Date: Dec 20, 1990                            X3T9.2/90-201 Rev 0


    To: X3T9.2 Committee (SCSI)

    From: George Penokie (IBM)

    Subject: Non-ASCII Characters in Log List Parameters


    Proposal:

    The List Parameter under the Logging Option in SCSI-2 is defined as: A
    Parameter Value which consists of a string of ASCII codes.  This seems
    to be overly restrictive, in that, there is no way to have a List
    Parameter of non-ASCII codes.

    A common logging application in disk drives would be to create a list
    of LBAs at which soft errors have occurred.  But under the current
    SCSI-2 definition of the List Parameter the LBAs would have to be
    converted to ASCII which does not make sense.

    To Remedy this oversight we would like to propose that byte 2 bit 1 of
    the Log Parameter (the control byte) be change from Reserved to a bit
    which would determine whether the List Parameter was ASCII or
    non-ASCII.  Call it LHEX.

    Description to go into the Log Parameters section of SCSI-3:

    The LHEX bit is is only valid if the LP is one.  If the LP bit is one
    and the LHEX bit is zero then the list parameter is a string of ASCII
    graphic codes (i.e., code values 20h through 7Eh).  If the LP bit is
    one and the LHEX bit is one then the list parameter is a list of hex
    codes.

    Along with the above paragraph the following sentence would be deleted
    from the third paragraph after table 7-52 in the SCSI-2 rev 10c
    document:

    A list parameter is a string of ASCII graphic codes (i.e., codes values
    20h through 7Eh).