The presumably most important differences between SCSI2Pi and PiSCSI 25.12.01 are listed below.
| Feature | SCSI2Pi | PiSCSI | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quick installation with Debian binary packages | ✅ | ❌ | Installing/Uninstalling/Updating in seconds, without compilation (releases as well as development versions) |
| Full support for up-to-date versions of Raspberry Pi OS, unofficially 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. |
| Support (e.g. for development and testing) also for other platforms | ✅ | ❌ | SCSI2Pi also compiles on PC Linux, BSD, or macOS. Tools such as s2pctl can even be run on these platforms. |
| Low memory footprint | ✅ | ❌ | Despite additional functionality, the SCSI2Pi binaries are about 30% smaller than the PiSCSI binaries (especially important for small Pis) |
| Up to 25% higher transfer rates | ✅ | ❌ | Measured with a Pi Zero WH (25%) and a Pi 4 (5%) |
| The FULLSPEC board binary also supports the STANDARD board | ✅ | ❌ | An option allows the s2p binary for the FULLSPEC board to be used with the STANDARD board as well. (SCSI2Pi 6.4) |
| Support for Aibom and Gamernium boards | ❌ | ✅ | These old 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 scsiloop tool from the PiSCSI distribution |
| scsimon tool | ❌ | ✅ | Removed because a lot of data is lost, which is misleading during 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 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 | ✅ | ❌ | Convenient configuring of all settings without a command line |
| BlueSCSI compatibility mode | ✅ | ❌ | Support for 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 Debian binary packages |
| 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 that have been closed without being processed, have been addressed for SCSI2Pi.
| PiSCSI Ticket | Remark |
|---|---|
| 335 | Improved caching, optional write-through cache |
| 479 | Improved support for the SCSI commands READ/WRITE LONG |
| 480 | Streamer support for VMS, support for SIMH tape image files |
| 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 |