Path: utzoo!mnetor!tmsoft!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!njin!princeton!cs!elan!nfs
From: nfs@elan.Princeton.EDU (Norbert Schlenker)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: IDE disks
Summary: It depends
Keywords: minix, at, install, IDE, MFM, RLL, SCSI, ESDI
Message-ID: <6969@rossignol.Princeton.EDU>
Date: 16 Feb 91 15:02:39 GMT
References: <30432@usc>
Sender: news@cs.Princeton.EDU
Organization: Dept. of Computer Science, Princeton University
Lines: 33

In article <30432@usc> kjh@pollux.usc.edu (Kenneth J. Hendrickson) writes:
>I asked this question before, but never got any definitive answers.
>
>Just exactly what is an IDE drive/controller?

IDE stands for integrated device electronics.  It means that the
controller functions are integrated with the drive.  On my Conner
IDE drive, the controller is packaged on a drive size card mounted
just under the drive itself.  Great concept.

>Does it look like MFM?  RLL?  SCSI?  ESDI?  Something else?

It looks like a normal AT drive.  Some look like MFM drives, others
look like RLL drives, others (like my Conner CP3104) look like ARLL
drives.  They are neither SCSI nor ESDI.

>Does it need a new device driver?

Not for Minix.  Minix 1.5 can use both the CP344 (a 42Mb IDE drive
that I used to have) and the CP3104 (a 104Mb IDE drive) without
modification.  Just to amuse everyone, I should note that Minix 1.5
used the CP3104 flawlessly when I installed the drive, while DOS
(actually the BIOS ROMs in my machine) failed because the drive was
too fast.  I consider this truly hilarious.

>Will any of the existing device drivers work?

I use at_wini.c.  I should note that the 1.3 at_wini was not up to
the task, for those still using 1.3 or earlier versions.  Patches
were posted and are still available at bugs.nosc.mil for those
problems, but it has got to be simpler to just upgrade to 1.5.

Norbert