preservation: linux and ST506/412 - SCSI bridge boards

Out of interest, has anyone else ever managed to persuade linux to talk to any of the Xebec/Omti/Emulex/Adaptec ST506-SCSI bridge boards? Most of the boards are SASI, or at best semi-SCSI, so Linux refuses to talk to them. Just wondered if anyone on here had hacked any of the kernel drivers so that they'll work. As I understand it, the main problem's that the kernel drivers issue a SCSI identify command at boot time - which of course doesn't exist on any of these boards, and from that point on the kernel refuses to acknowledge that there's even a board there. I *think* a SASI board should work with a SCSI HBA, providing there's nothing else on the SCSI bus (at least that's what the Omti manuals suggest). Sure would be useful for backup purpose, but last time I looked at the kernel SCSI code (for an adaptec driver in that case) it was pure spaghetti :-( cheers Jules