Wanted: Simple guide to format CF HD for A500 WB 1.3 on Mac OSX

[Starglider 2]

Hi all, I have only the following (and would like to keep it that way):

• Mac OSX with UAE
• Amiga 500
• Workbench 1.2 and 1.3
• Kickstart 1.2
• Kipper2k CF IDE fastmem board
• 4GB blank Sandisk CF card

I've seen many very complex guides that aren't quite right for my situation like this one: http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=61666

Would anyone be able to reply with a very simple, bullet point, brief guide to format the CF card so I can read it on the A500?

I don't need to be able to boot from HD right now, just access it from Workbench. Floppy boot is fine.

[thomas]

You need the IDE driver on an Amiga floppy disk. This cannot be done with non-Amiga hardware unless you have a Catweasel or Cryoflux controller.

With Kick 1.2 you can never boot from CF card. With Kick 1.3 you have to create a custom ROM chip containing the IDE driver. Only with Kick 2.0 and above you can access the CF card out of the box.

So what you need is another Amiga which boots from HDD and has internet access. Then you can use it to download the required files and create a boot floppy for your A500.

[Starglider 2]

Thanks. I ended up ordering a pre formatted cf card on eBay, and Kickstart 3.1 😁

[Solo761]

And that also won't work. If you have amiga with kickstart 1.2 you can't boot from CF, period. Regardless if you make it yourself or buy already prepared one.

For Amiga to be able to boot from it you have to load scsi.device, driver that enables Amiga to access HDD (or CF in this case), but with KS1.2 even this is not enough.

For KS1.3 (kickstart, not workbench) you can prepare boot floppy that will load this driver and after it's loaded continue boot from HDD/CF. This is what thomas meant that you need another Amiga which boots from HDD and has internet access.

Alternatively kickstart 1.3 can be modded to include this driver and burned to new eprom chip so you can have HDD support without this boot floppy.
Or if you get kickstart v2.05 37.350 or above, versions below 37.350 don't have scsi.device, you can also boot without floppy.

[Starglider 2]

I should've added that I also ordered Kickstart 3.1

[Solo761]

In that case you won't have problems booting from CF .

Just one more thing. You wrote in original post you have kickstart 1.2, that means it's probably rev5 (or even older?). Make sure you get kick 3.1 chip that's compatible with rev5 motherboard, or, if it's for newer version of motherboards, that you get an adapter with standard chip.

It's nothing serious, it's just that rev6 and up use JEDEC standard pinout, and rev5 uses a bit different chip, only few pins different to standard EPROM chips. But enough that it won't work if you pop standard EPROm to rev5.
If you know how to work with soldering iron you can make an adapter yourself from two sockets and a bit of wire. It can be done even with one socket, but then you'll have to solder on kickstart chip so I prefered to use two sockets, if I messed them they're cheaper to replace .

[Starglider 2]

I soldered the Kickstart to work with my Rev 5 😁