Xref: utzoo comp.periphs:1121 comp.sys.atari.st:10802
Newsgroups: comp.periphs,comp.sys.atari.st
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: ESDI questions
Message-ID: <1988Aug10.165519.20257@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <168@cstw01.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 10 Aug 88 16:55:19 GMT

In article <168@cstw01.UUCP> meulenbr@cst.UUCP () writes:
>1) What exactly is ESDI? ...
>2) How does ESDI relate to ST506/ST412? and to SCSI ??

ESDI is sort-of-kind-of an improved ST506/412.  It was designed to be a
better and faster drive-to-controller interface.  Its relationship to
ST506/412 is as a (superior) competitor.  It is unrelated to SCSI, which
is a controller-to-host interface.

>3) I know how to interface a disk with a ST506/ST412 or SCSI interface to
>   the ST. Is it doable to convert ESDI to either of these?

Much the same techniques used for 506/412 interfacing should be applicable,
I would guess -- I'm not up on the details -- but converting ESDI to 506/412
is probably not practical; they differ too much in details.

Converting ESDI to SCSI basically means buying a disk controller that talks
ESDI to disks and SCSI to the host; finding such on the commercial market
shouldn't be hard, since SCSI is common nowadays and ESDI is increasingly
widespread too.
-- 
Intel CPUs are not defective,  |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
they just act that way.        | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu