From what
I've read, 3 1/2 drives don't have removable resistor packs
and they somehow achieve termination automatically
I'd heard it being referred to as "distributed termination". From that,
I'd
guess
that meant that each 3.5" device is terminated, and that each provides what
amount of total termination resistance is required if that device is plugged up
to the chain.
The guy who thought that one up should darn well learn some transmission
line theory!. You can't (properly) terminate at each device -- you have
to terminate at the 2 ends of the line. The fact that it works for floppy
drives on the normal-length cable is really due to the fact that the
signals are pretty slow anyway!. The resistors are really just pull-ups...
-tony