ATAPI ILI EOM errors not defined by MMC-2

Hale Landis hlandis at ibm.net
Wed May 19 22:17:41 PDT 1999


* From the T10 Reflector (t10 at symbios.com), posted by:
* "Hale Landis" <hlandis at ibm.net>
*
Dear Members of T10,

It is me again.  Please include the T13 Reflector in your reply to this
message. Thanks!

In ATA/ATAPI-4 the PACKET command defines two error bits in the Error
register called ILI and EOM. The only thing that ATA/ATAPI-4 has to say
about these bits is:

"the meaning of this bit is command set specific. See the appropriate
command set standard for the defintion of this bit."

Since ATAPI devices are really SCSI devices and the command set for such a
device is defined by one (and probably many more than one) SCSI document,
then the meaning of these bits should be defined in the appropriate SCSI
documents, like MMC-2.

Where does MMC-2 define what these errors bits mean for an ATAPI device? 
Should this definiton be in MMC-2 Annex B?

But be aware that recent discussions on the T13 reflector indicate there
is wide disagreement as to what these bits mean or what they are used for.
 Apparently many ATAPI devices don't use these error bits. But there are a
group of ATAPI folks that seem to think these bits are equivalent to the
ILI and EOM bits found in the SCSI Request Sense data.  Over the last few
years I've heard all kinds of interpretations of what these Error register
bits mean and how they are used.

Please define what these error bits mean for an MMC-2 device (or ask T13
to make the bits obsolete in the next ATA/ATAPI standard).  

And finally... It seems to me that there should be the equivalent to the
MMC-2 Annex B in every SCSI command set document that is produced.  For
example, some ATAPI devices are really Block devices and follow the SPC
and SBC command sets.  Should that not require that SPC and SBC to have an
equivalent to the MMC-2 Annex B?

Thanks. :-) !


+---------------+---------------------------+
| Hale Landis   | hlandis at ibm.net           |
| Niwot, CO USA | hlandis at sugs.talisman.com |
+---------------+---------------------------+
| !! Coming soon: www.talisman.com/sugs  !! |
+-------------------------------------------+


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