A followup to the XTIDE build. Pietja successfully tested the CPLD-based version of the IDE hard drive controller for old XT computers. Check out these benchmarks, with and without a speed mod:
Unmodified:
Write Speed : 213,99 KB/s
Read Speed : 248,67 KB/s
8K random, 70% read : 21,20 IOPS
Sector random read : 60,37 IOPS
Average seek, including latency, is 17,17 ms.“Chuck mod”:
Write Speed : 788,11 KB/s
Read Speed : 1154,94 KB/s
8K random, 70% read : 31,03 IOPS
Sector random read : 48,87 IOPS
Average seek, including latency, is 20,83 ms.
There were a few bugs in the board, but we’ll fix them an made v1 available to vintage computer hobbyists for free.
On a side note this is another win for open development. This is an incomplete, in-progress project that we may have never finished. But thanks to an open development process where we share all our work, Pietja was able to test and prove the design independently.
Thank you Pietja for all the work and contributions to this project!
So how do I get one of these? I can’t find any link that will let me.
The current version is here: http://dangerousprototypes.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=13&products_id=61
If you’d like to do a build I’d be happy to send you a free PCB. Please keep in mind there are some bugs in this revision and the 5 jumper wires are required:
http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/XT_IDE_disk_controller
See: http://dangerousprototypes.com/store/ where you have several avenues.