Eagle 450 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 450 installation.
SOFTWARE COMPATIBILITY
To be compatible with the AM-138 CPU board, the operating system must be AMOS 2.3A, PR 10/98 or
later. You cannot use AMOS 1.x with the AM-138.
HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY
With one exception, the I/O and other peripheral circuit boards supported in other Eagle series computers
are compatible with the AM-138 board in your new Eagle 450. The one exception is:
•
The AM-219 floppy controller board is not supported. A SCSI floppy drive is used instead (see
below).
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 provides two bus interfaces. One is a 50-pin SCSI bus interface, the
same as on the Roadrunner 030 and 040, Eagles, and the AM-4000. The second is a 68-pin Wide SCSI
bus interface, the same as on the AM-6000 and AM-6060. 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 AM-1600 or 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 450 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 cable and
external connector.
For complete information on bus configuration, devices supported, and important termination rules,
please refer to Chapter 3 of the Eagle 450 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
450 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.
