The presumably most important differences between the latest SCSI2Pi release and PiSCSI 25.12.01 are listed below.
| Feature | SCSI2Pi | PiSCSI | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quick installation with Debian packages | ✅ | ❌ | Installing/De-installing/Updating the binaries in seconds without compilation (releases as well as development versions) |
| Full support for up to date versions of Raspberry Pi OS, inofficially also for Ubuntu and Manjaro |
✅ | ❌ | SCSI2Pi supports Raspberry Pi OS Bullseye, Bookworm and Trixie, 32/64 bit, distributions like Ubuntu and Manjaro should also work Note: Debian support for Bullseye will end on August 31, 2026. |
| Low main memory footprint | ✅ | ❌ | Despite additional functionality, the binaries are very compact, which saves main memory (especially important for small Pis) |
| Up to 25% higher transfer rates | ✅ | ❌ | Measured with a Pi Zero WH (25%) and a Pi 4 (5%) |
| Support for Aibom and Gamernium boards | ❌ | ✅ | These boards only offer comparatively slow transfer rates, but make maintaining and optimizing the code more difficult. SCSI2Pi has been optimized for STANDARD and FULLSPEC boards. |
| scsiloop tool | ❌ | ✅ | To test your board, use the tool from the PiSCSI distribution |
| scsimon tool | ❌ | ✅ | Removed because a lot of data is lost, which is misleading for the analysis |
| SCSI-to-USB bridge | ✅ | ❌ | USB mass storage devices can be used like SCSI mass storage devices, without the need for USB drivers or image files |
| SASI hard drive support | ✅ | ❌ | SASI hard drive emulation, including backup/restore |
| Extensive tape drive (streamer) support | ✅ | ❌ | With tar files or SIMH files as images, support for filemarks, navigation, variable block sizes, ... |
| Dump/restore of real tapes | ✅ | ❌ | Conversion of tapes into a SIMH-compatible image files and vice versa |
| Improved DaynaPort emulation, improved DaynaPort bridge |
✅ | ❌ | About 16 MB less memory consumption (important for small Pis), support for several DaynaPort emulations in the same network, creating the DaynaPort bridge can be switched off |
| Variable sector sizes for hard drives | ✅ | ❌ | In multiples of 4, for exotic platforms |
| Linked SCSI command support | ✅ | ❌ | Improves the compatibility with some platforms |
| Properties and property files | ✅ | ❌ | Comfortable configuring of all settings without a command line |
| BlueSCSI compatiblity mode | ✅ | ❌ | Support of the BlueSCSI filename conventions for images |
| Configurable caching modes | ✅ | ❌ | An optional write-through cache ensures consistent image files |
| Configurable and additional mode pages | ✅ | ❌ | User-definable mode pages for optimal driver/platform compatibility |
| Improved initiator tools | ✅ | ❌ | Higher compatibility with the SCSI standard, new and improved tools for hard drives and streamers |
| Scripting of SCSI commands (recording/replaying) | ✅ | ❌ | s2pctl and s2pexec can execute command scripts generated by s2p |
| API for management with SCSI commands | ✅ | ❌ | The connected computer can control s2p with SCSI commands |
| Improved and extended logging | ✅ | ❌ | Improved error analysis capabilities |
| Tool for formatting media with USB drives | ✅ | ❌ | E.g. for USB floppy disk drives, runs on any Linux system |
| Tool for analyzing and creating tape images | ✅ | ❌ | Supports SIMH-compatible tape image files, runs on Linux/BSD/macOS |
| Tool for sending SCSI commands | ✅ | ❌ | Sends any SCSI command to a device |
| Tools for advanced testing | ✅ | ❌ | Testing of SCSI commands on Linux/BSD/macOS |
| Booting VMS from an emulated tape drive | ✅ | ❌ | A SIMH tape image file is required |
| Programs can be launched without sudo | ✅ | ❌ | When installing the binary packages or after sudo make install |
| Optional compilation of device types | ✅ | ❌ | Faster compilation and even smaller binaries, if not all device types are needed |
| Additional functions for the SCSI Control App | ✅ | ❌ | SCSI Control offers additional features |
Several PiSCSI tickets, that have been open for a long time or were closed without being processed have been processed for SCSI2Pi.
| PiSCSI Ticket | Remark |
|---|---|
| 335 | Improved caching, optional write-through cache |
| 479 | Improved support of the SCSI commands READ/WRITE LONG |
| 480 | Streamer support for VMS, support for SIMH |
| 497 | SCSI-to-USB bridge |
| 598 | Dynamic MAC address for the DaynaPort, more than one DaynaPort in the same network |
| 740 | Installation packages with binaries, installation without compiling |
| 809 | Support for SASI hard drives |
| 1098 | Evaluation of DaynaPort support for NetBSD |
| 1260 | Consistent code formatting and conventions |
| 1331 | DaynaPort bridge for Bookworm |
| 1402, 1410, 1412 | DEC Alpha compatibility |