AST RESEARCH, INC. INFORMATIONAL BULLETIN # 0009 8-16-96
TITLE: Bravo MS-T IDE Bus Master DMA and Win95
SUMMARY
AST uses Programmed I/O driver instead of IDE Bus Master driver
in Bravo MS-T systems.
This issue applies to the following systems: 501955, 501956, and
501972.
NOTES
Current Bravo MS-T Windows 95 systems use the Programmed I/O
driver and not the IDE Bus Master driver for the following reasons:
1. Current Microsoft Windows 95 versions use Programmed I/O as the
standard mode.
2. Benchmark testing has not shown any performance differences
using today's popular 16 bit or 32 bit applications
(Word Processing, Databases, Desktop Publishing, Spreadsheet or
business graphics).
3. In order to use the DMA mode, the IDE drive must support this
mode. Older drives do not support DMA and if they are installed
in such a system, could result in data corruption.
AST will support the DMA feature when it is made a standard option
from Microsoft on Windows 95.
TAN 000916EF
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