ilan343@violet.berkeley.edu (08/15/90)
What is the word on IDE drives and 386 unix (Either Interactive's or Esix)? I am setting up a system intended as single user unix PC. I am considering a Conner IDE 200M drive which sells for < $900.00 Questions: Is this likely to work with 386 unix ? It is a ST-506 clone after all. Does the choice of IDE interface card matter? In the same price range, would I be better off with an ESDI drive? Any controller/drive recommendations? Thanks in advance for your help. Geraldo Veiga
rcd@ico.isc.com (Dick Dunn) (08/16/90)
ilan343@violet.berkeley.edu writes: > What is the word on IDE drives and 386 unix (Either Interactive's or > Esix)?... Should work OK. I've checked out some "MiniScribe" (now Maxtor) IDE drives on ISC 2.2; they work fine. It's always possible for a manu- facturer to do something to screw up compatibility, but in this case it's unlikely. > Does the choice of IDE interface card matter? Not really. An IDE interface is very little more than an extension of the AT bus, probably with something to drive the front-panel LED. It doesn't affect the speed of the disk, caching, or anything like that. But if you're as dumb as I am, the choice of interface card *does* matter! When I was setting up my test, I just borrowed the most vanilla IDE card, pulled out the old disk and WD controller, put in the new disk and IDE card...and stood there looking stupidly at the cable from the floppy. Get one with a floppy controller on it! > In the same price range, would I be better off with an ESDI > drive? Any controller/drive recommendations? I'd think you would have trouble finding an ESDI controller/disk combo for the price of an IDE setup, especially with the under-$1k price on the Conner drive. (An IDE board with a floppy controller should be under $40; by itself it should be under $20.) -- Dick Dunn rcd@ico.isc.com -or- ico!rcd Boulder, CO (303)449-2870 ...Are you making this up as you go along?