A1200 + Blizzard 1260 + Blizzard SCSI + ACard + CF test setup

[Photon]

Oh, a typo.

And I'm pretty sure all the drivers for my ancient expansions will fail utterly on any kick that wasn't available at the time

OK, timed it. 1.9 MB/s in Sysinfo 3.24 with 48 buffers.

How many buffers in your RDB Toni?

And Jope/Toni, can I make Sysinfo see/use more buffers without trashing contents of DH0:?

[rkauer]

Buffers, device name and maxtransfer values don't trash the contents of the drive.

Changing the size or the file system will.

1.9Mb/s? SFS on original IDE on mine HD-equipped 1200/030 do more!?!?

[Photon]

rkauer, how many buffers in the rdb?

Diskmaster 2.5.something invalidated my CF. (Not 0x0 compatible.) Reformatted and restored from backup.

Suggestions for a well coded compatible file manager? Must be tested with Kick 2.0 and 040 if I am to use it. This utterly ruined my saturday evening, sorry if I sound rude. I had all these plans for making the perfect proper installation, but no. Probably c devs are to blame. Don't ever let them write to your disk. :P

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by Photon

rkauer, how many buffers in the rdb?

Diskmaster 2.5.something invalidated my CF. (Not 0x0 compatible.) Reformatted and restored from backup.

I don't see how file utilities can cause it except if Trumpcard's device driver has problems with "large" drives. (which is quite normal for "old" drivers, large being >= 1G)

Reformat, fill both partitions with data, reboot, confirm that all files are still intact. (don't ask how to do it, but I don't see any other easy way to test this configuration)

OK, timed it. 1.9 MB/s in Sysinfo 3.24 with 48 buffers.

Thats really slow. Maybe thats the best it can do because apparently Trumpcard is using CPU to transfer data, not DMA..

But try something like 100 buffers first.

EDIT: maybe someone should split this thread

[Photon]

I would addbuffers if it affected Sysinfo in any way. Still says 48 buffers and no change in speed. I've never heard of a SCSI controller that doesn't use DMA, and I am sure mine does. Maxtransfer is highest (Trumpcard recommended default) and I think the 1.9MB/s is largely a reflection of the number of buffers.

Still waiting to know what number of buffers you had in Sysinfo when you got 7.5MB/s Toni...

Actually, I'm quite satisfied with 1.9 MB/s, it's very zippy compared to the GVP which was ass slow. I reformatted and restored the CF contents yesterday, and it has worked since then.

Might have been something wrong in the startup-sequence, since Workbench hung as soon as you opened a folder. (I'm still not sure whether to use WB2.05 SetPatch or the SetPatchPPS provided with the Trumpcard... using the latter, since it clearly echoes what it does (turns off blitter interrupts etc)

But now Workbench works fine and everything looks good, I am about to try out WHDload...

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by Photon

Still waiting to know what number of buffers you had in Sysinfo when you got 7.5MB/s Toni...

100

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by Photon

I've never heard of a SCSI controller that doesn't use DMA, and I am sure mine does.

Trumpcard 500/2000 PCB images I found only show some glue logic chips, boot rom and SCSI chip. No DMA controller chip -> I am quite sure it is non-DMA.

Non-DMA SCSI controllers aren't so rare, Supra's SCSI controllers are also non-DMA.

EDIT: Non-DMA may be better choice for your configuration because A500 side slot/Zorro2 devices can't DMA to 32-bit RAM (which your accelerator usually have) causing huge slowdown (DMA to _CHIP_ ram, use CPU to copy from chip ram to fast -> megaslow)

[Paul_s]

Originally Posted by musashi5150

And a glipse of the fingers that make WinUAE!

Legend has it Toni's hands are insured for $5 billion dollars EACH

[Photon]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

Trumpcard 500/2000 PCB images I found only show some glue logic chips, boot rom and SCSI chip. No DMA controller chip -> I am quite sure it is non-DMA.

Non-DMA SCSI controllers aren't so rare, Supra's SCSI controllers are also non-DMA.

EDIT: Non-DMA may be better choice for your configuration because A500 side slot/Zorro2 devices can't DMA to 32-bit RAM (which your accelerator usually have) causing huge slowdown (DMA to _CHIP_ ram, use CPU to copy from chip ram to fast -> megaslow)

Yeah, I went through a few harddisk interfaces to this imo best one for A500.

Trouble with files seemed to be an issue with the driver 68040 compatibility vs this (agreedly weird) solution. I only got problems in 68040 mode. The bootdisk I used before had no problem with Trumpcard+SCSI Zip Drive.

