Possible to speed up I/O subsystem of 5150?

From: Dwight K. Elvey <dwight.elvey_at_amd.com>
Date: Thu Dec 9 16:08:37 2004

>From: "Hans Franke" <Hans.Franke_at_siemens.com>
>
>Am 9 Dec 2004 11:46 meinte Eric Smith:
>> Steve Thatcher wrote:
>> > considering that the ATA-1 spec included 8 bit transfers from the
>> > harddrive, I don't understand why no IDE drives that supported ATA-1 would
>> > not work on a PC/XT (unless the DMA speed was the problem).
>
>> I wasn't aware that 8-bit was included in ATA-1; I don't have a copy of
>> ATA-1 or ATA-2. Was the 8-bit support mandatory or optional? In any
>> case, it was certainly gone by ATA-3. I very much doubt that any ATA
>> drive manufactured in the last 15 years has 8-bit support.
>
>Well, original ATA was nothing more than a straight forward
>adaption of the MFM controler - and that one was still good
>for 8 Bit access. Also, there was never (at least in the beginning)
>a formal Standard, so as usual everything was possible ...
>just remember all the problems of Master/Slave combinations
>from different vendors.
>
>Gruss
>H.

Hi
 As I recall, the commands were 8 bit compatable
but the data wasn't since this was not to the
controller but to the storage buffer. I believe
that the newer drives are not even 8 bit compatable
for the commands.
Dwight
Received on Thu Dec 09 2004 - 16:08:37 GMT