Mail Archives: opendos/2001/02/14/04:00:20
The problem with IDE CD-ROMs (don't know anything about
ZIP and LS-120) is that the manufacturers started "adapting"
IDE (ATA) to "make it happen", since the ATA standard had
only been intended for hard disks! So in the beginning was
chaos, with different manufacturers doing their own thing,
until common-sense prevailed and the various parties got
together to formulate the ATAPI standard (to suit such devices
as CD-ROM and tape drives). Since then, compatibility has
improved enormously, which is why it is now possible for
the BIOS itself to recognize and communicate (eg. boot
from) an ATAPI (aka. IDE) CD-ROM.
Joe.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Patrick Moran [SMTP:pmoran22 AT yahoo DOT com]
> Sent: Wednesday, 14 February 2001 10:59
> To: opendos AT delorie DOT com
> Subject: Re: prob audio CD on 2nd CD-ROM with NWCDEX
>
> I have been following this thread but have not put my two cents worth
> in. I was curious as to where this would lead.
>
> First off, I would like to say this: IDE sucks.
>
> Noe that I got that off my chest, I'll explain it. IDE is/was supposed
> to be a standard. The problem is that no one follows the standard. they
> take bits and peices that suit themselves and add other stuff to it.
> Thus you have problems with drives working with one another. I good
> prime example of this is using a ZIP or LS-120 drive with a CDROM drive.
> Sometimes you have to play around with them and set the jumpers for
> master and slave around to get them to work properly. Sometimes you
> cannot get them to work together at all. A slow drive can affest a fast
> drive. EIDE was supposed to have fixed all of this, yet it is still here
> in full daylight with the same old problems.
>
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