Using a Compact Flash card on a600/a1200 PCMCIA

[gizmomelb]

Hi, unfortunately your question contains the answer "it depends on the way a stock CF card is formatted" - if you format it with Windows (XP) then no MBR is created, but I've also found no sure fire way to create the MBR every time (I'm sure an older Windows 95 or 98 or even Linux OS might do it all the time).

Some cards come formatted with an MBR from the manufacturer.

[dambuster]

do I need any other software to be able to read CF's on a PCMCIA adaptor

[gizmomelb]

Originally Posted by dambuster

do I need any other software to be able to read CF's on a PCMCIA adaptor

http://www.aminet.net/package/disk/misc/fat95

http://www.aminet.net/package/disk/misc/cfd

of course getting these files onto an Amiga format floppy in the first place can be a hassle - though they're small enough to fit on a DOS formatted disk, so if you've got an A600 or A1200 you should already have crossDOS so you can read the IBM formatted disk - unpack the files and follow the installation instructions.

[mabus]

Thougs this could be of general interest...

I use a PCMCIA to CF card adapter on A1200 and a 2GB card (with cfd and fat95 from Aminet). This works great for transferring files from my laptop to the Amiga, and a *lot* faster than transferring over the network with PCMCIA network cards on the 1200 (it only has chip ram and starting Miami eats most of that!)...

[ppill]

Originally Posted by ppill

@Zetro
That's how I would do it:
Ingredients:
vdisk.device and loadmodule to make it(the device) survive a reboot (you can use it to boot from later just by assigning a higher priority than that of DF0: or accesing the boot menu and selecting it -- vdisk.device HAS to be the best RAD: replacement available, period).
compactflash.device and another device to mount a file (HDF with a pre-installed system on it) as a normal drive(can't remember its name).
fat95 filesystem.
And a moveSYS command(a little program that reassign things like libs: c: l: to another drive)

The boot process would look sth like this

booting from floppy

make the vdisk.device resident with loadmodule

mounting a RAD: like device and copying compactflash.device and the 'file.device' together with the necessary mountlists to it

reboot

if you set the boot priority in the RAD:'s mountlist to 8 it would boot of it without having to remove the floppy disk.

The startup-sequence sitting in RAD: would simply mount the CFdisk with the HDF, mount the file as a drive and issue the moveSYS command and continue to load data(libs, fonts, handlers etc.) from that file/drive.

Should work (sorry for all this being a bit chaotic but you get the idea)

I don't have the hardaware to test this though

These speculations have materialised in the form of ClassicWB packages that can be booted from HDF files sitting on a FAT formatted CF card. Check this thread for details and here for links to the files.

[A600]

Will this PCMCIA SD/MMC/SM/MS/MS Pro Card Reader work? I have some spare SD cards and that adapter would be perfect.

edit: I found this, so the 5-in-1 adapter should work, shouldn't it?

[A600]

Well, I've purchased the same Vivanco 5 in 1 PCMCIA Card for 12€ instead of the 21€ of the Amiga auction.

When I receive it, I'll post the results

[A600]

I've received the Vivanco 5 in 1 PCMCIA Card and it works!! (kudos to the german seller for the hyper fast delivery)

I've tried a 128 MB SmartMedia Card and a 16 MB SD card and both worked flawlessly on my A1200 after installing fat95 and cfd. I had to reinsert the pcmcia card a couple of times but other than that, I haven't found any problems.

I'll test the card on my A600 but I think it should work.

edit: I tried a 1GB SD card and it works!

[Zetr0]

@A600

AWSOME!!!!!! your bravery has paid off!!!!!

fantastic... this opens up a HUGE ammount of possibilites

(especially with my pocket PC mobile phone )

excelent news indeed!!!!!!!!


whats the access speed like using SD?

[A600]

Originally Posted by Zetr0

whats the access speed like using SD?

Any speed utility out there?

I'm playing some whdload games and the read speed seems good to me.

[Zetr0]

sysinfo, thats a good one...

[A600]

Sysinfo Speed Test:

Card ------------------ Speed in Bytes/Sec
1GB SD --------------- 1,432,480
16MB SD -------------- 1,422,119
128MB SM ------------ 1,435,094

[ppill]

Originally Posted by A600

I've tried a 128 MB SmartMedia Card and a 16 MB SD card and both worked flawlessly on my A1200 after installing fat95 and cfd. I had to reinsert the pcmcia card a couple of times but other than that, I haven't found any problems.

You wanna use this two utilities so you'll no longer have to reinsert the card on your A1200 (this probably happens when you reboot, right?):
CardPatch
CardReset

[A600]

Originally Posted by ppill

You wanna use this two utilities so you'll no longer have to reinsert the card on you A1200 (this probably happens when you reboot, right?):
CardPatch
CardReset

It doesn't seem to work.

The pcmcia card must be reinserted everytime you plug the SD card, otherwise it isn't recognized.

edit: I've edited CF0 and changed
Flags = 0 to Flags = 2 and now works!

[A600]

Tested and working on my A600

[ppill]

Good to hear
Now I'm tempted to get one of these...

[Zetr0]

Clearly Awsome!

[A600]

I've done more tests with the A600 and it's slow as a crawl I would say that's more more slower than a floppy.

Any advice?

Anyone tried the CF pcmcia on the A600?

edit: SysInfo Speed Test: 5,155 Bytes/Sec

[Zetr0]

On my A600, I am using the pcmcia as a port for the fast ram..... i really need to test the internal ide.

[Zetr0]

also the chipmem slows it down, a bit of fast ram goes a very long way with a 68000 chip