XT-IDE or XT-CF Lite?

[spartan2381]

What would you all recommend in terms of HD drive options for the Tandy 100SX? I have seen options for the XT-IDE and XT-CF lite. Any prefered vendor to purchase from?

 

[twolazy]

XT-CF is slower, not sure if that matters to you... Still faster then the stock drive. Around 2-300kbs. XT-Ide is around 4x faster.

 

[spartan2381]

In terms of ease of setup and capability are they pretty much the same?

 

[Eudimorphodon]

For an 8-bit bus machine the speed differences between the two really hardly matter, either is much faster than an original XT hard disk controller. It's also of note that if you replace the 8088 CPU in your machine with an NEC V-20 the speed difference mostly disappears; XTIDE cards that implement DMA can still go a bit faster, but I get 500K/s on my Tandy 1000HX with an XT-CF card and that benchmarks essentially the same as a RAM disk.

Basically, it's this:

Type	Pros	Cons
"Full" XT-IDE card	Faster, if used with an 8088 CPU *and* DMA is available. Much more compatible with "real" IDE drives than XT-CF, although most people use them with flash adapters anyway.	More expensive
XT-CF-Lite	Cheaper; the parts count can be *much* lower. About as fast as XT-IDE if you can't use DMA. Subbing a V-20 CPU for your 8088 will make them run almost twice as fast.	Very few "actual" hard drives will work in 8-bit mode. You pretty much have to use either CompactFlash cards or SD card adapters.

Something you'll see a lot of complaints about with both types is compatibility issues with CompactFlash cards. My personal recommendation is to buy an IDE to SD adapter instead, because my experience is that the chipset used for those is more reliable when it comes to compatibility than actual CF cards are.

 

[Torch]

I use the Blue Lava XT-CF mini bootable with my 1000EX. It's only $40 bucks on eBay and comes with a 64MB CF card. I simply plugged it in, turned on the computer and it booted to drive C. Literally plug n' play.
I wanted more storage, so I bought a 2GB Verbatim CF card from Amazon for $11. To make it bootable, I ran FDISK, deleted the original partition and then recreated the partition. Then FORMAT C: /S. It boots as a 2GB hard drive.
No issues, no headaches. Under $55.00.

My 1000EX has the RS Plus expansion board for full 640K/DMA. Used it with the original 8088 and the current V-20.

 

[spartan2381]

@Eudimorphodon
@Torch

Thank you both for the explanation and recommendations. I'm waiting for the NEC V-20 and Co-Processor to come in. Now just need to decide which one to buy

 

[Agent Orange]

I have my 1000SX up and running and the only piece of software that I have the uses the co-math processor, is Lotus 1-2-3. I used to have a CAD/CAM program that used it but I've managed to misplace that in pile of stuff. Good luck.

 

[twolazy]

I'll guess it was EasyCad. I learned cad on that, on a PC Jr freshman year of high school!

 

[Agent Orange]

I'll guess it was EasyCad. I learned cad on that, on a PC Jr freshman year of high school!

That'll work. Have fun.