Howard.Spindel@p8.f14.n105.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Howard Spindel) (10/25/89)
Has anyone installed two hard disk controllers (one MFM and one
either SCSI or ESDI) in a single IBM AT under DOS? Is this even
possible or do the port addresses conflict? What software drivers
are needed to make it work?
Eschew Sesquipedalian Obfuscation!
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Howard Spindel - via FidoNet node 1:105/14
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ARPA: Howard.Spindel@p8.f14.n105.z1.FIDONET.ORGbb16@prism.gatech.EDU (Scott Bostater) (10/26/89)
In article <1092.25455B8D@busker.FIDONET.ORG>, Howard.Spindel@p8.f14.n105.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Howard Spindel) writes: > Has anyone installed two hard disk controllers (one MFM and one > either SCSI or ESDI) in a single IBM AT under DOS? Is this even > possible or do the port addresses conflict? What software drivers > are needed to make it work? > I have a standard WD 2:1 interleave DF/DH MFM controller and a SCSI HD card. I have to access the SCSI drive through a device driver. The performance of the entire system is pretty poor. The MFM is driving a ST-225 sloooow (90 ms) hard disk. The SCSI card is a WD FASST-ATXT card driving a ST-296N. I get 230 Kbyte/sec transfer on the ST-225 and 56 Kbyte/sec transfer on the ST-296N. My computer is a 25 MHz 386 run DOS 3.3. The way things are set up I have to boot off of the ST-225 (Drive C:) I originally was going to put the ST-225 in another computer when I upgraded to the ST-296N but I can't boot off of the ST-296N with the MFM controller (which I need for my floppy drives). The fact that I'm accessing the ST296N through a device driver causes problems with some hard disk utilities (SPINRITE and CORETEST) that keep them from acknowledging the drive :-( I also cannot cache my ST296N :-((( All in all, I'm quite disapointed in my system. The ST296N has gotten a lot coverage recently as to its poor performance - It deserves it! The WD FASST-ATXT card might be faster without the device driver, but it sure stinks with it. -- Scott Bostater GTRI/RAIL/RAD (Ga. Tech) "My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him" -Ps 62.1 uucp: ...!{allegra,amd,hplabs,ut-ngp}!gatech!prism!bb16 Internet: bb16@prism.gatech.edu
davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.COM (Wm E Davidsen Jr) (10/26/89)
In article <2780@hydra.gatech.EDU>, bb16@prism.gatech.EDU (Scott Bostater) writes: | All in all, I'm quite disapointed in my system. The ST296N has gotten a lot | coverage recently as to its poor performance - It deserves it! The WD | FASST-ATXT card might be faster without the device driver, but it sure stinks | with it. I don't blame you for being upset by that performance, but I think the device drive is to blame. People were unhappy with 400-500kb/s when they knew they might have double that. 56kb/s is not acceptable. Time for a new drive or something! -- bill davidsen (davidsen@crdos1.crd.GE.COM -or- uunet!crdgw1!crdos1!davidsen) "The world is filled with fools. They blindly follow their so-called 'reason' in the face of the church and common sense. Any fool can see that the world is flat!" - anon
unkydave@shumv1.uucp (David Bank) (10/27/89)
In article <1092.25455B8D@busker.FIDONET.ORG> Howard.Spindel@p8.f14.n105.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Howard Spindel) writes: >Has anyone installed two hard disk controllers (one MFM and one >either SCSI or ESDI) in a single IBM AT under DOS? Is this even >possible or do the port addresses conflict? What software drivers >are needed to make it work? > >Eschew Sesquipedalian Obfuscation! >Usenet: Howard.Spindel@p8.f14.n105.z1.FIDONET.ORG >Fidonet: 1:105/14.8 > > >-- >Howard Spindel - via FidoNet node 1:105/14 > UUCP: ...!{uunet!oresoft, tektronix!reed}!busker!14.8!Howard.Spindel > ARPA: Howard.Spindel@p8.f14.n105.z1.FIDONET.ORG In my experience, the problem is not one of software. Rather, you have to buy at least one controller that is sufficiently intelligent to be addressed as the secondary controller in the system. For example, the old Western Digital WX-1 would do that (address as the second controller is you wanted). It was MFM by the way. I don't think they still make it. Anyway, that's what you have to do. Find either one controller or the other that will settle for second-addressing. I'm sorry that I can't offer you any leads on what brands/models will satisfy your needs. Hope I've helped... Unky Dave unkydave@shumv1.ncsu.edu
mju@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us (Marc Unangst) (10/28/89)
