Peter_Van_Epp@cc.sfu.ca (12/20/89)
Given the amount of troubles I and other people are having with xt_/at_wini.c it seems to me that we should write a test program that runs under DOS (sorry Andy!) that does the following: Asks DOS what the drive under consideration looks like (int 13) by reading the controller bios rom. Now the wini.c code would be executed (again under DOS although we may have to reset the controller before trying to talk to it again from DOS) except arrange to dump out the values that the MINIX code gets. Assuming that matches then try reading either some or all of the sectors of the DOS partition (note being sure to only read!) with both the DOS and the minix code and insure that they are the same. Assuming that doesn't work it would be nice (and shouldn't be too hard!) to allow a command line switch to enable the various compile time switches so that the various options (xt/at WD or ADAPTEC controllers etc) can be tried without recompiling the DOS program. This should allow us to create an option file that could be used to control the recompilation of the wini driver (and give us better confidence that the driver is actually working correctly!) before having Minix up. I will put this project on the end of my (long!) list of things to do, unless someone else is interested in making one (hint! hint!). Peter_Van_Epp@cc.sfu.ca
car@trux.UUCP (Chris Rende) (12/21/89)
In article <6523@nigel.udel.EDU>, Peter_Van_Epp@cc.sfu.ca writes: > Given the amount of troubles I and other people are having with xt_/at_wini.c > it seems to me that we should write a test program that runs under DOS (sorry > Andy!) that does the following: > Asks DOS what the drive under consideration looks like (int 13) by reading the > controller bios rom. You can get this information by running the NORTON UTILITIES and selecting the "TECHNICAL INFORMATION" item under the "DISK INFORMATION" menu. My disk controller manual has a table of disk drive characteristics. (Which is a reflection of the BIOS ROM table). The program DISK MANAGER will determine the disk geometry and display it. You can also poke around the ROM with debug to find the table. My table is around C800:8020. Of course, neither NORTON UTILITIES or DISK MANAGER are PD programs. car. -- Christopher A. Rende Central Cartage (Nixdorf/Pyramid/SysVR2/BSD4.3) uunet!edsews!rphroy!trux!car Multics,DTSS,Unix,Shortwave,Scanners,StarTrek trux!car@uunet.uu.net Minix 1.2,PC/XT,Mac+,TRS-80 Model I,1802 ELF "I don't ever remember forgetting anything." - Chris Rende