davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.COM (Wm E Davidsen Jr) (05/31/90)
Has anyone ever run Xenix or UNIX on a system with a IDE disk? I can't
seem to get an answer from anyone who's done it, and "it should work"
from a vendor dosn't fill me with confidence.
I'm looking to put together a very low cost UNIX system, in quantity,
and if I use an IDE interface I think I can do it for <$3k complete,
including software, display, and ethernet. With one per person
performance should not be an issue.
--
bill davidsen (davidsen@crdos1.crd.GE.COM -or- uunet!crdgw1!crdos1!davidsen)
"Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -mejhl@frith.uucp (John Lawitzke) (05/31/90)
From article <2284@crdos1.crd.ge.COM>, by davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.COM (Wm E Davidsen Jr): > > Has anyone ever run Xenix or UNIX on a system with a IDE disk? I can't > seem to get an answer from anyone who's done it, and "it should work" > from a vendor dosn't fill me with confidence. > It runs just fine. By definition an IDE disk presents a standard ST506 interface to the system. To Xenix/UNIX this just looks like a standard MFM or RLL disk. From throughput comparisons I've run on Quantum SCSI and IDE drives, the IDE drives have performance just slightly under the SCSI performance. -- j |%|John Lawitzke, Dale Computer Corp., R&D |%|UUCP: uunet!mailrus!sharkey!dale1!jhl |%| or: uunet!frith!dale1!jhl Inquiring minds just wondering. |%|Internet: jhl@frith.egr.msu.edu
jrh@mustang.dell.com (James Howard) (05/31/90)
In article <2284@crdos1.crd.ge.COM>, davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.COM (Wm E Davidsen Jr) writes: > > Has anyone ever run Xenix or UNIX on a system with a IDE disk? I can't > seem to get an answer from anyone who's done it, and "it should work" > from a vendor dosn't fill me with confidence. > > I'm looking to put together a very low cost UNIX system, in quantity, > and if I use an IDE interface I think I can do it for <$3k complete, > including software, display, and ethernet. With one per person > performance should not be an issue. > > -- > bill davidsen (davidsen@crdos1.crd.GE.COM -or- uunet!crdgw1!crdos1!davidsen) > "Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me That is one of the most popular configurations we sell UNIX on at Dell. The drives that I KNOW will work include Conner 40MB, 100MB, Seagate 40MB, and Maxtor 190MB. I am fairly sure that most quality IDE drives that adhere to the specs will work as reliably as an ESDI. Some of the early IDE drives had problems with UNIX, but most of these vendors have got there act together by now... --------------------------------------------------------- James Howard Dell Computer Corp. jrh@mustang.dell.com The opinions expressed are my own, and not necessarily those of my employer. ---------------------------------------------------------
dave@pmafire.UUCP (Dave Remien) (05/31/90)
In article <1990May30.201251.2113@msuinfo.cl.msu.edu> jhl@frith.uucp (John Lawitzke) writes:
+From article <2284@crdos1.crd.ge.COM>, by davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.COM (Wm E Davidsen Jr):
+>
+> Has anyone ever run Xenix or UNIX on a system with a IDE disk?
+It runs just fine. By definition an IDE disk presents a standard ST506
+interface to the system. To Xenix/UNIX this just looks like a standard
+MFM or RLL disk. From throughput comparisons I've run on Quantum SCSI
+and IDE drives, the IDE drives have performance just slightly under the
+SCSI performance.
+
Same here; only caveat I'd like to add is that I've yet to get UNIX
(ESIX or Intel) to install on a system with IDE and a Phoenix BIOS, even
one with the user entered disk parameters. No problems with AMI; using
disk type 47 and user entered parameters. This is using Conner disk
drives, and any of the IDE interface on the MB, a Conner IDE to ISA
adapter, or a Miniscribe IDE to ISA adapter.
The Conner 3204 is a fast little drive.
Dave
--
Dave Remien +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ WINCO Computer Engineering Group
{uunet|bigtex}!pmafire!dave or rzd@inel.gov "Dave Barry for President" root@ninja.dell.com (Randy Davis) (06/01/90)
In article <2284@crdos1.crd.ge.COM> davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.com (bill davidsen) writes: | | Has anyone ever run Xenix or UNIX on a system with a IDE disk? I can't |seem to get an answer from anyone who's done it, and "it should work" |from a vendor dosn't fill me with confidence. Dell UNIX (derived from ISC UNIX with added enhancements, in turn derived from AT&T System V Release 3.2) works fine with IDE drives. In fact, more than one of the 386 systems comes with an IDE interface built into the motherboard. Dell fully supports IDE drives with UNIX on their systems. | I'm looking to put together a very low cost UNIX system, in quantity, |and if I use an IDE interface I think I can do it for <$3k complete, |including software, display, and ethernet. With one per person |performance should not be an issue. Performance is fine even with more than one person. Go for it (depending on your flavor of UNIX)... Randy Davis UUCP: rjd@ninja.dell.com --
jca@pnet01.cts.com (John C. Archambeau) (06/01/90)
davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.COM (Wm E Davidsen Jr) writes: > > Has anyone ever run Xenix or UNIX on a system with a IDE disk? I can't >seem to get an answer from anyone who's done it, and "it should work" >from a vendor dosn't fill me with confidence. > > I'm looking to put together a very low cost UNIX system, in quantity, >and if I use an IDE interface I think I can do it for <$3k complete, >including software, display, and ethernet. With one per person >performance should not be an issue. A business associate of mine that does Novell and Unix consulting has his personal system running a Conner CP-3104 under Unix. Which implementation, I don't know. The only thing that drives him crazy is the fact the Conner drives are so quiet. I can vouche for IDE working perfectly under Novell Netware. That plus the person I know who is running Unix with IDE should convince you. I am convinced that IDE is 100% compatable with Unix/Xenix. In fact, my next hard drive that I'm allocating a chunk of my bank account towards is a Conner CP-3204. If you use a high end IDE drive, the performance is just as good as ESDI. // JCA /* **--------------------------------------------------------------------------* ** Flames : /dev/null | Small memory model only for ** ARPANET : crash!pnet01!jca@nosc.mil | Unix? Get the (*bleep*) out ** INTERNET: jca@pnet01.cts.com | of here! ** UUCP : {nosc ucsd hplabs!hd-sdd}!crash!pnet01!jca **--------------------------------------------------------------------------* */