Working HD for a IBM PS/2 model 30

Chuck Guzis cclist at sydex.com
Thu Mar 5 18:29:50 CST 2015


On 03/05/2015 03:22 PM, Liam Proven wrote:
> On 5 March 2015 at 22:20, Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote:
>> Agreed (8 bit IDE/XTA is uncommon)
>
>
> Someone built an 8-bit IDE interface for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum by
> the simple expedient of throwing away the upper byte of each word. You
> only got half the capacity of the medium, but the electronics were
> pleasantly simple.

AFAIK, all CF cards support 8-bit transfer mode (unlike almost all IDE 
drives).  The problem is that the XTA interface is more like that to an 
XT hard disk controller.  CF's and IDE drives are based on the PC AT 
hard disk interface.

And therein lies the rub.  Electrically, the interfaces are similar 
enough to convert an XTA interface to ATA with only some minor changes. 
  But the port and register conventions are very different.

--Chuck




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