🚀 go-pugleaf

Glenn Jayaputera (gtj@werple.apana.org.au) wrote:
: I am looking for some information about EIDE controller. Basically I am 
: just wondering if they are 'bootable' contoller, means that I dont need 
: any kind of drivers to use.  I am planning to have 2 x 1Gig WD to be 
: hooked with this controller.
: Thanks in advance indeed.
: -- 
: Cheers
:   Glenn T. Jayaputera

Glenn,
I've just installed a Promise EIDE2300+ card and it works fine with my 
config (540MB + 245MB). This controller has onboard BIOS which means that 
it boots by itself.

This card is installed in a VL/VESA slot and offers an IDE connection and 
an EIDE connection. Basically it has two hard drive controllers on one 
board, one accessed through the ISA bus and one through VESA. It is 
possible to configure each of these as primary/secondary or disabled. The 
EIDE operates through VESA.

According to the documentation this board will support disks of up to 
8.4GB without additional device drivers.

This board operates just fine in DOS without any drivers.  Drivers are 
available for DOS, windoze and OS/2. The DOS and windows drivers are for 
performance (does something with DMA and smart IDE drives) only and I was 
able to install these fine without any problems. All I need now is a good 
benchmark :-)

Appart from support for 4 (YES 4!) IDE drives (2xIDE, 2xEIDE) it also has 
2 x 16550 serial ports and a parallel port. All this for $99.

I got mine from Harris here in Sydney. Guess I'm just impressed.

Stephen