HISTORY:
You might think, hell! that's an old card, who uses SCSI these days? It's true that it is old, in fact this card last saw serious "work" 15 years ago and has been "taking a rest" ever since ... SCSI might be forgotten however if you dabble with or restore old consumer and industrial equipment, the chances are that you will come across SCSI at some stage.
Sit back and let me tell you all about the history of this SCSI internal interface card!
I ran an audio post production facility for 25 years and along the way we created solutions to our clients problems, these were the days when it was difficult if not impossible to find an IT solution "off the shelf" so some playing around was often necessary.
We are talking the late 1990's ~ early 2000's, it was a very different world in those days - Windows 98, XP & Server 2003 were the Microsoft platforms used, alongside Apple gear.
We wanted to use SCSI, with fast transfers for audio work. This card was our first effort in the tower showing in one of the photographs.
As technology progressed, the 29160 was released so we switched cards to the newer 160 MBytes/second model - lightning fast in those days!
This card was then "retired from service", put on the storeroom shelf where it has sat ever since, yes around 15 years!
My word, SCSI 40/80/160 is now VERY OLD technology and I see no point in keeping this card and peripheral equipment so it is now seeking a new "home", most likely not a home computer user but I have seen some specialised industrial machines still using the SCSI architecture.
To see the other SCSI items (and I am adding more each day when I have spare time), click HERE
So, after that long introduction, let's get down to describing this component ....
ADAPTEC - SCSI bus controller card
Assembled in Singapore
Dates from around 2000!
Model: 2940W/UW
Transfers up to 40MBytes/second
16/8 bit
PCI buss architecture
Three ports:
68 pin 16 bit Wide (rear connector)
68 pin 16 bit Wide for internal connections
50 pin 8 bit Narrow internal connector
NO cables provided although I do have some SCSI internal and perhaps (if I find them) some external cables
NO drivers supplied, you will need to source these yourself. I have seen a number of sites with drivers available for download, including Adaptec themselves. Seems that drivers are generally available for up to Win 7 and a few different "flavours" of Linux, including source code.
If you are hunting for further info, take a look HERE at Adaptec's site or some drivers are HERE but be warned, these are for Win NT! (Old as)
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
Clean
NO physical damage to the card (either side)
TESTING:
Actually the last time this card was in use was way back in 2005 (ish)! and while it worked fine, it wasn't long before we upgraded this card to the 29160N. I have just "parted out" the old tower system but could not "fire up the card" because I have no 9 pin mouse nor 5 pin DIN keyboard to connect to the system.
I just have to assume that all is still well with the card, it was 15 years ago!
Removal of the card from the system was undertaken using ESD safe precautions and the card is now safely packed within an ESD sealed packet awaiting a new owner.
