Zorro-LAN-IDE by Matthias Heinrich

[utri007]

There is this :

Zorro-LAN-IDE https://github.com/MHeinrichs/Zorro-LAN-IDE

It is IDE, clock port and LAN in Zorro card. Any one interested to build these?

[MartinW]

Do you know if the project was ever completed and proven working? I'm surprised to have not heard of it before. IF it works fully and the driver is complete and it can be used on the side or front (preferably side) of a GB-A1000 then sure, it would be a nice project.

[McTrinsic]

The drivers are not finished. So no use to build it now afaik.

[buggs]

The Zorro LAN IDE card works and drivers are available. Actually, my A3000 boots from it.

Not yet completed is the CPLD firmware, at least according to Matze's plan. The missing feature is Zorro-II/III autosensing. There are two separate CPLD firmwares at the moment. One can either flash the Zorro-III firmware or the Zorro-II firmware. The latter also works in A3000/4000, just a little slower.

Due to the small size card, an extension cable is required in order to reach the back of the Amiga. My favorite solution to that is to rip apart old 10/100 PC NICs (free slot bracket, RJ45 and transformer).

Some pictures below. My A4k has the prototype card, the A3000 runs with Rev2 and the A500 (+Zorro Adapter) has the Rev3 connected.

[McTrinsic]

Just release it


I'd take one immediately .

[torsti76]

Originally Posted by buggs

The Zorro LAN IDE card works and drivers are available. Actually, my A3000 boots from it.

Off topic: Is this the infamous NEC LCD71VM in your third picture?

[torsti76]

Originally Posted by McTrinsic

Just release it


I'd take one immediately .

I think it's released already. ;-) You just have to have PCBs created with your favourite vendor, solder it, and flash the CPLD...

[torsti76]

Btw., here's the current version: https://gitlab.com/MHeinrichs/Zorro-LAN-IDE.git

Matze moved to gitlab a while ago.

[McTrinsic]

I was under the impression that since there are still things to sort out it wasn’t released.

If it’s ‚just‘ the autosensing ... mhhhh. Sounds tempting. But I probably can’t do enough of the required work on my own.

[buggs]

Originally Posted by torsti76

Off topic: Is this the infamous NEC LCD71VM in your third picture?

NEC1970NXp. Cheap to obtain, 15 kHz support on VGA, works fine with low refresh rates - but not optimal for PAL Amigas w/o Scandoubler. The downside of that monitor is that it'll detect PAL 15 kHz as 640x240. That little problem goes away with a Scandoubler or Flickerfixer of which my A3000 has two .

[torsti76]

Originally Posted by buggs

NEC1970NXp. Cheap to obtain, 15 kHz support on VGA, works fine with low refresh rates - but not optimal for PAL Amigas w/o Scandoubler. The downside of that monitor is that it'll detect PAL 15 kHz as 640x240. That little problem goes away with a Scandoubler or Flickerfixer of which my A3000 has two .

Ah, okay. I use an Acer V226HQL which is fine with all 15kHz modes, but since it's 16:9 tends to do weird stretching on the modes with "unusual" (in PC world) ratios between horizontal and vertical pixel counts.
But, just as you, I usually use flicker fixers/scandoublers (even my CD32 has a modified FlickerMagic ;-) For testing purposes, however, it's nice to have a 15 kHz capable monitor around.

[Paulthetall]

Looks Awesome! Where to obtain these cards? In other words, where can I buy one? What are the specs etc.

[torsti76]

Originally Posted by Paulthetall

Looks Awesome! Where to obtain these cards? In other words, where can I buy one? What are the specs etc.

Hi,

you cannot obtain a ready to use card yet.

Matze doesn't see it as a finished product and thus doesn't produce it commercially as of now. The reason for that is that he would have to give support, provide a commercial warranty, help troubleshooting and so on which is really time consuming and frustrating if the product you have to support doesn't provide the standard you want it to have.

You can, however, build your own card with the material Matze provides via gitlab. That would be a good thing to do, since the more people build and test such projects the higher the chance that people like Matze keep on developing and - more importantly - improving such great pieces of hardware...

[MartinW]

Now I've seen the pictures in better detail it looks familiar - I think I saw some threads on A1K about it but obviously not being a German speaker (more importantly, reader / writer!) I just quietly read the thread(s) and didn't comment.

I would dearly like a better network solution for my GBA - currently has plipbox. Nothing wrong with that but I dislike the separate power supply required and obviously a bit more speed would be useful.

Question: In one of the screenshots on GitLab it shows an Oktagon board. Is the IDE implemented as an Oktagon, same as the GBA?

I would like one but I don't really have the patience for building it at the moment as too many other things on the go at home.

@Buggs - sorry, we're all asking about your screen setup, but it looks very nice! I can see the machine hooked up to the white monitor (A500?) is running a Picasso card, what res is that? It looks lovely in terms of font, screen resolution etc., and so much better than my PII setup! I'd like some more info but obviously this thread isn't really the correct place!

[buggs]

As I said before, Matze is tangled up in a lot of responsibilities and I haven't spoken with hin in person for a while. Hence, this project right now has the status _as_is_, i.e. everything of the current version available as open source and ready for interested persons to build their own card. The card layout of revisions 0.2/0.3 and the SANA-II network driver were done by me.

The Network part and the IDE controller work fine in my setups. I can't comment on the Clockport, though. Matze has a RapidRoad connected to it on his card.

I also took the liberty and added some new features to the SANA driver like access to the Ethernet PHY parameters by a CLI tool.

@MartinW:
The IDE controller is an AT-BUS2008 clone. I run that one both available drivers (Oktagon and Oktapussy) across my cards. So the answer to your question is yes, same controller used as in most Matze projects.

My white display is a cheap 22" TV, chosen because of it's size matching that designated space on my desk as well as it's SCART input alongside VGA and HDMI. The A500 (A1k RED, outfitted with a Vampire card) is my favorite development machine, for both hardware and software stuff. It's quiet, fast in comparison to the others and most importantly easily repairable in case that I accidentally broke something.

[MartinW]

Originally Posted by buggs

The A500 (A1k RED, outfitted with a Vampire card

Ahhh, OK, explains a lot! And yes, I think when Vampire V4 comes along I will probably use it as my main machine assuming I can get one.

Thank you for info on the IDE too. Again, makes sense.

[utri007]

I really would like to get one for Zorro II but I have no needed skills.

[McTrinsic]

Same here

[trixster]

Same

[spudje]

Somebody happens to have a patched Subway USB driver to work over the clockport of this card? Or can I use the X-Sruf 2 patched Subway driver?

Thanks!