A Promise Technology Ultra100TX2 specifically.
Not sure if this is the best test, throughput is much improved over the onboard IDE on this socket 3 board, up from ~3MB/sec. I have a an SD2IDE attached to it now so that is def the bottleneck currently. Was really hoping to see an improvement in CPU usage as well.
The way to unload the CPU is to use a DMA capable drive and use the right DMA driver for your OS
Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.
BitWrangler wrote on 2021-07-25, 23:32:The way to unload the CPU is to use a DMA capable drive and use the right DMA driver for your OS
The Promise Ultra100 Ultra133 , probably the Ultra66 , Ultra133 Ultra100 and maybe even the Ultra33 default to DMA mode even at boot (in DOS), which is not the case for the onboard (on chipset) IDE controllers in most boards that I have used (which default to a PIO mode) .
Yes, DMA controllers are required to take advantage of DMA drives, but you need a DMA drive, SD2IDEs don't look smart enough.
Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.
Thanks guys, sounds like I need to attach a device that will support DMA. Can anyone recommend a CF solution maybe?
BitWrangler wrote on 2021-07-25, 23:57:Yes, DMA controllers are required to take advantage of DMA drives, but you need a DMA drive, SD2IDEs don't look smart enough.
FC1307A based IDE to SD converters do support DMA . See here for more info https://goughlui.com/2019/02/03/tested-generi … dapter-sd35vc0/
and here for my experience with them, including pitfalls and workarounds
Re: Using a vintage multi-track recorder as a mixer, namely the Roland VS-880EX - might apply to other Roland VS- units
EDIT: IMHO, using a SATA SSD with an IDE to SATA converter with a chip from Marvell, Jmicron, preferably, works well with Promise Ultra133 controllers (and probably other Promise model ). See here SATA2PATA adapters experience and here Promise Ultra133 TX2 plus Jmicron JMD330 (IDE to SATA) under W98SE
Thank you, this gives me plenty to read. I think I have a FC1307A based adapter, trying to determine.
