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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