CF card extender for A600 and A1200

[cosmicfrog]

* delshay
ok I`ll say it then ....
pics or it did`t happen

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by cpiac64

insert a led activity

.

Looking at 3 LED's... Power, CF card inserted, and Activity (although i dont know why you would need a CF card inserted LED when you can actually see the card . but they are dirt cheap, and would only increase the cost by about $0.25

[mfilos]

Awesome kipper2k!!! Thanks a lot

[dabone]

I want one!

Later,
dabone

[cosmicfrog]

how about tri colour leds, personal fetish I always wanted something with a tri colourd led on but could never think of anything
http://www.rapidonline.com/1/3/tri-colour-leds

closer to the time I might have a board of you kipper, was well impresed with the s-video one you did, just finaces are a bit low at moment after a round of bill paying such is life

[Photon]

Was going to say "all this to save gluing a nut to PCMCIA", but it could actually be nifty. Does it also come with a neat hole in the case?

[Arnie]

Originally Posted by cosmicfrog

* delshay
ok I`ll say it then ....
pics or it did`t happen

Well I'm going to second that, because either I'm going blind, or my browser isn't showing links.

[voyager]

What a great idea, i was just looking for something like this for my restored a600. Count me in for one.

[telbee]

Apologies if I've missed the point of this - Is there any advantage of this adapterover the PCMCIA-CF (and sd) adapters that plug straight into pcmcia slot?

[alexh]

You cannot boot from them with a standard Kickstart ROM.

[kipper2k]

This adapter will rest on top of the PCMCIA socket. You will need to cut a small slot directly above the PCMCIA slot in order to be able to plug the CF card in. This adapter will not block the PCMCIA slot, and as Alexh states, the CF card basically replaces the older mechanical 2.5" Hard drives

[Magno Boots]

I would have one for sure.

Would you consider extending the base of the protruding (CF) section* by a couple of mm?, as some adaptors are real b@stards to get the card into, particularly the metal sided ones.

*example


Anyone care to comment?

If not, I'll still have one if possible.

Thanks

[ElectroBlaster]

I would be up for one

Looks really smart, I assume the slot on the side of the case would still need enlarging?

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by Magno Boots

I would have one for sure.

Would you consider extending the base of the protruding (CF) section* by a couple of mm?, as some adaptors are real b@stards to get the card into, particularly the metal sided ones.


Anyone care to comment?

If not, I'll still have one if possible.

Thanks

The A600 and A1200 PCMCIA locations are slightly different relative to the 44 pin IDE connector. The PCMCIA slot will also be roughly about 0.065" taller than the IDE header when the extender board is installed so i have found a way to overcome the height of the board so that it will sit evenly on the PCMCIA slot (which is one reason why some people with home made boards may have difficulty inserting cards etc as the slot is slightly bent.

I will set up the location of the slot so that it is as close to the centre of the slot for both machines as i can. I am hoping to figure out a "peg" so that the extender board will be able to use pegs that will go through the board and into the 2 holes of the PCMCIA slot, so that there will be no stress on the board/IDE riser when inserting/removing cards...

@electroBlaster,

yep, the dremel will get a bit of use to create a slot above the PCMCIA slot opening (Nothing too hard though)

Btw, remember thast this card is NOT hot-swappable

[delshay]

i have seen i device some time ago that make the IDE port hot-swappable if not you can go the SCSI-PCMCIA.

some units have dual PCMCIA port,so you can transfer data between two external CF cards and iinternal A1200 CF card and its hot-swappable.

depending on which device,it can be config as one SCSI id or two SCSI id (LUN 0) or config as one SCSI id with split LUN (LUN 0 & LUN 1) if i remember correctly. i have no idea of transfer speed of unit.

the unit fits in floppy drive bay same size as floppy drive. *final end* not posting in ths thread anymore.

[alexh]

Originally Posted by delshay

i have seen i device some time ago that make the IDE port hot-swappable

I truly think that is not possible without software support. There is no such thing as IDE auto-detection in AmigaOS. I'd be amazed if you really saw such a device which ACTUALLY worked with an Amiga. (And wasn't a PC device which needed software)

Hot swap capability is not really necessary. Amiga booting is so fast compared to a PC. Just power off and swap the cards over.

Originally Posted by delshay

if not you can go the SCSI-PCMCIA.

?? You mean SCSI->IDE->CF? Again I'm not sure that adds hot-swap capability?

[rkauer]

@Alexh: there are some SCSI>PCMCIA bridges out there in the wild. Cool amazing kits!

Wonder if they need drivers to use in Amiga SCSI chains...

Probably yes.

[alexh]

Originally Posted by rkauer

Wonder if they need drivers to use in Amiga SCSI chains...

Without a doubt yes. All PCMCIA drivers will have been written to access the 4Mbyte window of the A600/A1200 PCMCIA port.

[kipper2k]

I have the board layout finished and i am curious about one thing. All the schematics i have looked at show that pin 39 on the CF card enables Master/slave.

The curious thing is that when you ground pin 39 the CF card is in master mode and when pin 39 is left floating then the card will be in slave mode. All my CF card adapters that i have looked at have this jumper switch but it appears pointless using this on the Amiga as the Drive would always be in master mode as far i can tell

So, instead of using a 3 pin jumper that would always be in "Dump to ground" mode i can't see any valid reason to include this jumper. Looking at some of these CF card adapters it appears they have set the circuit to have dual mode capability when a second CF adapter is soldered on the card.

If i cant find a valid reason to include the jumper i'll just trace pin 39 to ground.


The card has a power LED indicator, Activity indicator, and a HDD/CF disable jumper which will remove the 15 second wait time if you are using KS3.1 and do not have a CF card installed

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by kipper2k

I have the board layout finished and i am curious about one thing. All the schematics i have looked at show that pin 39 on the CF card enables Master/slave.

The curious thing is that when you ground pin 39 the CF card is in master mode and when pin 39 is left floating then the card will be in slave mode. All my CF card adapters that i have looked at have this jumper switch but it appears pointless using this on the Amiga as the Drive would always be in master mode as far i can tell

So, instead of using a 3 pin jumper that would always be in "Dump to ground" mode i can't see any valid reason to include this jumper. Looking at some of these CF card adapters it appears they have set the circuit to have dual mode capability when a second CF adapter is soldered on the card.

If i cant find a valid reason to include the jumper i'll just trace pin 39 to ground.


The card has a power LED indicator, Activity indicator, and a HDD/CF disable jumper which will remove the 15 second wait time if you are using KS3.1 and do not have a CF card installed

edit, after giving it more thought, i figure it best to leave the holes for the 3 pin jumper still on the board, run a trace between pins 1 and 2 so that it is set permanently to ground, so that if anyone wants to later have the option of setting the card in slave mode then they would just need to cut the small trace and insert a 3 pin jumper