Date: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 12:22:29 -0700 (PDT) From: Howard Lew <hlew@genome.Stanford.EDU> To: Michael Smith <msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au> Cc: John Richards <john@zyqad.co.uk>, freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org Subject: Re: EIDE controller cards Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.950721122033.20328F-100000@vegemite.Stanford.EDU> In-Reply-To: <199507182317.IAA07018@genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au>
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On Wed, 19 Jul 1995, Michael Smith wrote:
> John Richards stands accused of saying:
> > I read somewhere, possibly the newsgroup, that FreeBSD does not support EIDE
> > controller cards except when they are operating as IDE controller cards. Is
> > this true??
>
> "yes", insofar as FreeBSD doesn't make many rash assumptions about a drive's
> compliance with the newer standards....
>
> > I have a FreeBSD machine at home, 1.0.5.1(R), running on a 486DX33 8MB RAM, 210
> > & 250 MB hard disks. This works fine and I am going to upgrade to 2.x real soon
> > now - honest. At the same time I was going to upgrade my machine - possibly to
> > a DX466 and add a bit more disk. Now if EIDE controllers are not supported I've
> > got to ditch one of my disks - haven't I?? IDE controllers will only control 2
> > hard disks is my understanding.
>
> Hmm. I'd heard rumours that someone had three disks running off an IDE
> controller, but I can't recall how they were doing it 8(
Hmmm.... Well, it is possible with a compatible 4HD/2FD controller.
FreeBSD sees the first 2 hard drives with wdc0 and the second two as wdc1.
But this is not so for all EIDE 4HD/2FD controllers.
For example, the DTC EIDE 2278VL one recognizes the 3rd and 4th
drives perfectly by FreeBSD although it appears slow on my system.
FreeBSD for some reason does not recognize the second IDE channel on
the Holtek one even though the port address is identical according to
the spec sheet. But is gave me the fastest DOS speeds with no drivers
and with drivers (There are speed jumpers on the controller card, but if
you set them too fast they can corrupt disk data).
/--------------------------------------\
/ Howard Lew \
< Email: hlew@genome.stanford.edu >
\ http://www.shoppersnet.com /
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