ide harddrive

From: Richard Erlacher <edick_at_idcomm.com>
Date: Thu Mar 29 13:21:23 2001

Let me rephrase ... I've yet to see a ROM BIOS that contains a floppy/hard disk
handler that talks through a parllel port. If you're going to boot from a
device, the ROM is the guy that's got to have the code to talk to the boot
device. If it's on the boot device, it won't boot just because it's there. It
has to be in the ROM.

Excuuuse me! ... I didn't believe that int13 was anything other than a logical
interrupt vector, and that the ISR to which it points was a body of code.
That's why, until AMI, AWARD, and Phoenix BIOS' have specific code for
addressing disk I/O via the parallel port, you won't be able to boot from it.
Maybe they've gotten around to that, but I've yet to see it.

Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Fred Cisin (XenoSoft)" <cisin_at_xenosoft.com>
To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2001 10:47 AM
Subject: Re: ide harddrive


> See remarks in the folloowing:
>
> On Wed, 28 Mar 2001, Richard Erlacher wrote:
>
> > I had no idea that int13 talks directly to the EPP port!
> It talks to whatever YOU WRITE it to talk to. The one that came with your
> motherboard is written for PC disk controllers. It is fairly simple code,
> and the source code is in the Technical Reference manual.
>
> > My understanding was that int13 uses a disk driver based on the
> > assumption that the ROM code talks to the device interface.
>
> "uses a disk driver"?? It _IS_ the lowest level disk driver you've got.
> Int13 typically IS the ROM code that talks to the disk controller
> hardware. By intercepting the vector, it can be supplemented or replaced
> by code in RAM.
>
>
> > I've no indication in any of the doc's or marketing
> > literature, for example, that I could boot my system from a SCSI drive
attached
> > to the printer port via my Adaptec Printer-Port<=>SCSI adapter. I'd have
> > thought they'd make the claim if anyone would.
>
> This thread was NOT about BOOTING.
> If you want to BOOT using one of your Trantor/Adaptec T338/348/358
> parallel port SCSI adapters, then you need to install a ROM in your
> computer that replaces and/or enhances INT13. Such a ROM is not
> commercially available as far as I know.
>
> To use ANY of the parallel port drives, whether SCSI or IDE, you need to
> either replace your ROMs with code that talks appropriately to that port
> rather than talking to the disk controller ports, OR
> boot the computer using a more "conventional" drive, and then run
> appropriate software that either runs as a block mode device driver, OR
> uses the network redirector (as CD-ROMs do with MSCDEX.EXE), OR
> hooks/replaces INT13.
>
> In short:
> Parallel port devices are not usually used to boot from.
>
> --
> Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin_at_xenosoft.com
>
> >
> > Dick
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Fred Cisin (XenoSoft)" <cisin_at_xenosoft.com>
> > To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
> > Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2001 7:47 PM
> > Subject: Re: ide harddrive
> >
> >
> > > > I've seen, and, in fact, own, several parallel port to SCSI interfaces,
but
> > > > never a parallel port to IDE type.
> > >
> > > I have five of them here. (probably some more buried deeper) These are
> > > Rodeo. One that takes 3.5" IDE, and four that take 2.5" IDE and have
> > > batteries. I've also used ones from Pacific Rim.
> > >
> > >
> > > > It's quite conceivable, though.
> > >
> > > Thank you.
> > > I have a policy of raising the price every time somebody expresses doubt
> > > of existence of stuff that I'm selling. After all, that proves that it
> > > must be RARE!
> > >
> > >
> > > > The software would be a pain, however.
> > >
> > > Not too bad. There are easy ways and hard ways to do it. It's largely an
> > > issue of at what level it operates. (replacement Int13, v block mode
> > > device driver, etc.)
> > >
> > > --
> > > Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin_at_xenosoft.com
> > >
>
>
Received on Thu Mar 29 2001 - 13:21:23 BST