ciceron@chorus.fr (Carrez Stephane) (06/05/90)
One month ago, Claus Brod has posted in comp.sys.atari.st an article about adding a new drive in the megafile 30. I'd like to add another drive but I have several problems about drive compatibility. o if the new drive has not the same capacity (30Mb), suppose 20Mb, how does the driver (basically the i8085) recognize the new size? (recognition of # of heads, # of cylinders ?) o if the new disk seek-rate is different (prefer faster), will this new seek-rate be recognized (without any effect on old disk)? o I have noticed in my megafile30 that there is a 16 pins connector with a full line (8pins) connected to ground and the others connected to the i8156 (2 // ports + timer). (near the 64K eprom). I beleive that this is supposed to be used as a configuration connector, plugging small straps between ground and i8156 line, but how and what for? o About software, I don't care since I always use Minix. (but i beleive that my old AHDI program will not be able to recognize a new disk) Thanks for answering me... - - - - - - - - - - The probability of someone watching you is proportional to the stupidity of your action. - A. Kindsvater - - - - - - - - - - _ __ |Chorus Systemes | Internet: ( /_ _ /_ |6 avenue Gustave Eiffel | ciceron@chorus.fr _) (_ (<_/ |F-78182, St-Quentin-en-Yvelines-Cedex | (if you can't join me, try carrez@cnam.cnam.fr but last resort please)
hase@netmbx.UUCP (Hartmut Semken) (06/11/90)
In article <5385@chorus.fr> ciceron@chorus.fr (Carrez Stephane) writes: > One month ago, Claus Brod has posted in comp.sys.atari.st an article about >adding a new drive in the megafile 30. I'd like to add another drive but >I have several problems about drive compatibility. > > o if the new drive has not the same capacity (30Mb), suppose > 20Mb, how does the driver (basically the i8085) recognize the new > size? (recognition of # of heads, # of cylinders ?) No problem: the kind of the disk is stored somewhere on the disk by the controller. The controlelr will find out! > o if the new disk seek-rate is different (prefer faster), will > this new seek-rate be recognized (without any effect on old disk)? Yes, it will. Most likely, You'll use the ame seek rate code. Seagate (really Seagate?) implemented a "new" seek sheme in the ST412: step pulses are sent every 24 (17 today) microseconds and remembered by the drive; when the dive has done the seek, it tells to the controller on the "seek completed" output. > o I have noticed in my megafile30 that there is a 16 pins > connector with a full line (8pins) connected to ground and the > others connected to the i8156 (2 // ports + timer). (near the 64K > eprom). I beleive that this is supposed to be used as a configuration > connector, plugging small straps between ground and i8156 line, > but how and what for? Dunno. Hmm, should look up in the Adaptec 4070 manual, perhaps. > > o About software, I don't care since I always use Minix. > (but i beleive that my old AHDI program will not be able to > recognize a new disk) True. But Claus' Brodt driver (CBHD3x) will. If it now would support the new Atari partitioning sheme (already done Claus?)... hase -- Hartmut Semken, Lupsteiner Weg 67, 1000 Berlin 37 hase@netmbx.UUCP Hi! (Zaphod Beeblebrox)
csbrod@medusa.informatik.uni-erlangen.de (Claus Brod ) (06/11/90)
ciceron@chorus.fr (Carrez Stephane) writes: > o if the new drive has not the same capacity (30Mb), suppose > 20Mb, how does the driver (basically the i8085) recognize the new > size? (recognition of # of heads, # of cylinders ?) The _driver_ is software and resides in the ST. The 8085 is the processor on the MF's controller board that does all these intelligent thinks like _not_ responding to TRANSLATE commands and _not_ mapping out defect sectors 8-). The controller will try to read some format info from the new disk. To do this, the drive must have been formatted before by the controller. You'll have to tell your controller _once_ how many heads and cylinders there are. > o if the new disk seek-rate is different (prefer faster), will > this new seek-rate be recognized (without any effect on old disk)? The controller in the MF defaults to the fastest step rate available. There are virtually no drives that can't cope with it, so don't worry. > o I have noticed in my megafile30 that there is a 16 pins > connector with a full line (8pins) connected to ground and the > others connected to the i8156 (2 // ports + timer). (near the 64K > eprom). I beleive that this is supposed to be used as a configuration > connector, plugging small straps between ground and i8156 line, > but how and what for? You won't need it. I can get the specs if you want, but believe me: Uninteresting stuff. > o About software, I don't care since I always use Minix. > (but i beleive that my old AHDI program will not be able to > recognize a new disk) AHDI won't recognize a second hard disk in your MF. Use my driver (CBHD) or some other that has this feature. Anyone out there who knows if the ICD driver recognizes the 2nd drive? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Claus Brod, Am Felsenkeller 2, Things. Take. Time. D-8772 Marktheidenfeld, West Germany (Piet Hein) csbrod@medusa.informatik.uni-erlangen.de ----------------------------------------------------------------------