gopstein@soleil.UUCP (Rich Gopstein) (05/31/89)
When I mentioned that I can't get better than a 5:1 interleave with my WDXT-GEN controller, several people suggested that I use the internal ATT ROMs to drive the controller. I am a little confused about exactly how that will work. With my existing setup, I have set the 6300 to use the external (controller) ROM. If I switch it back to the external ROM, how do I set the disk type? I believe that the (AT&T) DTC contoller had a set of switches to select the type of disk, but I was never able to get a list of the supported disks (for ROM 1.43). I have a old full length DTC card that I could use to test. Can the internal ROMs be used with controllers other than the DTC? If so, how do you tell the system what kind of disk you have? (Mine is a st251-1). Thanks. -- Rich Gopstein ..!rutgers!soleil!gopstein
psfales@cbnewsc.ATT.COM (Peter Fales) (06/01/89)
In article <703@soleil.UUCP>, gopstein@soleil.UUCP (Rich Gopstein) writes: > > When I mentioned that I can't get better than a 5:1 interleave with my > WDXT-GEN controller, several people suggested that I use the internal > ATT ROMs to drive the controller. I am a little confused about exactly > how that will work. I was able to change my interleave from 5 to 4 using this method. > With my existing setup, I have set the 6300 to use the external (controller) > ROM. If I switch it back to the external ROM, how do I set the disk type? > > I believe that the (AT&T) DTC contoller had a set of switches to select > the type of disk, but I was never able to get a list of the supported disks > (for ROM 1.43). I have a old full length DTC card that I could use to test. > > Can the internal ROMs be used with controllers other than the DTC? If so, > how do you tell the system what kind of disk you have? (Mine is a st251-1). When ROM 1.43 was released, it added support for the Western Digital controllers. I have used this successfully with a WX2 controller, but one thing I have never seen (hello net?) is a list of exactly which WD controllers are supported. If you decided to go this route, there is a jumper on the board which must be removed to disable the controller board ROM (or just remove the ROM). I was about to go into detail here about how to set the switches to specify various drive types, but all that is contained in the installation manual that should have been provided with the 1.43 ROMs. If you didn't get the manual, you may want to take that up with AT&T. -- Peter Fales AT&T, Room 5B-420 2000 N. Naperville Rd. UUCP: ...att!ihlpb!psfales Naperville, IL 60566 Domain: psfales@ihlpb.att.com work: (312) 979-8031
jim@mwood.UUCP (06/02/89)
The internal ROM setting is intended for Olivetti controllers...I tried it once (just for kicks!), and it would only recognize 10M out of a 20M disk. Actually, a 5:1 interleave is about right for a 6300. I've compared a variety of drives (using a WX-1 controller), and 5:1 always gave the best results. -- James Lanier ..!mwood!jim
pechter@scr1.UUCP (Bill Pechter) (06/04/89)
In article <2700001@mwood.UUCP> jim@mwood.UUCP writes: > >The internal ROM setting is intended for Olivetti controllers...I tried >it once (just for kicks!), and it would only recognize 10M out of a 20M >disk. Actually, a 5:1 interleave is about right for a 6300. I've >compared a variety of drives (using a WX-1 controller), and 5:1 always >gave the best results. Forgive me Jim, but that's BULL@#$. The internal roms work fine with the WD. The only thing you have to do is rejumper the controller. The internal roms (1.21 and 1.43) have drive tables in a different order than the WD. It's in the docs for the 1.43 upgrade rom kit and in the PC6300 reference manual (Comcode 405235359 ATTIS Manual no 999-300-205IS.) This is how the rumors that the 6300 is not an IBM compatible, or that it's different to work with get started. Disclaimer: I do not work for AT&T. I've never worked for AT&T. The Olivetti based PC's they sold are very good. Their support and support policies are lousy. -- Bill Pechter -- Home - 103 Governors Road, Lakewood, NJ 08701 (201)370-0709 Work -- Concurrent Computer Corp., 2 Crescent Pl, MS 172, Oceanport,NJ 07757 Phone -- (201)870-4780 Usenet . . . rutgers!pedsga!tsdiag!scr1!pechter ** MS-DOS is CP/M on steroids, bigger bulkier and not much better **