NoiseSaver watches SCSI harddisks and notices when they are not use
for a certain amount of time. It uses a SCSI command to stop their
motor in such a case. Whenever the HD is accessed again, NoiseSaver
automatically switches its motor on again.
Most useful for all people using their Amiga for a BBS, phone
answering or FAX machine or something similar, where the Amiga runs
all day long but is not really working all the time. It saves some
power and a lot of noise (notebook computers use the same technique).
This is version 2.1.
Changes from Version 1.6
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- now distinguishes units. Each HD can be switsched of independently.
Thanks Franz-Josef Reichert for showing that this is possible [1].
- removing the BeginIO() patch is now safe (when terminating
NoiseSaver.)
- you can explicitly specify the units to work with OR scan all.
Specifying them explicitly allows you to exclude non-HD SCSI unit
like streamers, CD-ROMs, etc. Using a suitable unit number should
allows you to use more SCSI-board and LUNs (not tested).
Template:
~~~~~~~~~
DEVICE/K,TIMEOUT/N,UNIT/N,T2/N,U2/N,T3/N,U3/N,T4/N,U4/N,T5/N,U5/N,
T6/N,U6/N,T7/N,U7/N,T8/N,U8/N,-H=HELP/S:
Format:
~~~~~~~
run >nil: noisesaver [DEVICE <device>] [ [<timeout>] [<unit>]
[ [<timeout>] [<unit>] [ [<timeout>] [<unit>] ... ] ] ]
Specification:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
<device> ist the scsi-device to use. Default is "scsi.device", which
works for A3000 and A2091. Must be compatible with the "scsi-direct"
standard.
<timeout> is the timeout in seconds that a HD must be idle to be
switched off. Default is 300 seconds or the last timeout specified.
<unit> is the SCSI unit to access. See your SCSI-board manual to see
how to address other boards or LUNs. If no units are specified, then
alls units 0 to 6 are all tried and those that can be opened are used.
This makes NoiseSaver V2.1 compatible with V1.6.
When NoiseSaver is running, use
'BREAK $NoiseSaver e' to stop the drives,
'BREAK $NoiseSaver f' to start them and
'BREAK $NoiseSaver c' to quit NoiseSaver.
Bugs:
~~~~~
None known.
ToDo:
~~~~~
- a GUI, e.g. make a commodity. I won't do that, because I don't need
it. Ask FJR to do this for QuietSCSI [1].
- AI module to restart HDs 10 seconds before they will be used again.
FAQ:
~~~~
Q: I have a GVP SCSI interface. I would like to use NoiseSaver, but it
won't run. Can you make a version runnig with my GVP?
A: Use "run NoiseSaver DEVICE=gvpscsi.device"
Q: What other options does NoiseSaver have?
A: Say "NoiseSaver HELP" or "NoiseSaver -h".
Q: What does NoiseSaver do that QuietSCSI V1.0 [1] doesn't?
A: - it features an Amiga-style version-string.
- it can work with up to 8 drives at once.
- you get all the source code.
- it can be externally signalled to start (or stop) all drives.
E.g. with TrapDoor use:
RINGS 4
RINGCOMMAND "Break $Noisesaver f"
and callers don't get timeouts because the're waiting for your HD
to start spinning AFTER the connection is established...
--
[1] QuietSCSI is © by Franz-Josef Reichert.
You can find it on AmiNet, too.
Martin Horneffer <maho dfv.rwth.aachen.de>, 2-Nov-1994
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