On 2017-09-28 10:03 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote:
On Thu, 28 Sep 2017, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:
IDE used to be called "ATA" - "AT Attachment"; i.e. something tailored
to the PC AT (5170) 16-bit ISA bus.
For a little while, there were also available some 8 bit IDE cards and
drives!
I think that Compaq may have been the first customer for the Western
Digital IDE "Integrated Drive Electronics"
That is the persistent story apparently Compaq was looking for a compact
solution to cram into their luggables some of the first one where just a
regular MFM drive with the controller grafted onto them ( had one came
out of a portable II) later the electronics became compact enough to
put everything onto a single card.
What I find perplexing is the acronym "SATA" for "Serial ATA". The name
would imply that a drive can be connected to a 5170, but I'm not aware
of any SATA adapters for the 5170 PC/AT.
It evolved, and the name persisted, in spite of no longer being
applicable.
It is call SATA because it is ATA protocol over a serial link, just like
SAS is SCSI over a serial link.
Paul.
