Driver Interface Standards Beginning with ASCOM Platform 6, the interface definitions are provided as documentation with the

Platform itself. These documents are auto-generated from the interface sources in order to assure exact correspondence between the documents and the actual interfaces. After installing ASCOM Platform 6, you will see, in your Windows Start menu under ASCOM Platform, an item Help and Device Interface Standards. For developers, please note that there is additional information contained in the ASCOM Platform Developer Components. If you are a developer, it is strongly recommended that you install the Developer Components and become familiar with the many tools and extensive information we have provided. Hard Drive Interface Standards A hard drive interface represents the connection method used by the hard drive to communicate with the computer. A computer's performance is directly related to the speed of the hard drive unit, so the development of hard drive interface standards represents a key element in the PC evolution process. Speed and ease of use were the two main things the producers kept in mind when developing new interface standards. Legacy o The first hard drive interfaces were the so called hard-cards. These cards consisted of a hard drive mounted directly on a controller board which was inserted into an ISA port. Their biggest advantage was their ease of mount, as you just had to insert the whole hard-card into a free ISA slot. Evolution At one point, manufacturers realized they didn't have to keep the hard drive on the board, and that's how the ATA appeared. IBM first used it in 1986. The name ATA comes from their IBM PC/AT computer, ATA standing for AT Attachment. They moved the hard drive away from the board and integrated the controller into the drive, connecting the drive to the board with a 40-pin cable. ATA Different standards meant different speeds. Starting with the first generation of ATA, which only gave a 4.3 Mb/s datatransfer rate, the speeds kept increasing. Future versions of ATA reached 13.3 Mb/s, 16.6 Mb/s, 33 Mb/s, 66 Mb/s, 100 Mb/s, and finally 133 Mb/s with the last version. After the last ATA version, formerly known as ATA7, the SATA Standard was introduced by the Serial ATA Working Group in 2002. SATA The SATA Standards used only a 4-pin cable but their speeds were much greater compared to the ATA standard. The first version of SATA gave speeds of 150 Mb/s, while the second generation went up to a 300 Mb/s transfer rate. The third generation, released in 2009, delivered a transfer rate of 600 Mb/s. A great feature introduced with the SATA Standard is the ability to hot-swap, which meant a hard drive could be added or removed without having to shut down the PC. SCSI Another standard, launched in the same period as the ATA, is the SCSI interface. Delivering higher speeds and performance than the ATA, SCSI was mostly used at that time by enterprises because of its higher price. External Solutions External solutions were introduced for backup or easy data carrying. The first technology used for this purpose was FireWire. Released in 1995 by Apple, the FireWire standard was also used for printers, digital cameras and other devices. The next standard was USB 2.0. It was released in 2000 and offered greater speeds than the first version, quickly becoming the most widely used method for connections not only for hard drives, but for most computer peripherals as well. eSATA is the external solution provided by the Serial ATA Working Group, the creators of the SATA standards, offering six times greater speeds than USB or FireWire. ENHANCED INTEGRATED DRIVE ELECTRONICS(EIDE) Stands for "Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics." EIDE is an improved version of the IDE drive interface that provides faster data transfer rates than the original standard. While the original IDE drive controllers supported transfer rates of 8.3 Mbps, EIDE can transfer data up to 16.6 Mbps, which is twice as fast. The term EIDE can be a bit ambiguous, since it technically refers than ATA standard known as ATA-2 or Fast ATA. Therefore, the terms EIDE, ATA-2, and Fast ATA may be used synonymously. To add to the confusion, EIDE may also refer to the ATA-3 standard, which is similar to ATA-2, but includes additional features. ATA-3 supports the same maximum data transfer rate as ATA-2, but has SMART support and uses a 44 pin connector. While EIDE was the most common drive controller used for many years, it has since been replaced by updated versions of the ATA standard that support Ultra DMA. These include the ATA-4 through ATA-7 standards, which provide data throughput rates from 33 to 133 Mbps. Most modern computers use a completely new standard called "Serial ATA," or SATA, which supports even faster transfer rates.

Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics (EIDE) The EIDE interface was developed to overcomemany of the limitations of the IDE interface. As we sawin chapter 7, EIDE provides the capability foraddressing fixed disks with over 540 MB of storagecapacity. EIDE also provides faster data transfers andthe ability to use a CD-ROM drive in an EIDE system. Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) The Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) isreally a systems level interface, not just a disk interface.SCSI (pronounced scuzzy) uses a host adapter that plugsinto the computer. The SCSI has eight I/O ports. Oneis dedicated as the interface between the host computerand the adapter. The other seven ports are available forother device controllers, such as disk drives, CD-ROMreaders, and digital scanners. The SCSI is a smart interface. When the hostcomputer requests data from a device connected to theSCSI, the SCSI will disconnect itself to free up thecomputer while it processes the request. The SCSI iscapable of transferring data at up 100 megabits persecond. FORMATTING FIXED DISKS Fixed disk systems operate in much the samemanner as the floppy disks and the disk memory set.Before a new fixed disk drive can be used in a personalcomputer, it must be formatted. The formatting of afixed disk is performed by two or three separateoperations. These are as follows: Low-level format, Creating a DOS partition, High-level format Low-Level Format The low-level format program writes the tracks andsectors on the disk. Low-level format programs varyaccording to the type of drive and controller. Manycontroller manufacturers now include the low-levelformat program in a ROM on the controller. You canaccess this program by using the DOS DEBUG routine.Refer to the controllers documentation to find thestarting address for the format program. When you install and format a new fixed diskdrive, it is extremely important to enter the defectivetracks from the list supplied by the manufacturer. Thesebad tracks are usually listed on a label on the drive, withanother hard copy supplied with the documentation. When the low-level format program is executed, itwill mark any bad tracks with a checksum error that willprevent these tracks from being used for data storage.In addition, the low-level format program will check allareas of the disk to see if any additional bad tracks aredetected. If you are formatting a new disk, only thetracks on the manufacturers list should be bad. If youare reformatting an older disk and find that additionaltracks are listed as bad, the disk is showing signs ofsevere damage and should be replaced. CAUTION DO NOT run a low-level format programon an IDE drive. Serious damage could resultby trying to low-level format this type of drive. There are two additional terms you need to befamiliar with to low-level format or troubleshoot fixeddisks. These are write precompensation and reducedwrite current. Write precompensation and reducedwrite current are also used in some disk memory sets. Write Precompensation Write precompensa-tion is used to prevent problems that can occur whendata is written on the higher numbered cylinders. Adisk is divided into sectors and tracks. Each sector canstore 512 bytes of data. The sectors on the outside ofthe disk surface are physically larger than the ones onthe inside of the disk. As data is recorded on the disk,like poles of magnetic fields are repelled away fromeach other and opposite poles are attracted to each other.As the heads move toward the center of the disk, thewrite precompensation circuitry changes the spacing ofthe magnetic fields.After the natural attraction orrepelling of the magnetic domains is complete, themagnetic fields are in the proper place.

Reduced Write Current Reduced write currentalso compensates for problems that can arise whenwriting on the inner tracks of a disk. As the systemwrites on the inner tracks of the disk, less current isrequired because the data is more densely packed.Using the same current on the inner tracks that isrequired on the outer tracks would cause the data to runover each other. SMALL COMPUTER SYSTEM INTERFACE (SCSI) Short for Small Computer System Interface, SCSI, pronounced as "Scuzzy", is the second most commonly used interface for disk drives that was first completed in 1982. Unlike competing standards, SCSI is capable of supporting eight devices, or sixteen devices with Wide SCSI. However, with the SCSI host adapter located on ID number 07 and boots from the ID 00. This leaves the availability of six device connections. SCSI-1 is the original SCSI standard developed back in 1986 as ANSI X3.131-1986. SCSI-1 is capable of transferring up to eight bits a second. SCSI-2, approved in 1990, added new features such as Fast and Wide SCSI, and support for additional devices. SCSI-3 was approved in 1996 as ANSI X3.270-1996. SCSI is a standard for parallel interfaces that transfers information at a rate of eight bits per second and faster, which is faster than the average parallel interface. SCSI-2 and above supports up to seven peripheral devices, such as a hard drive, CD-ROM, and scanner, that can attach to a single SCSI port on a system's bus. SCSI ports were designed for Apple Macintosh and Unix computers, but also can be used with PCs. Although SCSI has been popular in the past many users are switching over to SATA drives. SCSI connectors The below illustrations are examples of some of the most commonly found and used SCSI connectors on computers and devices and illustrations of each of these connections.

USB and FIREWIRE

Question: Which is faster Hi-Speed USB 2.0 or FireWire? Answer: In sustained throughput FireWire is faster than USB 2.0. Question: If Hi-Speed USB 2.0 is a 480 Mbps interface and FireWire is a 400 Mbps interface, how can FireWire be faster? Answer: Differences in the architecture of the two interfaces have a huge impact on the sustained throughput.

FireWire vs. USB 2.0 - Architecture FireWire, uses a "Peer-to-Peer" architecture in which the peripherals are intelligent and can negotiate bus conflicts to determine which device can best control a data transfer

Hi-Speed USB 2.0 uses a "Master-Slave" architecture in which the computer handles all arbitration functions and dictates data flow to, from and between the attached peripherals (adding additional system overhead and resulting in slower data flow control) FireWire vs. USB 2.0 Hard Drive Performance Comparison Read and write tests to the same IDE hard drive connected using FireWire and then Hi-Speed USB 2.0 show: Read Test: 5000 files (300 MB total) FireWire was 33% faster than USB 2.0 160 files (650MB total) FireWire was 70% faster than USB 2.0 Write Test: 5000 files (300 MB total) FireWire was 16% faster than USB 2.0 160 files (650MB total) FireWire was 48% faster than USB 2.0 Question: So which products should I choose FireWire or Hi-Speed USB 2.0? Answer: Often the choice will be made for you by the product itself. Some types of products are only available with the FireWire interface and some only with USB. For all out sustained throughput, as shown above a FireWire external hard drive will provide the best performance. But for convenience and compatibility between multiple computers a USB 2.0 external hard drive would probably be the better choice (since practically every computer has a USB port). Better yet, get both interfaces. We offer combo FireWire USB 2.0 cards allowing you to connect products with either interface to your computer. And combo FireWire USB 2.0 External drives give you best of both worlds...you can have the highest hard drive speed when connected to a FireWire port, and also the broad compatibility of USB. And now, combo interface USB, FireWire and eSATA drives are available providing the ultimate in speed and connectivity! One product category that USB currently has an advantage in is capturing analog video tape for DVD. Using hardware MPEG encoders, USB video capture products are able to convert VHS video tapes to DVD video.