Hi,
If i remember well :
You can try to scan PCI devices, and search for IDE/SATA controler.
Then BAR0 to BAR3 slots will give you I/O addresses, that you can use for accessing SATA drives, with the same protocol than IDE 0x1f0 native driver.

I think you can use this approach only if you disabled "Native SATA mode" in BIOS, so that BIOS shows SATA disks as legacy IDEs.

@BOTOKILLER, you have just learned your first lesson of OS Dev.
That is you are going to have to compromise and build your OS around what is easily available.
You will always be coding with one hand tide behind your back.

Save yourself some time and take Madis731 advice,'use legacy IDEs'

but i chose SATA because
1.Its next generation technology
2.Its very fast
so, i need Native sata mode

2012 is soon. then, nothing can be assumed as a future.

I don't know how to program SATA. Nevertheless, I use only SATA, in my machines, except for those few (3) computers upon which I still run Win 98.

Though it seems only yesterday that Win 98 appeared on the scene, so vibrant, compared with Win 95, but today, it appears to function like a forlorn kitten, abandoned by one and all.

Here's a good game.

Take an old computer, one that still can run floppies and win98. Make a task. Any task will do.

Time it.

Then install the Linux of that era, i.e. from ten years ago.
Haha. you won't even be able to install it.....

But, if you do finally get something in the Unix world to boot up, after ten years sitting on a shelf, don't be surprised, when you run your same test, whatever the test, that Linux is S L O W, compared with Win 98.

Then, just for grins, install the newest, slickest, best Linux out there. Oops. It may fail to show the same video resolution as Win 98--1280 x 1024. You may have to live with 800 x 600. But, even so, go ahead and install the latest and greatest.

Now run your test again.. .... Haha.

STILL SLOWER than Win 98, I will bet you.....

Ok, final test: Get out your stop watch, and turn off the machine, measure the time needed to power off, after signalling the OS of your desire to quit for the day......

Win98 TWO SECONDS. Linux xyz flavor, doesn't matter which: TWENTY seconds, on the SAME computer, same hard drive, same cpu, same memory..... I have run this same test hundreds of times on my three old computers....yeah, there are some differences between them, but, nothing like the difference between Linux and Win98.

So, unless you are enamored with old junk, like me, stick with SATA.....I have no clue how to program it.....IDE is not easy to program, but it is at least well documented.....

AHAHAHA!!!!!

Since most BIOS support IDE emulation its best to use IDE for now, this will give you almost full support of any HDD.

BOTOKILLER wrote:

AHAHAHA!!!!!

Did I miss some kind of inside joke? You do relise that it is very possible by the time your OS is released SATA could be a thing of the past and people could be using SATA emulation.


None the less, I hope you like intel, Here is a SATA document that explains the SATA, it says that it assumes you have ATA knollage. http://www.intel.com/assets/pdf/manual/252671.pdf

If you cannot understand it I would recomend learning about the IDE, (like everyone else here is saying) because AFAIK the sata is based from it.