards supported in other Eagle series
computers are compatible with the AM-138-10 board in your new Eagle 250. The exceptions are:
•
The AM-219 floppy controller board is not supported. A SCSI floppy drive is used instead (see
below).
•
The AM-338 RJE controller SIMM is not supported.
For serial I/O, while we recommend the AM-318-10 as the best combination of features and port density,
the AM-314, AM-318-00, and AM-318-02 are also supported.
SCSI TAPE AND HARD DISK DRIVE REQUIREMENTS
The SCSI controller on the AM-138-10 provides two bus interfaces. One is a 50-pin SCSI bus interface,
the same as on the Roadrunner 030 and 040, Eagle 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, and 550, and the AM-4000.
The second is a 68-pin Wide SCSI bus interface, the same as on the Eagle 450, AM-6000 and AM-7000.
All devices must connect to one of the two busses; the other connector cannot be used. You cannot attach
peripherals to both busses in the same computer!
Either SCSI bus will support the SCSI disk and tape devices in your current Eagle. In addition, you can
attach Wide SCSI-2 drives to either bus, using the appropriate adapter to attach them to the narrow bus.
The Eagle 250 upgrade kit comes in both narrow and Wide SCSI-2 versions. The narrow version uses
your existing SCSI cable and connectors; the Wide SCSI-2 version includes a new SCSI cabling items.
For complete information on bus configuration, devices supported, and important termination rules,
please refer to Chapter 3 of the Eagle 250 Installation and Technical Manual. The following sections
briefly discuss some bus/device issues.
Never attach a device to or remove one from the SCSI bus while system power is on. The Eagle
250 SCSI bus uses tolerant active negation, which increases the probability that “hot plugging” a
SCSI device will damage the device, the SCSI controller, or both.