FAT95 on A590 SCSI to CF using PCD-50B

[breech]

I'm probably the first to try this because to use any slot other than PCMCIA you need to turn off the parity switch, which forces a very long boot time.

My setup is A500+A590 SCSI hard disk adapter -> CFcard for OS and kick 2.04.

I can use an SDcard in the SD slot, the same way a1200/600 users do (amiga-formatted SDcard) but I want a fat drive so i dont have to use winuae to transfer files.

I formatted the SDcard to fat16 but cannot see it using fat95, but I probably havnt installed FAT95 properly.

I copied all the directories from the fa95 installation to DH0: then mount this list, but nothing happens. what is supposed to happen? does a new drive pop up as CF0: or something?



Device = scsi.device
Unit = 1 <<<<<<<<< i presume SD should be unit1 because CF is unit0
Flags = 0
FileSystem = L:fat95
Surfaces = 1
BlockSize = 1024
SectorsPerBlock = 1
BlocksPerTrack = 1
Reserved = 0
Interleave = 0
LowCyl = 0
HighCyl = 128
Buffers = 30
BufMemType = 0
MaxTransfer = 0x00ffffff
Mask = 0xfffffffe
DosType = 0x444f5305
GlobVec = -1
StackSize = 4096

[ptyerman]

On mine which is running off a A1200 and Blizzard SCSI kit the SD Card slot is SCSI ID 30. The Luns of the device alter the ID, so SCSI ID 2 becomes 20 and 3 becomes 30 e.t.c. I suppose it all depends on the A590's usage of Luns. I can also use FAT 95 cards in any slot I make a mountlist for.

[thomas]

Actually Unit=20 means SCSI ID=0 and SCSI LUN=2.


@breech: the documentation of FAT95 describes very detailed what is needed to get a partition mounted with FAT95. Please read it. The mount file you quoted above is completly screwed up.

[ptyerman]

Originally Posted by thomas

Actually Unit=20 means SCSI ID=0 and SCSI LUN=2.

???. Which is exactly what I said! The Luns alter the SCSI ID. ???

[thomas]

Maybe, but your example is wrong.

SCSI ID 2 becomes Unit 2, not Unit 20.

Unit = 2 means ID = 2, LUN = 0
Unit = 20 means ID = 0, LUN = 2

The ID is set by jumpers on the back of the device.
The LUN is set by the device internally and cannot be changed. (Except perhaps by a firmware update)

In case of the multi-reader the LUN corresponds to the slot. The SCSI ID is equal for all slots. The combination of LUN and ID determines the Unit.

[ptyerman]

Yes I know this, but for his mountlist it is just SCSI ID 20, 30 or whatever, same as mine. The mountlist won't recognize ID 2 Lun 3 for example. Confusing I know, but simpler in some ways.

[thomas]

It is Unit=20, 30 or whatever. SCSI ID is 0 in all cases.

[ptyerman]

Yes, which is what I said in the first place. If he works to that numbering system he should be able to work it out.

[ptyerman]

Just to clarify things, Thomas and I are on about the same thing but in different ways. He is right about the SCSI ID and Luns, but for a mountlist entry you need to do as I outlined as mountlist does not recognize separate SCSI ID and Lun number but reads it as one single number. Here's my mountlist for the SD Card slot which is in sys:devs/dosdrivers and called SD1.

/* compactflash.device $VER: 1.21 (19.10.2002) */
/* fat95 file system by Torsten Jager */

FileSystem = l:fat95
Device = 1230scsi.device
Unit = 30
Flags = 0
LowCyl = 0
HighCyl = 0
Surfaces = 1
BlocksPerTrack = 1
BlockSize = 512
Buffers = 20
BufMemType = 1
BootPri = 0
Stacksize = 4096
Priority = 5
GlobVec = -1
DosType = 0x46415401

Change "Device = " to whatever scsi.device the A590 uses, and "Unit = " to whatever SCSI ID you have the card reader set to. Mine is set to SCSI ID 0, so the Lun number is followed by a 0 as in the 30 example above. My mount list for the CompactFlash slot is exactly the same except for "Unit = 10" and saved as CF 1 in devs/dosdrivers.
On a last note. Make sure you have both compactflash.device and fat95 installed or it wont work. Let us know how you get on.

[breech]

Thanks for the info so far guys. Yes I did RTFM, but it was very basic and did not explain LUNs being MSB and SCSI ID as LSB - and this is the first time I've had to edit a mountlist. I was actually using a floppy mountlist in the first post.Anyway, in HDInstTools, the PCD-50B's CFcard (DH0 is LUN0, the SDcard is LUN3

so I tried it using a modified version of ptyerman's mountlist:

FileSystem = l:fat95
Device = scsi.device /* PCD-50B is a SCSI device*/
Unit = 30
Flags = 0
LowCyl = 0
HighCyl = 0
Surfaces = 1
BlocksPerTrack = 1
BlockSize = 512
Buffers = 20
BufMemType = 1
BootPri = 0
Stacksize = 4096
Priority = 5
GlobVec = -1
DosType = 0x46415401 /*someone care to explain this line? */

After performing 'mount mymountfile' no new drives pop up, and there is no error messages. I've tried running L:fat95 (exe) and it just hangs and I've tried messydisk.device. Ive tried the card in winuae, but it mounts it every time - as a fat drive, without fat95.

* The SDcard is 64mb formatted Fat16 in Win XP.

