Xref: utzoo comp.sys.att:7851 comp.unix.i386:900 Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!ginosko!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!ncrlnk!ncr-sd!hp-sdd!ucsdhub!cuuxun!cuuxb!fmcgee From: fmcgee@cuuxb.ATT.COM (~XT6561110~Frank McGee~C23~L25~6326~) Newsgroups: comp.sys.att,comp.unix.i386 Subject: Re: (semi-long) What ESDI Controller ships with the new AT&T 6386s? Summary: WD controllers throughout Keywords: ESDI SCSI ST506 controller disk Message-ID: <4269@cuuxb.ATT.COM> Date: 21 Oct 89 22:54:00 GMT Expires: 5 Nov 89 00:00:00 GMT References: <2542@infmx.UUCP> Reply-To: fmcgee@cuuxb.UUCP (Frank W. McGee) Followup-To: comp.sys.att Distribution: na Organization: AT&T Computer Systems, Lisle, IL Lines: 61 In article <2542@infmx.UUCP> aland@infmx.UUCP (alan denney) writes: >Regarding the new 6386 line from AT&T (25 MHz version, 33 MHz version, >and 33 MHz "Model S"): what hard disk controllers do they use? Here's a fast summary of the controllers past and present : 6386/33E Model S - WD 7000 series combo floppy/SCSI controller 6386/33E - WD 1007-WA2 combo floppy/ESDI controller 6386/25 - WD 1007-WA2 combo floppy/ESDI controller 6386/SX - integral (on the motherboard) IDE controller also with an integral floppy controller. Both are disable-able through CMOS (floppy disable, disk disable, or both disable). The IDE interface is also known as the "AT" interface. 6386E - WD 1007-WAH (fixed disk only) with a motherboard floppy controller. 6386 - WD 1003-WAH (older ST506 machines, 3:1 interleave), WD 1006-WAH (newer ST506 machines, 1:1 interleave), WD 1005-WAH (older ESDI machines, 3:1 interleave), and the WD 1007A-WAH (newer ESDI machines, 1:1 interleave, translation mode for more than 1024 cylinders). All are fixed disk only controllers, these machines had a motherboard floppy controller. 6312 - WD 1006-WA2 combo ST506 and floppy controller. Those are all that I know of off of the top of my head. They are all Western Digital controllers with no BIOS ROMs (some controllers have a BIOS chip add-on on the card that allows low level formatting and other things). We ship a low level formatter to people that send in there warranty registration cards for the 6386 and 6386/E; the low level formatter can be accessed on the 6386/SX, 6386/25, and 6386/33E by pressing ALT-F while you are in the disk utilities of the customer diagnostics. Don't know if the SX low level formatter will format non-IDE interface drives. The 6386/25 and 6386/33 will auto-configure ESDI drives if you run the configuration utility in the customer diagnostics. There are user-configurable drive types on the 6386/SX, 6386/25, and 6386/33 (drive types 48 and 49). I believe these will allow outrageous sized disks (256 heads, 32000 cylinders). On the 6386/SX, 6386/25, and 6386/33 a quick and dirty CMOS editor can be pulled up by pressing ALT-CTRL-INS; if you are running Unix you need to do this before the boot loader starts, it's always there under MSDOS unless you specify in CMOS that you only want to allow it to be entered during pre-boot. That's pretty much the whole story on AT&T disks. I also found out that all of our AT-bus SCSI add-ons and the Model S all use the same controller but with different jumper settings. Hope this answers your question, -- Frank McGee, AT&T Tier 3 Indirect Channel Sales Support attmail!fmcgee