Macintosh: SCSI Bus Does Not Use True DMA Mode


The Macintosh family of computers does not support true DMA transfers via
the SCSI chip.

The SCSI chip can operate in two modes: normal mode and pseudo-DMA mode.

- In normal mode, the SCSI driver software manages the handshaking to
communicate with a peripheral SCSI device.

- In pseudo-DMA mode, the SCSI chip's internal logic handles all the SCSI bus
handshake signals automatically.

(NOTE: For more information on the SCSI chip and DMA, see pages 5-24,
12-25, and 20-21 of the "Macintosh Family Hardware Reference" manual from
Addison Wesley, (ISBN# 0-201-19255-1).


Published Date: Feb 18, 2012