On Friday 08 February 2002 08:39, Charles Steinkuehler wrote: > Um...you won't find any standard motherboards that support the usage > of pin 30 for write-protect, and even if you could, it would probably > be controlled by software, not a switch, which kind of defeats the > whole purpose. That's the entire reason the WP jumper is on the > device in the first place...you can use the pin 30 interface if > you're designing a custom board...folks with standard hardware can > just use the jumper (or optionally wire the jumper to a manual > switch).
OK, this is where I might be confused myself, and confusing others such as Matt. Let me explain it as I understand it, and everyone is welcome to thrash me into submission if wrong. As noted in the email and to a far lesser degree on the White paper, pin #30 _can_ be used with a special MB to control the WP, in particular with _partial_ software_named files/dirs to WP. The WP used with the pins #1-2 does not require the special MB or ATA instructions, simply a jumper or a jumper with switch, but you can't do partials. Now comes in my somewhat OT comments/thoughts of yesterday. Being that this jumper configuration does not require a special MB or ATA instructions beyond what is presently used, only a jumper that bypasses the disk itself (to ground) ... Is there any reason that this could not be implemented on any or all existing ATA run devices (CF, FlashDisk, IDE, etc....), the jumper is bypassing the drive itself as far as the instructions on wire #1 is concerned ???? The reason I bring this up at all is quite simple, I believe that the general population has old hardware that could be used for LEAF similar to mine.... roughly 30 old 486-P1 boxes that support IDE only (no SCSI support built in). The cost of a SCSI controller board is too expensive, or won't fit in the desired case restraints desired, so though it's a excellent option, it's not a desired option. I have flash and CF cards at present that I would like to use WP if possible through existing MB's ... a manual switch or even a $10-20 module would be more cost efficient and desired than simply trashing what I already have, hardware wise, to get WP, if possible. In other words, how many folks have said: "Can I run LEAF on a harddrive (IDE)". We say, "you can, but it is a security risk compared to a floppy". What would it mean to be able to say: "You can use a hd, but if you want it as secure as the floppy, a $10-20 add-in IDE module is available here (link)." I think a lot of people would find this useful, IMHO, or maybe I'm thinking too hard and flogging a dead dog! -- ~Lynn Avants aka Guitarlynn guitarlynn at users.sourceforge.net http://leaf.sourceforge.net If linux isn't the answer, you've probably got the wrong question! _______________________________________________ Leaf-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/leaf-devel
