mwilcox@pcocd2.intel.com (Mike Wilcox ) (02/04/90)
Greeting net-landers, I am looking for a RLL controler to attach a Maxtor xt-1140 to. I have read previous messages that although this is a MFM drive, it works rather well as a RLL. I would like to have 1:1 interleave and control floppies as well. another option would be a hard disk controller only. I believe that the xt-1140 has more than 1024 cylinders, if so a sector translating controller would be nice. Thanks for any help, Mike Wilcox mwilcox@pcocd2.intel.com Intel Corp. Folsom, CA
larry@nstar.UUCP (Larry Snyder) (02/05/90)
> I am looking for a RLL controler to attach a Maxtor xt-1140 to. >I have read previous messages that although this is a MFM drive, it >works rather well as a RLL. I would like to have 1:1 interleave and I would suggest the Adaptec 2372C controller. Many folks are using the WD1006VSR2 but I (as well as others) have experienced problems using it in extremely loaded multitasking/multiuser installations. Larry Snyder, Northern Star Communications, Notre Dame, IN USA uucp: larry@nstar -or- ...!iuvax!ndmath!nstar!larry 4 inbound dialup high speed line public access system
larry@nstar.UUCP (Larry Snyder) (02/05/90)
> works rather well as a RLL. I would like to have 1:1 interleave and > control floppies as well. another option would be a hard disk controller > only. I believe that the xt-1140 has more than 1024 cylinders, if so a > sector translating controller would be nice. Check into the Adaptec 2372 family of controllers. -- Larry Snyder, Northern Star Communications, Notre Dame, IN USA uucp: larry@nstar -or- ...!iuvax!ndmath!nstar!larry 4 inbound dialup high speed line public access system
davidsen@sixhub.UUCP (Wm E. Davidsen Jr) (02/06/90)
In article <1576@mipos3.intel.com> mwilcox@pcocd2.intel.com (Mike Wilcox ) writes: | I am looking for a RLL controler to attach a Maxtor xt-1140 to. | I have read previous messages that although this is a MFM drive, it | works rather well as a RLL. I would like to have 1:1 interleave and | control floppies as well. another option would be a hard disk controller | only. I believe that the xt-1140 has more than 1024 cylinders, if so a | sector translating controller would be nice. I have used the WD1006VSR2 and Adaptek 2372 models. If you are running Xenix the WD will probably be about three times faster, due to hardware track buffering. If you run ix/386 the buffering is done in the kernel, provides equal performance (and CPU overhead) for either. I have not tried SCO UNIX, ESIX, etc, with either enough to have a good feel for it. When running two drives I have had problems with both controllers. The Adaptek sometimes "loses" the drive params of the 2nd drive on power up, easily cured by a low level format. I had the problem with two controllers, and Karl Denninger mentioned that he had seen it, also. The WD sometimes gets a lockup with two drives. This *seems* to be due to the system starting a seek on both drives and messing up the interrupts generated. I'm told (by Karl again) that there is a patch for ix/386 to fix this. He posted some jumper settings which keep it under control for Xenix. Obviously this can't happen with DOS which doesn't have the brains to overlap seeks. I believe the 1140 is physically the same as the next larger drive (1190 or 2190) and has extra tracks which haven't been tested. You can try them, and you may get a bonus of 30% extra tracks. However, if they are not good you have no comeback on warantee. -- bill davidsen - sysop *IX BBS and Public Access UNIX davidsen@sixhub.uucp ...!uunet!crdgw1!sixhub!davidsen "Getting old is bad, but it beats the hell out of the alternative" -anon
davidsen@sixhub.UUCP (Wm E. Davidsen Jr) (02/06/90)
In article <25cc5b9a:18.1comp.sys.ibm.pc;1@nstar.UUCP> larry@nstar.UUCP (Larry Snyder) writes: | I would suggest the Adaptec 2372C controller. Many folks are using the | WD1006VSR2 but I (as well as others) have experienced problems using it | in extremely loaded multitasking/multiuser installations. I covered this in some detail in another posting, but just to clarify, there seems to be a lockup problem when running Xenix or UNIX on the WD with two drives. I'm told there is a patch for ix/386, and that it doesn't happen on a single drive system. The WD is about 3:1 faster than the Adaptek on Xenix. -- bill davidsen - sysop *IX BBS and Public Access UNIX davidsen@sixhub.uucp ...!uunet!crdgw1!sixhub!davidsen "Getting old is bad, but it beats the hell out of the alternative" -anon
karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Karl Denninger) (02/06/90)
Lines: 23 >----- >Response 1 of 1 (8659) by larry at nstar.UUCP on Mon 05 Feb 90 13:04 >[Larry Snyder] >(11 lines) > >> I am looking for a RLL controler to attach a Maxtor xt-1140 to. >>I have read previous messages that although this is a MFM drive, it >>works rather well as a RLL. I would like to have 1:1 interleave and > >I would suggest the Adaptec 2372C controller. Many folks are using the >WD1006VSR2 but I (as well as others) have experienced problems using it >in extremely loaded multitasking/multiuser installations. On the other hand, I have a WD1006V/SR2 in a ISC 386 machine right now, in fact, the one that runs our News. Right now the disk lights (2 controllers, WD1006 primary, ACB2370B secondary) are BOTH ON SOLID. This is not something that is unusual; we run a load average over 5 at times (yikes!). Never had a single problem with the WD1006. -- Karl Denninger (karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM, <well-connected>!ddsw1!karl) Public Access Data Line: [+1 708 566-8911], Voice: [+1 708 566-8910] Macro Computer Solutions, Inc. "Quality Solutions at a Fair Price"
karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Karl Denninger) (02/07/90)
>----- >Response 3 of 3 (8659) by davidsen at sixhub.UUCP on Wed 07 Feb 90 00:22 >[Wm E. Davidsen Jr] >(16 lines) > > I covered this in some detail in another posting, but just to clarify, >there seems to be a lockup problem when running Xenix or UNIX on the WD >with two drives. I'm told there is a patch for ix/386, and that it >doesn't happen on a single drive system. The WD is about 3:1 faster than >the Adaptek on Xenix. This is true, but it only happens on SOME WD1006 boards. Others work just fine. The ones which blow chunks are >defective<; we have many of them which don't exhibit the problem, and we have sold a ton of the things. A few have had trouble, yes. Those we cheerfully replace, and send back to the distributor! -- Karl Denninger (karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM, <well-connected>!ddsw1!karl) Public Access Data Line: [+1 708 566-8911], Voice: [+1 708 566-8910] Macro Computer Solutions, Inc. "Quality Solutions at a Fair Price"