Mystery DataFlyer

[Marchie]

I have acquired a DataFlyer SCSI card, dug out of a junk pile, no info on it's origins.

It's similar to this one at BigBookOfAmigaHardware (http://www.bigbookofamigahardware.co...ct.aspx?id=544) only it looks older and plainer (says "DP 200, rev1.2") 50-pin internal SCSI only, no IDE, no external SCSI.

You can see from the pictures that the card extends to the 'left' of the Zorro connector which means to fit it into the Zorro slot on my A2000 it will have the under-side of the card facing the CPU, and the 'top' facing the outside of the case. My existing Zorro cards face the other way, and so my questions are:

* Has anyone had experience with DataFlyer cards?
* Can I be sure it's not a card for the A500/1000 out of it's case?
* Will I fry the Card or the A2000 by putting it in the wrong way? (or by inserting into an A500)
Thanks folks.

[grelbfarlk]

I have a Dataflyer IDE only, it was alright but slow. I needed at some point to buy new ROMs for it to support RDB, the original version had some non RDB form of autobooting.

*DONT PLUG IT IN BACKWARDS, you will probably kill the card and your Amiga.
*The HDD was mounted to the card, as I recall this would have been away from the CPU but the chips should have been towards the CPU in an A2000. I don't know how you are identifying the 'top' and under-sides.

You needed to use the Dataflyer Utility to partition the drive and set it up for booting, maybe you had to format with this utility too, I can't remember, though after replacing the ROMs I think you could use HDToolbox. For the IDE version the device name was something like ExpSys.device.

*DONT PLUG IT IN BACKWARDS!!!

[Marchie]

It will only physically fit in one way, but it's just that that's the opposite to the way I would have expected.

I'm interpreting the 'top' is the side that has all the IC's on it, and the under side as the side with just traces and solder joints.

Thanks for the warning!

[grelbfarlk]

So it must have the chips on the opposite side from what the pictures in the BBoaH shows?

A picture of the card would be helpful here.

[Marchie]

Here's a picture of the card, and how it would be orientated in the A2k for me to insert it (just feels the wrong way around).

[mark_k]

That IS the wrong way around!!! So don't plug it in like that.

Download the user manual from the BBoAH page you linked. Unpack the archive and view dataflyer_09-10.jpg, that shows which way to insert it.

If you wanted to mount a hard drive to the back of the card (I don't really recommend that), fitting the card in the leftmost Zorro II slot would mean the drive wouldn't block any other slots.


If you pluck up enough courage to install the card, could you dump its boot ROM? That would allow WinUAE to emulate it, and probably the ROM is an older version than those which have already been dumped. You can run a program on the Amiga to do it, no need to remove the chip.

[Marchie]

Glad my instincts were right.

Think I'll leave this one alone for the moment, those manuals are the for the A500 version.

[mark_k]

Nope, it seems to cover all versions. A2000 installation is on pages 8-10.

[Marchie]

So it does!

Maybe this will give me something to do while I wait for Gold 3...

[grelbfarlk]

What do you mean it doesn't fit the other way? That appears to be the same as the other boards on BBoaH? Is it the big blank area that is supposed to go into the slot guides that is too long?

[Marchie]

I'm afraid I'm the one with egg on the face here. It didn't look like it would fit, but actually it does (perfectly).

Ugh!

[grelbfarlk]

Originally Posted by Marchie

I'm afraid I'm the one with egg on the face here. It didn't look like it would fit, but actually it does (perfectly).

Ugh!

On behalf of the Amiga police I'm afraid we're going to have to confiscate your A2000, Videotoaster and Dataflyer. We're downgrading you to a CD32, but we'll let you work your way up to an HDD upgrade when PlasmaB is done with it.

[Marchie]

Oh man...