I used the latest TC Utilities I have, 2.5, and did everything from scratch, and it's worked fine for 2 days. With file managers too.

I have 1 nag left with my bootdisk, but so as not to ruin Toni's thread, please go here if you know assigns etc. http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?p=475749#post475749

[Calgor]

Toni, so did you manage to fit it all in the desktop case? IT would be easier I think if you got rid of the RF shield.

For supplying the power to the Acard and the CF-IDE adapter, from where inside the case did you supply the power (if you have closed the case by now that is).

Anyone know where to get a power cable that can utilise the internal A1200 floppy power connector on the motherboard? My idea is to have a power splitter that goes to the floppy drive as well as to any other components that need a floppy power connector. If it can fit, this would be to 2xAcard, 44 pin 2.5inch hard drive, and CF-IDE adapter. I have not seen any "inverse" floppy power connectors anywhere.

Would there also be a way to supply power to a 44pin hard drive from the internal IDE connector while using the SCSI Kit for the data?

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by Calgor

Toni, so did you manage to fit it all in the desktop case? IT would be easier I think if you got rid of the RF shield.

Yeah, it fits after I removed the shield. (photos later..)

For supplying the power to the Acard and the CF-IDE adapter, from where inside the case did you supply the power (if you have closed the case by now that is).

I had 3.5" HD power connector soldered to floppy power connector (previously I had 3.5" IDE HD). Connected it to standard 2xfloppy power cable splitter.

Anyone know where to get a power cable that can utilise the internal A1200 floppy power connector on the motherboard? My idea is to have a power

I have made my own power adapters if I can't find ready-build ones.

Would there also be a way to supply power to a 44pin hard drive from the internal IDE connector while using the SCSI Kit for the data?

As long as you have good enough power supply

[Calgor]

Toni,

I have now connected the blizzard scsi kit on blizz mkiv 030/50 to one of the acard scsi-ide AEC-7720U adapters with a 44pin 160GB hard drive, and it is working, but I only get 4MB/s in sysinfo and scsispeed. How did you manage to get 7.5MB/s (do you have the same accelerator)? That is more what I expected.

Also I think I heard you updated the firmware on the adapter, how did you do that? What version is yours? Mine says on the sticker it is firmware 3.75 which is pretty old. My IOMega USB-SCSI adapter does not seem to pick the drive up properly under WinXP on my laptop, so probably the SCSI Firmware Update utility cannot find the Acard adatper, or maybe i need a special scsi card?

[DDNI]

are you running in asynchronous or synchronous mode?

[Toni Wilen]

Async was 3.5M/s in my tests and 7M/s in sync mode. There is utility that comes with Blizzard SCSI utility disk that can be used to change the mode.

I used ancient Adaptec PCI SCSI card to update it latest version.

(I still need to upload those photos..)

[Calgor]

Thanks for the tips, it was in asynch mode. Setting it to also have 15 bytes for handshake yields 8.5MB/s. 16 bytes does not get saved, UnitControl changes it to 15 bytes for some reason.

The hard thing will be fitting it in the case, I need a 40pin male-female IDE cable for that, where do I get one of those? I think I saw a male-male 40pin coupler on ebay so I suppose I could use that with a normal IDE 40 pin cable.

[Calgor]

I managed to get a setup similar to the whole point of this thread, to put an Acard 7720U + IDE-SD adapter on the chain with a 16GB SDHC and it's running beautifully. When I put the 2nd device on the scsi chain, my speeds went down to around 7.5MB/s on the hard disk, not sure if it was something else or the extra SCSI device.

However, I am having a problem getting UnitControl to save its Sychronous speed (I want 10MB/s not 7MB/s setting) and handshake size (I want 15bytes not 8bytes). ScsiConfig tool saves to the RDB successfully, but UnitControl v2.17 loses its settings on cold boot. Any ideas on how to save these settings? Could be that the higher speeds sometimes cause lockups, so maybe safer slower, but still want to know how to save these.

[zipper]

UnitControl line to user-startup?

[Calgor]

@zipper

I had looked at the usage of the command with that in mind, but I could not see the options relating to what I wanted to set in my post above. Can you tell me which ones they are?

[Calgor]

So anyone know how to save the Synchronous speed and Handshake size that can be set in the SCSIConfig tool? Or failing that, how it can be set in the Startup-Sequence?

[Calgor]

Found the command needed in startup-sequence:

UnitControl device=1230scsi.device unit=0 period=10 offset=16

With this setting it is up to around 8.5MB/s also with Relesection on (offset is forced down to 15), just a touch faster than the FastATA Mk-III.

But the jury is still out on data transfer errors.