Re: Kernel Summit request for Discussion of future of ATA (libata)and IDE

[Sergei Shtylyov]

Hello.

Alan Cox wrote:
> > > newer controllers support the 32bit PIO data cycles. Most PCI controllers
> > > it makes no speed difference but host bus controllers (especially
> > > PIIX/ICH) really benefit.
> > >       

  PIIX was a pure PCI controller, IIRC. ICH is also not a "host bus" 
controller, it hangs off the I/O hub bus...

> > >   
> > >       
> >     In what way if there's no speed gain?
> >     
>
> As in the numbers are the same before and after. The FIFO on the
> controller is happily hiding the extra latencies I assume.
>   

  Depends on the PIO mode -- in the lower ones, the prefetch reads 
might really be slower than successive reads on the host bus...

> > > > supported. I couldn't track down where that bit was actually defined in 
> > > > the first place, all the way back to ATA-1 it seems to be indicated as 
> > > > reserved. Actually, I'm not sure why the drive cares in the first place, 
> > > > it would seem like a pure host controller issue..
> > > >     
> > > >         
> > > It goes back before IDE into the depths of the original compaq spec. When
> > > you have a device wired basically directly to the ISA bus (original IDE)
> > >   
> > >       
> >    ISA has only 8/16-bit data bus, so it could not have mattered 
> > there... 
> >     
>
> Depends what a 32bit I/O looks like on the 16bit bus - timing wise.
>   

  Two 16-bit reads at addresses 0x1x0 and 0x1x2 with the programmed 
recovery time, IIRC... It's just occured to me that in case of the 
16-bit bus it should be how the drive treated the accesses at address 
0x1x2 with IOCS16 asserted that could have mattered. If it honored them, 
32-bit I/O could have worked even on a dumb ISA "controller", if not -- 
no way (unless you really had *something* between the ISA and the IDE 
cable).

MBR, Sergei


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