On Sun, 2008-02-03 at 23:21 +0900, John Summerfield wrote: > SATA, aka ATA-7, uses smaller data and power cables and uses a serial > interface. It seems strange (or did to me when serial interfaces > appeared on mainframes in the late 80s/early 90s), that serial > interfaces can go faster. I think this is because there's not a lot of > (long) signal needing to be coordinated, and there's less risk of > crosstalk. After years of using parallel buses, because they *were* faster, it does seem to go against the grain. But what you said is the reason. Previously parallel buses were faster simply because of the lack of speed in the, then, current serial circuitry. If you could get faster, and accurate electronics, which you *now* can, serial can manage faster rates, easier and more reliably. As I recall, mainframes had very high speed serial data connections, a long time before PCs had them. But then personal computers are a completely different kettle of fish. > ATAPI is a sort of cross between SCSI and ATA, It used ATA wiring and > electronics, and some SCSI commands. Mostly used for optical drives, > but also (I think) for tape drives. It was also used in Zip and LS120 drives. -- [tim@bigblack ~]$ uname -ipr 2.6.23.12-52.fc7 i686 i386 Don't send private replies to my address, the mailbox is ignored. I read messages from the public lists.
