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Hi Jim,

That's why the NOP command is optional.

Regards,
 
Mark Evans
Maxtor Corporation
500 McCarthy Boulevard
Milpitas,  CA  95035

-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, April 06, 2006 7:53 AM
To: Elliott, Robert (Server Storage); [email protected]
Subject: RE: [t13] ATA8-ACS NOP proposals

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Last time I checked, the ATA standard did not mention supporting "a host that 
only performs 16-bit register accesses".

There IS mention of support for CFA where  the DATA register is only 8-bits....
but no mention of a 16-bit-only host interface.

Thank You !!!
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Hatfield
Seagate Technology LLC
   e-mail:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
   s-mail:  389 Disc Drive;  Longmont, CO 80503 USA
   voice:  720-684-2120
   fax....:  720-684-2711
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Hi Rob,

I was reviewing your proposal (e06126r0) and have a serious issue (I won't go 
into the editorial issues I have with the proposal here).  In the overview of 
your proposal you write, "However, since NOP with subcommand 00h returns the 
same result as an unsupported opcode, it doesn't matter if it is 'supported' or 
not."  This isn't all NOP does.  It DOES matter whether a device reports that 
the command is supported or not.  You have to go back to what NOP was 
originally intended to do.  The last place this is hinted at is in the 
description of NOP in ATA/ATAPI-4 rev 16, "This command enables a host, that 
only performs 16-bit register accesses, to check device status."  It seems that 
Pete McLean removed this when he added in Tony Goodfellow's proposal for NOP 
auto poll (d97142r1) during A/A-4 letter ballot resolution.

If you go back farther to earlier standards, you'll see that "...when a host 
performing 16-bit register accesses writes to the Drive Head Register, one byte 
contains the Command Register, so the drive sees a new command when the 
intended purpose is only to select a drive. Both drives may be Busy but not 
necessarily Ready i.e., Drive 0 may be ready, but not drive 1."

So, there is a unique meaning to saying that a device supports NOP just as it 
is.  This meaning can't be muddied by adding additional requirements.
If you want additional requirements, you'll have to find a new bit in IDENTIFY 
DEVICE data.

Regards,
Mark Evans
Maxtor Corporation
500 McCarthy Boulevard
Milpitas,  CA  95035
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Elliott, Robert 
(Server Storage)
Sent: Monday, April 03, 2006 11:37 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [t13] ATA8-ACS NOP proposals

This message is from the T13 list server.


Stemming from some SCSI to ATA Translation (SAT) letter ballot discussions on 
the behavior of the NOP command, I've prepared two proposals for T13 to discuss 
at the April meeting (posted on
http://www.t13.org):

e06125r0-ATA8-ACS_IDENTIFY_PACKET_DEVICE_supported_features.pdf
IDENTIFY PACKET DEVICE must return specific values for feature sets/commands 
that are mandatory or prohibited in packet devices (e.g.
NOP is mandatory).

e06126r0-ATA8-ACS_NOP_clarifications.pdf
Since NOP with subcommand 00h behaves the same as an unsupported command, there 
is no reason for IDENTIFY DEVICE to include NOP Supported/Enabled bits except 
for subcommands 01h-FFh.  Those subcommands have different behavior for devices 
supporting the Overlapped and Queued feature sets.
So, this proposal adds a sentence noting that, for devices supporting the 
Overlapped feature set, the IDENTIFY DEVICE data bits indicating NOP support 
also imply that NOP subcommands 01h-FFh are supported.

Also, the NOP Auto Poll model discusses how host adapters might complete the 
command with ERR=0, which the NOP command description doesn't mention at all.  
Based on d97142r1, the proposal that added the feature, changes are suggested 
to mention this exception in the NOP command description.

--
Rob Elliott, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Hewlett-Packard Industry Standard Server Storage Advanced Technology 
https://ecardfile.com/id/RobElliott



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