I assume current IDE drives are 16-bit interface???
yes. your typical, modern off the shelf IDE drive is (at a minumum) 16bit.
My plan is to use old 10Gig drives from Xbox 1's, of which I have a half dozen of.
Don't forget there are several size barriers, bios, int 13, OS etc. One could install a driver such as Disk Manager but those are always more trouble than benefit.
The BIOS/int 13 size barriers will be eliminated by the option rom, at least up to 8.4gig anyway, and I think 8.4gig on a PC/XT is plenty of space.
Disk manager software is basically an INT 13 add-on/enhancement, so we might as well just do that same thing inside the option rom and make it cleaner for everyone. You're still limited to whatever O/S limits there are, but that's your own fault.
Besides jumpers to control where option rom goes in upper memory, also need IRQ setting. At least some cards (RLL or MFM) from that era had option for IRQ 5 vs. 2. I assume an IDE card would also. I personally need IRQ 2 which is different than the std XT of IRQ 5.
If we end up effectively cloning the sIDE-16 card, we'll have IRQ 2 and 5 at a minimum. Not sure what would be required to allow for additional IRQs to be available, but we'll look into it.
If the experts out there are able to pull this off, even in kit form, for the pricing being talked about this would be a real benefit to the vintage hobbyists out there.
I agree-I think this project is certainly within our collective skill set, and I'd really like to see it created as a VC project and sold at cost to other VC members. (I'd even like to see the VC website silkscreened onto the card itself to make it "ours" for example)
My current plan of attack is to get all the info from the sIDE-16, and see if we can still get the same/equivalent parts available as modern surface mount parts. We then disassemble the BIOS, use 90% of what's there already, add enhancements to INT 13 to allow 8.4G, and make any other minor adjustments such as adding additional IRQs and selectable I/O addresses and get them built. It's still cloning the basic functionality, but with our own enhancements.
I'd also be perfectly happy filling and shipping orders for the finished cards/kits, and depending on the complexity of the finished product, could be convinced to solder them up for people too. We can do this.