On  8 Apr 98 at 20:36, Edna Sloan wrote:

> I have an older Dell 486 computer.  I would like to add a 4X IDE CD drive
> that I have to the system, but it's bios doesn't have LBA.  What I am
> wondering is what would be the cheapest way to go.   Would IDE overlay
> software work, i.e., EZ Drive?

  LBA and EZ Drive apply only to hard drives.  CD-ROM drives are
generally[*] ignored by the BIOS, and are supported by drivers which
take care of this detail.

[*] The exceptions I'm aware of involve SCSI devices, not IDE.

> I have a SB 16 sound card and an ESS 1869
> sound card, one of which I am also going to install.  They have what
> appears to be an IDE connector on them?  If so, would this work for the CD?

  There are three things to watch for here:

1.  Many "IDE" (ATAPI) CD-ROM drives actually require EIDE.  EIDE
implementations generally provide TWO channels, so if you don't
already have a place to plug the drive into then you may not yet have
EIDE.

2.  There used to be at least three proprietary CD-ROM interface
standards, in addition to ATAPI and SCSI, and some sound cards
support one or more of these.  Generally these *look* like IDE
connectors, so you must carefully check the sound card's
documentation.

3.  If you already have two EIDE channels, and you're trying to use
one on the sound card, you'll need to configure it as a terniary
("third") EIDE channel, with its own IRQ and address.  In theory,
this isn't hard; in practice, it introduces new realms of possible
problems.  I'd try to avoid this.

David G