Reading ESDI disks

[Paul Berger]

On 2021-02-11 6:35 p.m., Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote:
> On Thu, 11 Feb 2021, Paul Berger via cctalk wrote:
>> I do seem recall using ESDI drives in a PC with 16 bit ISA slots but 
>> it is a long time ago but I am not sure if the controller used was 
>> the RT controller you have pictured, it seems to me the one used was 
>> a Western Digital controller.
>
> The most likely ISA ESDI would be the WD1007 controller.
> There were a few variant submodels of that, such as with/without 
> floppy support, w/wo BIOS ROM.
>
> http://www.minuszerodegrees.net/manuals/Western%20Digital/WD1007A-WAH%20and%20WA2%20-%20Users%20Guide.pdf 
>
>
> Mine had the ROM.  On one machine, I had a 200M 3.5" drive.  My first 
> drive of that size of both capacity and physical size.
> I think that I know where it is.

No that is not it the one I used was a full length controller, but 
unlike the RT controller that was pictured it did not have an IBM square 
aluminum can chip on it, but it was probably at least 30 years ago so I 
don't recall any more.  By the time I left the Toronto Lab where I had 
almost all my exposure to RTs I was already using SCSI disks in my PC.

Paul.