Possible to speed up I/O subsystem of 5150?

From: Steven N. Hirsch <shirsch_at_adelphia.net>
Date: Wed Dec 15 17:36:56 2004

On Sun, 5 Dec 2004, Jim Leonard wrote:

> I have a few IBM model 5150s that I use to code entries for programming
> competitions and I'd like to try to speed up the hard disk in any way
> possible. (If you're curious what my last project was, check out
> http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=13722 to download and try it out -- it
> displays full-screen full-motion color video with sync'd sound -- yes, on a
> 4.77MHz 8088, no fooling). I've been looking for any way to speed up the hard
> disk subsystem (currently WD1002 with Seagate ST225) and I simply can't get
> more than 130KB/s out of the darn thing... so:
>
> - Is there any MFM/RLL 8-bit ISA controller that can read disks at their full
> 1:1 interleave? If so, where can I get one? 3:1 is the best I've been able
> to get using the above MFM combination. I haven't tried RLL yet because I
> don't have any RLL controllers.

IIRC, the 4.77Mhz PC bus is not fast enough to handle 1:1 interleave with
8 bit transfers - but, it's been a few years.

I do know that 16-bit ESDI controllers handled 1:1, but that doesn't help
on an original PC.

> - If not, do such things exist as 8-bit ISA IDE controllers? I have lots of
> "little" IDE drives (320MB and 540MB models) that I could hook up.

There actually were 8-bit IDE controllers, but I don't think they're all
that common.

Steve
Received on Wed Dec 15 2004 - 17:36:56 GMT

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.0 : Fri Oct 10 2014 - 23:36:38 BST