From owner-freebsd-hardware  Thu Oct 23 08:34:35 1997
Return-Path: <owner-freebsd-hardware>
Received: (from root@localhost)
          by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) id IAA04647
          for hardware-outgoing; Thu, 23 Oct 1997 08:34:35 -0700 (PDT)
          (envelope-from owner-freebsd-hardware)
Received: from word.smith.net.au (word.smith.net.au [202.0.75.3])
          by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id IAA04429
          for <freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG>; Thu, 23 Oct 1997 08:31:53 -0700 (PDT)
          (envelope-from mike@word.smith.net.au)
Received: from word.smith.net.au (localhost.smith.net.au [127.0.0.1])
	by word.smith.net.au (8.8.7/8.8.5) with ESMTP id AAA00798;
	Fri, 24 Oct 1997 00:58:17 +0930 (CST)
Message-Id: <199710231528.AAA00798@word.smith.net.au>
X-Mailer: exmh version 2.0zeta 7/24/97
To: Martin Nilsson <martin@filex.se>
cc: freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject: Re: FreeBSD and IDE drives 
In-reply-to: Your message of "Fri, 17 Oct 1997 20:47:19 +0200."
             <3447B2B7.6445@filex.se> 
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 00:58:16 +0930
From: Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au>
Sender: owner-freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG
X-Loop: FreeBSD.org
Precedence: bulk

> How good are the IDE/ATA drivers in FreeBSD?

They work pretty well.

> I'm running 2.2.1 on a 430TX based motherboard with a 4.3GB Quantum
> Ultra DMA harddrive. When I boot the system FreeBSD detects the PCI IDE
> controller but doesn't assign a driver for it, instead the IDE
> controller is detected and used when the ISA bus is scanned.

There's no specific support in 2.2.x for the PIIX controllers.

> How fast is the communication between the drive and controller?

This depends on the drive, the controller and your BIOS configuration.

> Would there be any benefit if the driver used the PIIX4 chip in DMA
> busmaster mode?

Yes; 3.x does this.

mike