Date   : Fri, 26 Dec 1997 15:37:59 GMT
From   : Theo Markettos <bbc-list@...>
Subject: Re: Possible IDE?

On Sun, 21 Dec 1997 23:47:17 +0000, viewtronix@... said:


> Is it at all possible to actually build an IDE interface for the BBC

It is fairly simple to rig up an IDE interface - the following links from the
alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt FAQ are for Z80 systems, but in theory shouldn't
be too difficult to modify for the 6502: 

   * For a complete treatment of IDE interfacing to 8-bit CPUs
     (particularly the Z80 family), check out issues 56, 63, 64, and 66 of
     The Computer Journal http://www.psyber.com/~tcj/
   * There is a simple IDE interface for the Z80 called GIDE (Generic IDE).
     It should be possible to adapt it to other 8-bit processors. There is
     an article about it on the TCJ Web Page. Click on 'GIDE'.
   * Connecting IDE devices to 8 bit machines:
     http://www.blkbox.com/~jdb8042/SmallSys/8bitIDE.html
   * http://nimitz.mcs.kent.edu/~clisowsk/8bit/ide8bit.html

> will ADFS support it, can it be tricked into thinking it is a SCSI drive
> attached?  I know this would be a lot easier because of the availability of
> IDE hard drives, but are they just too different?

Herein lies the problem - you'd have to write your own filing system, as ADFS
wouldn't know anything about it.  If there was a third party HD system that
drove ST506 drives directly, it might be possible to adapt it, as the IDE
registers were initially designed to be compatible with the WD1003 ST506
controller.

HTH,
Theo

-- 
Theo Markettos
theo@...