Macintosh IIfx: DMA Access Support



Is DMA access supported to or from NuBus memory space on the Macintosh
IIfx?

Which drives will benefit from DMA on the Macintosh IIfx? Is it only
internal drives? Also, is it the same for both the A/UX and Macintosh OS?

DMA access is supported to and from main memory -- but not to or from
NuBus memory space. (The only way to access NuBus memory is through the
NuBus controller chip, which is controlled by the 68030 CPU. This makes
it impossible to do SCSI DMA involving NuBus memory on the Macintosh
IIfx.)

Currently, only A/UX 2.0 supports the SCSI DMA capabilities of the
Macintosh IIfx. SCSI DMA is possible on all SCSI devices, not just the
internal SCSI device. The internal and external SCSI connectors support
the same signals.

When running A/UX 2.0 on a Macintosh IIfx, any SCSI device (internal and
external) will benefit from the SCSI DMA capabilities of the Macintosh
IIfx.


Published Date: Feb 18, 2012