Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ginosko!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!apple!sun-barr!oliveb!amiga!cbmvax!jesup
From: jesup@cbmvax.UUCP (Randell Jesup)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: A590 experience anyone ?
Message-ID: <8048@cbmvax.UUCP>
Date: 30 Sep 89 23:38:58 GMT
References: <509@aucis.UUCP> <8033@cbmvax.UUCP> <43.filbo@gorn.santa-cruz.ca.us>
Reply-To: jesup@cbmvax.UUCP (Randell Jesup)
Organization: Commodore Technology, West Chester, PA
Lines: 29

In article <43.filbo@gorn.santa-cruz.ca.us> filbo@gorn.santa-cruz.ca.us (Bela Lubkin) writes:
>In article <8033@cbmvax.UUCP> Randell Jesup writes:
>>	XT drives are cheap.  Scsi drives are not as cheap.  Controlling an
>>XT drive, given the WD scsi chip and our custom gate array, is very easy.
>What's not clear to me is, are you using IDE drives or ST506 in the A590?
>ST506 drives are often called "XT drives".  IDE is a new interface that puts
>most of the controller on the drive and requires little more than a bus to
>interface to.  It >sounds< like you're using IDE, but...

	Well, I think what we call "XT" drives are "IDE" (I was told there
were XT-Bus and AT-Bus interface drives - A590 uses XT-Bus drives internally.)
What do I know, I'm a software guy.  :-)

>It'd be good to know because IDE drives should eventually be considerably
>cheaper than comparable ST506, SCSI or ESDI drives (mainly because they're
>PC-specific and therefore will see disgusting economies of scale...)

	Probably.  They're already cheaper than SCSI drives by a fair amount
(less electronics/chips/software/etc for the menufacturer).  However, SCSI
drives are coming down quite a bit.

	BTW: for the person who liked HDToolBox so much: Thanks.  It could
be better (and will be next rev), but it's a light-year better than the
2090 prep program (IMNSHO - In My Not So Humble Opinion).  :-)

-- 
Randell Jesup, Keeper of AmigaDos, Commodore Engineering.
{uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!jesup, jesup@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com  BIX: rjesup  
Common phrase heard at Amiga Devcon '89: "It's in there!"