[ptyerman]

Originally Posted by breech

Thanks for the info so far guys. Yes I did RTFM, but it was very basic and did not explain LUNs being MSB and SCSI ID as LSB - and this is the first time I've had to edit a mountlist. I was actually using a floppy mountlist in the first post.Anyway, in HDInstTools, the PCD-50B's CFcard (DH0 is LUN0, the SDcard is LUN3

so I tried it using a modified version of ptyerman's mountlist:

FileSystem = l:fat95
Device = scsi.device /* PCD-50B is a SCSI device*/
Unit = 30
Flags = 0
LowCyl = 0
HighCyl = 0
Surfaces = 1
BlocksPerTrack = 1
BlockSize = 512
Buffers = 20
BufMemType = 1
BootPri = 0
Stacksize = 4096
Priority = 5
GlobVec = -1
DosType = 0x46415401 /*someone care to explain this line? */

After performing 'mount mymountfile' no new drives pop up, and there is no error messages. I've tried running L:fat95 (exe) and it just hangs and I've tried messydisk.device. Ive tried the card in winuae, but it mounts it every time - as a fat drive, without fat95.

* The SDcard is 64mb formatted Fat16 in Win XP.

O.K, so it's obviously recognizing the PCD-50B as the picture shows.
The "Device = scsi.device" line is probably correct. (i.e. just because the card reader is a scsi device doesn't mean it uses the scsi.device driver, that is dictated by the device it's connected to as my mountlist shows, I just wasn't sure which device driver the A590 uses).
The "DosType = 0x46415401" line means it is a FAT95 filesystem.
As for mounting it, put the mountfile where it will be read at boot time and any slot that has a mountlist assigned to it should be mounted at boot, (you may encounter problems otherwise). After that just insert and remove the SD or CF card as you normally would in windows. Note that, after inserting a card in the card reader it can take several seconds even on a accelerated Amiga to poll the card and recognize that it's there.

[thomas]

You should add Activate=1 to the mountlist, otherwise it won't become active before you access it the first time.

[breech]

I got it working! I tried a program on Aminet called SCSImount which listed only the CF card - as SCSI device 1, not 0.

So I edited the mountlist to device = 31, placed it in DEVS:dosdrivers - with the comment lines and last # line removed and saved the file as "FAT". I just learnt that this is only possible in WB2.0+, on older OS' you need to edit the single mountlist file in DEVS. I added Activate=1 according to Thomas' instructions.
After a reboot, nothing popped up but in shell I could access Fat: drive.

Much later, an icon appeared on WB labeled 64MB which is the name i game it in windows. Does anyone know how I can improve things from here?

[ptyerman]

Originally Posted by breech

I got it working! I tried a program on Aminet called SCSImount which listed only the CF card - as SCSI device 1, not 0.

So I edited the mountlist to device = 31, placed it in DEVS:dosdrivers - with the comment lines and last # line removed and saved the file as "FAT". I just learnt that this is only possible in WB2.0+, on older OS' you need to edit the single mountlist file in DEVS. I added Activate=1 according to Thomas' instructions.
After a reboot, nothing popped up but in shell I could access Fat: drive.

Much later, an icon appeared on WB labeled 64MB which is the name i game it in windows. Does anyone know how I can improve things from here?

I have never owned a A590 so can't comment on any peculiarities or specifics associated with it. You don't mention if you have any fast ram fitted in it but if not, adding some will speed things up. If you do have some ram fitted, then loading scsi.device in to ram at boot by using loadmodule in the startup.sequence should also speed things up quite a bit.
Also, if you can access the reader by using shell after boot then Directory Opus should access it too, that will make things easier.

[breech]

It has 2mb fast ram installed. I'll look into loadmodule, thanks.
Yep, dopus finds it fine, ive added FAT as a drive.

Is there any way to autodetect SD when being inserted, or at least show the drive icon if inserted at bootup?

[ptyerman]

Originally Posted by breech

It has 2mb fast ram installed. I'll look into loadmodule, thanks.
Yep, dopus finds it fine, ive added FAT as a drive.

Is there any way to autodetect SD when being inserted, or at least show the drive icon if inserted at bootup?

It should autodetect and show the Workbench icon as it is now. If it isn't doing so it could be a oddity of the A590, or preloading scsi.device with loadmodule might cure it.
But as I said before, even on my A1200 with a 030 and 128mb ram it can take several seconds for the drive icon to show up depending on the size of card and how many files are on it. A standard 68000 in a A500 may take ages to catch up and take a minute or more for the icon to appear.
Try adding loadmodule in startup.sequence first and see what happens.
Also, make sure you do what Thomas suggested and add ACTIVATE=1 to the card reader mountlist. If you don't add this, the drive icon may not appear unless it has been accessed first, (using Dopus or shell for example).

[breech]

I updated loadmodule in classicWB but found I don't have devs:scsi.device and don't think i've ever seen one for a500

[ptyerman]

Have a look on this page here -> http://www.nyx.net/~rdavis/AmigaHints.html

Partway down the page is a link for patched scsi.device's which will work with a A500, there is also a lot of other software and articles on there you will probably find useful.
It maybe worth you looking around for a 68010 CPU, it is a direct drop-in replacement for the A500's 68000 and will speed things up even more. Not looked lately, but I have seen them on sale not too long ago for around the 10 - 20 GBP mark.

[thomas]

Originally Posted by ptyerman

Partway down the page is a link for patched scsi.device's which will work with a A500

I doubt that you can replace the A590's driver with any of them. This will only delay the boot process.

[ptyerman]

You maybe right. It will add a soft reboot to his startup, but if it cures the problem he's bothered about it could be worth it. He has nothing to lose by trying it I suppose. I think the problem is the slowness of the A590 and A500 now more than anything.