Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!snorkelwacker!mit-eddie!mit-amt!mit-caf!dkadoch
From: dkadoch@mit-caf.MIT.EDU (Dani Kadoch)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: Re: minix on ibm pc clones
Message-ID: <3653@mit-caf.MIT.EDU>
Date: 29 Dec 89 13:17:06 GMT
References: <981@crash.cts.com> <284@trantext.UUCP>
Reply-To: dkadoch@mit-caf.UUCP (Dani Kadoch)
Organization: Microsystems Technology Laboratories, MIT
Lines: 32

In article <284@trantext.UUCP> brian@trantext.UUCP (Brian Bainter) writes:
>jca@pnet01.cts.com (John C. Archambeau) writes:
>>Also, RLL has always been a pain to implement, so if you can stay away from
>>RLL controllers, all the better.
>
>John may be correct for a few RLL controllers, but all of those that I have
>worked with will work fine if you change the sectors per track in the
>program areas that use it (specifically the driver and fsck). 

I had MINIX running on a much wierder configuration, with a Perstor
controller card.  This card is similar to RLL in the sense that you
get more storage on your drive, as compared to an MFM standard format.
What it does is that it has 31 sectors per track (RLL = 27, MFM = 17)
so that I get almost twice the storage of an MFM format.  This card
can work on most MFM drives out there, and it uses its own proprietary
undocumented format, and comes with software to low-level format the
drive(s.)  There are no special drivers needed at boot time, since it
has some ROMs that kick in when booting.  Both DOS fdisk and MINIX
fdisk worked fine on it, recognizing the extra storage space.

For those interested in my setup: 10MHz Everex 286 motherboard (a
system 1800,) with a 16-bit Perstor controller, and two Miniscribe
44MB standard MFM drives.  When formatted, each one of these drives
has about 80MB of storage.  I was able to run MINIX with at_wini.c
with NO patches (versions 1.2 and 1.3d.)  DOS handled the drives
equally well.

-- 
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> Dani Kadoch    Microsystems Technology Labs @ Massachusetts Inst. of Tech.  <
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