15 Dec
2004
15 Dec
'04
9:36 a.m.
On Sun, 5 Dec 2004, Jim Leonard wrote:
I have a few IBM model 5150s that I use to code
entries for programming
competitions and I'd like to try to speed up the hard disk in any way
possible. (If you're curious what my last project was, check out
http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=13722 to download and try it out -- it
displays full-screen full-motion color video with sync'd sound -- yes, on a
4.77MHz 8088, no fooling). I've been looking for any way to speed up the hard
disk subsystem (currently WD1002 with Seagate ST225) and I simply can't get
more than 130KB/s out of the darn thing... so:
- Is there any MFM/RLL 8-bit ISA controller that can read disks at their full
1:1 interleave? If so, where can I get one? 3:1 is the best I've been able
to get using the above MFM combination. I haven't tried RLL yet because I
don't have any RLL controllers.
IIRC, the 4.77Mhz PC bus is not fast enough to handle 1:1 interleave with
8 bit transfers - but, it's been a few years.
I do know that 16-bit ESDI controllers handled 1:1, but that doesn't help
on an original PC.
- If not, do such things exist as 8-bit ISA IDE
controllers? I have lots of
"little" IDE drives (320MB and 540MB models) that I could hook up.
There actually were 8-bit IDE controllers, but I don't think they're all
that common.
Steve