Re: Compatible IDE controllers (preferably for an ES45)
On Thu, Feb 25, 2016 at 02:45:22PM -0500, awinbow@panix.com wrote:
> > For a long list of reasons, I am not going down the SCSI route for a
> > boot disk for an ES45 that I'm working on. However, since SATA isn't
> > supported by the SRM, I need to use an IDE disk (SSD) to handle the
> > boot partition to load those drivers...you can see where this is
> > going. Anyway, the built-in M1543C chipset, with an IDE controller,
> > is acting a bit squirrely (I think...either that or I am two for two
> > bad SSD / flash-memoryish devices), so I'd like to consider adding
> > in an IDE controller (PCI) that the SRM can recognize and boot from.
>
> Hi, Ryan,
>
> I haven't seen a complete list, but I doubt that SRM included
> drivers for any IDE chipsets (e.g. third-party) other than the ones
> included in DEC's own chipset or mainboard designs. (They didn't include
> all that many SCSI drivers as it is.)
>
> I use the Transcend PATA flash module to hold /boot, and I found
> that my 1GB module doesn't work, but the 128MB does. I'm not sure if
> this is due to getting a bum module, or whether there is some deeper
> limitation stemming from the size difference.
Well I know some Alpha's have DMA/PCI bugs that make the onboard IDE
controller only work for reads, not writes, which means the CDROM is fine,
but a harddisk gets in trouble, while a controller behind the bridge on
the 32bit PCI is fine.
As for CF size, some CF cards have more than 1024 cylinders in the
geometry they present, and some firmwares are too stupid to allow booting
past 1024 cylinders. I would have thought Alphas were new and modern
enough to avoid that particular stupidity from x86, but I have no idea.
--
Len Sorensen
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