Subject: Re: Q-Bus IDE controllers.
To: Phlatlyn <phlatlyn@pacbell.net>
From: Dave McGuire <mcguire@neurotica.com>
List: port-pmax
Date: 01/04/2000 19:26:07
On Tue, 04 Jan 2000, Phlatlyn wrote:
>what's required for an MSCP controller?

  An MSCP controller would require quite a bit of hacking, and some processing
power on the board.  MSCP is a rather complex protocol along the same lines as
SCSI, but we don't have fancy MSCP chips around like SCSI does in the 53C90
vein and such.

  In the world of MSCP-compatible controllers, the protocols are usually
implemented in firmware on a block of four Am2901 bit-slice processors and
sometimes an Am2910 microsequencer.  It could, I suppose, be done nowadays
with a PIC microcontroller or something like that.  But it would definitely
take some doing.

  That would be a *really fun* project.

  Speaking of fun projects and Xilinx chips...I'd *love* to have an FPGA
implementation of a pdp8 (probably an 8/e) with an IDE interface. :-)

              -Dave McGuire