Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!emory!mephisto!ncsuvx!ncsuvm!ucf1vm!rreed
From: RREED%ucf1vm.cc.ucf.edu@ncsuvm.ncsu.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: 8-bit v. 16-bit cards
Message-ID: <90262.150845RREED@ucf1vm.cc.ucf.edu>
Date: 19 Sep 90 19:08:44 GMT
References: <13728@hydra.gatech.EDU> <3118.26f65e1e@cc.helsinki.fi>
Organization: University of Central Florida--Computer Services
Lines: 25

In article <3118.26f65e1e@cc.helsinki.fi>, jlaiho@cc.helsinki.fi says:
>
>In article <13728@hydra.gatech.EDU>, gt4824a@prism.gatech.EDU (gt4824a
>BEKER,PAUL) writes:
>> Can I plug an 8-bit card (i.e. a RLL controller, or a VGA card) into
>> a physical 16-bit bus like those found on 2/386 machines?  Will the
>> performance of either the card or the m'board suffer?
>>
>> Thanks!  Paul Beker  ..  gt4824a@prism.gatech.edu
>
>NEVER even try to put an 8-bit hard-disk controller to a machine w
>16-bit bus. I don't know whether or not it actually destroys something,
>but definitely it won't work.
>
Never say never!  Especially with computers.  You can use an 8-bit hard
drive controller card in an AT class machine *for 8-bit applications*
such as DOS.  But there is a little trick to doing this, you must tell
the AT setup program that you don't have a hard drive installed.  Then
you simply boot the system, use the low-level format on the controller card
and high-level format.  It works with most machines.  You tell the AT
that you don't have a hard drive installed so the BIOS on the 8-bit
controller can take over.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Reginald Reed -- Struggling Computer Science Student -- Does Bo Know Comp Sci??
BITNET=+> rreed@ucf1vm             INTERNET=+> rreed@{ucflan,ucf