17 Apr
2000
17 Apr
'00
8:15 p.m.
This is described rather minimally in chapter 6 wherein
the registers are
defined. There's an 8-bit enable bit which, when properly conditioned,
will
cause the data port interface to transfer 512 bytes as
bytes rather than as
256 words. There are LOTS of ways to "fake" it, but I'm trying to
determine
whether anyone has actually operated an IDE interface
normally used in
16-bit mode in this obscure and, possibly, scantily supported mode.
If you find a drive that supports it let me know. I never did and I have a
good
list of drive to pick from.
What I want is information from people who've
actually read the standard
and
attempted to use a normally 16-bit drive in 8-bit mode.
This is not
particularly easy with the existing hardware. I'll be surprised if anyone
has built interface hardware that is actually capable of this. It's
possible, though.
Actually 8bit mode is the desireable config. Just that it was deemed
optional.
figure it out, why would a PC vendor put in a mode that is inherently half
the performance?
Allison