how many heads, Cylinders on a Quantum 540? - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

31 Dec 1999

Yes, Don, that's what I've thought up to now as it agrees with my
literature, but if Allison says she has a 1005 that works with an ST506
drive, ... well ... she's got what she's got.  I have one setup with a
1007V-SE and another with a 1007-WA2.  The former is a bit fancier but
mainly there's a performance difference directly attributable to the
on-board hardware.

Happy New Year!

Dick

-----Original Message-----
From: Don Maslin &lt;donm(a)cts.com&gt;
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
&lt;classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu&gt;
Date: Friday, December 31, 1999 3:33 PM
Subject: Re: how many heads, Cylinders on a Quantum 540?

...

On Fri, 31 Dec 1999, Richard Erlacher wrote:

> GAWD!  That's really a confusing mess!  I always thought WD got its
> board-level products badly mixed up number-wise, but this is beyond what
I'd
...
 > feared.
>
> I have two flavors of 1007, which are definitely ESDI, only one 1006, though
...
 > it's the MFM version, no EPROM, but I did at
one time have a 1005 which was
...
   definitely for
ESDI and a 1006 which had the RLL chips (5xxx-series) and
 turned the MFM drive into an RLL easily enough. 
Reviewing the listing from TheRef, I find that the HDCs divide like
this:   1001, 1002, 1003, 1004, and 1006 are all ST412 interface
 1005, 1007, and 1009 are all ESDI interface.

Within the ST412 grouping are both MFM and RLL controllers.  There is
only one version of the 1005, but multiple versions of the 1007 and
1009.

Note that I delimited the above to HDCs to avoid addressing the 1002-FOX
FDC!

 - don

> ...and I thought the bridge controller boards were badly numbered!
>
> Dick
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Allison J Parent &lt;allisonp(a)world.std.com&gt;
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
> &lt;classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu&gt;
> Date: Friday, December 31, 1999 10:07 AM
> Subject: Re: how many heads, Cylinders on a Quantum 540?
>
>
> ><No offense, Allison, but the 1007 and 1005 controllers won't work with
tha
...
 > ><drive at all, as both 1005 and 1007 are
ESDI controllers.  You may be
> ><thinking of the 1006's which come in both MFM and RLL.  The 1006 WITH
an
...
 > ><EPROM on it is the RLL version, while the
MFM version uses the
> ><motherboard-resident BIOS to handle the HDD.
> >
> >I could be off on the 1007 though I have NO edsi drives and am using 1005
...
 > >and WD1007 (least that what the markings are)
and both are PC using D540s.
...
 > >Also my 1006 was used with them in the current
system before I went IDE.
> >Note we may be talking across part numbers as I have three 1005s that
> >are each decidedly different from each other yet, the primary part of the
...
 > >part number is WD1005!  I also have 4 flavors
of 1002, three differnt
> >lengths, one surface mount!   Of all the PC controllers from WDC I have
> >about ten, starting with the 1002 also the 1003, 1005, 1006 and 1007.
> >The only EDSI controller I have is a non WD design and I don't ahve
drives
...
 > >for that.
> >
> ><ESDI is a high-level interface not at all like the "ultra-dumb"
> ><ST-506/ST-412 interface this drive claims to have, though it does use
> cable
> ><of similar configuration, hence has similar connectors.
> >
> >Ah, I do know the difference.
> >
> ><This drive is commonly used with MFM, though its speed control, etc, is
> ><capable of RLL densities as are most "MFM" drives.
> >
> >I've found it to be more successful than others though RD53s (micropolus
> >1325s 71mb) were really nice at 100mb RLL and pretty reliable till they
got
...
   old.

Allison