In article <1485@crdos1.crd.ge.COM>, davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.COM (Wm E Davidsen Jr) writes: >People were unhappy with 400-500kb/s when they >knew they might have double that. 56kb/s is not acceptable. Time for a >new drive or something! Please don't forget that data transfer rate is heavily influenced by lots of factors, including track-to-track seek time, and the interleave factor. I had a drive interleaved at 3 in my (XT-class 8MHz) machine; it would only give a transfer rate of 25K/sec, according to CORETEST. I reformatted it with an interleave of 4, and the transfer rate went up to 130K/sec, over a tenfold increase. -- Marc Unangst Internet: mju@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us UUCP : ...!uunet!sharkey!mudos!mju Fidonet : Marc Unangst of 1:120/129.0 BBS : The Starship Enterprise, 1200/2400 bps, +1 313-665-2832
wek@point.UUCP (Bill Kuykendall) (10/29/89)
> In my experience, the problem is not one of software. > > Rather, you have to buy at least one controller that is sufficiently >intelligent to be addressed as the secondary controller in the system. Have you actually done this, or is this conjecture? I have serious doubts that any flavor of MS-DOS will bother to look for a second controller. --------------- Bill Kuykendall Chicago, IL USA ...!point!wek wek@point.UUCP
davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.COM (Wm E Davidsen Jr) (11/03/89)
In article <[2769.4]comp.ibmpc;1@point.UUCP>, wek@point.UUCP (Bill Kuykendall) writes: | Have you actually done this, or is this conjecture? I have serious doubts | that any flavor of MS-DOS will bother to look for a second controller. I haven't looked at this recently, but MS-DOS doesn't look for a 1st controller. The ROM BIOS looks for a magic byte pattern in the space from (roughly) A000:0 up. If it find the pattern it jumps to the ROM at that location. This is how video cards, disk controllers, etc, are located. If a 2nd controller can relocate it's BIOS so it doesn't interfere with the first, and is in the right place, then it should work. This has nothing at all to do with DOS, note that an IBM PC will come up in BASIC with no disk. Obviously it found the video adaptor... If your system doesn't have ROM BASIC it will do something else, like tell you to insert a disk. -- bill davidsen (davidsen@crdos1.crd.GE.COM -or- uunet!crdgw1!crdos1!davidsen) "The world is filled with fools. They blindly follow their so-called 'reason' in the face of the church and common sense. Any fool can see that the world is flat!" - anon
wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu (David Lesher) (11/04/89)
# # | Have you actually done this, or is this conjecture? I have serious doubts # | that any flavor of MS-DOS will bother to look for a second controller. Many more machines than you might think.. Anytime you add a hard-disk card to a box with an existing controller.... -- A host is a host & from coast to coast...wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu no one will talk to a host that's close..............(305) 255-RTFM Unless the host (that isn't close)......................pob 570-335 is busy, hung or dead....................................33257-0335
unkydave@shumv1.uucp (David Bank) (11/04/89)
In article <[2769.4]comp.ibmpc;1@point.UUCP> wek@point.UUCP (Bill Kuykendall) writes: >> In my experience, the problem is not one of software. >> >> Rather, you have to buy at least one controller that is sufficiently >>intelligent to be addressed as the secondary controller in the system. > >Have you actually done this, or is this conjecture? I have serious doubts >that any flavor of MS-DOS will bother to look for a second controller. > >--------------- >Bill Kuykendall >Chicago, IL USA > ...!point!wek >wek@point.UUCP I was talking with Western Digital at one point (their tech support, that is) about putting a second controller in my PC. They were telling me that it would take a controller, such as the WD 1002S-WX1, that could be set to address as the second controller in the system. Since the compute in question at the time was an ANCIENT IBM PC-1 with only five slots...all in use....it became rather moot. I'd suppose the feat could be accomplished either with software or hardware. I only have information about the hardware end of it, so someone else will have to pipe up on the software end. Unky Dave unkydave@shumv1.ncsu.edu DISCLAIMER: The above message constitutes an honest effort by the author to impart information he knows or reasonably knows to be true. All other interpretations are erroneous.