RapidRoad USB starts shipping oct-20-2014

[decnet]

I know this is probably a bit of a random question and most people wouldn't want or need to add two USB controllers to the same machine but out of interest if you already have a Deneb and an X-Surf, would you be able to add the RapidRoad to the X-Surf (really just to enable the USB ports on it) and have both RapidRoad and the Deneb working at the same time under Poseidon?

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by decnet

I know this is probably a bit of a random question and most people wouldn't want or need to add two USB controllers to the same machine but out of interest if you already have a Deneb and an X-Surf, would you be able to add the RapidRoad to the X-Surf (really just to enable the USB ports on it) and have both RapidRoad and the Deneb working at the same time under Poseidon?

Jens would have to say for sure but I understand you can use more then one USB controller with Poseiden.

For example I had a Deneb in my A4000T with Mediator and I was able to also add a SpiderUSB. Unfortunately I never got the Spider working (with or without the Deneb) but that's another story!

[klx300r]

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

@Jens you forgot ACA1000 & 2000!

+1, My A1000 is anxiously awaiting the ACA1000 !

[decnet]

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

Jens would have to say for sure but I understand you can use more then one USB controller with Poseiden.

For example I had a Deneb in my A4000T with Mediator and I was able to also add a SpiderUSB. Unfortunately I never got the Spider working (with or without the Deneb) but that's another story!

Thanks for the info, that sounds promising then. I wonder if having two USB controllers would use more memory than one.

[Riempie]

I'm convinced! Just made an order Jens! Thx. I hope you received my payment.

[Gilloo]

Originally Posted by jbenam

I'm pretty sure gilloo (the ANAIIS dev, he's a member on here) would love to update it to work with the RapidRoad - that's if he ends buying one!

I don't know if it's a good idea to make it work on a mere 68000.
With a A2000 and Highway, the max rate for usbscsi.device is about 70kB/s (for Subway 60kB/s)
It is better than a floppy disk (~20kB/s), but too slow for an intensive work with harddisks.

Originally Posted by jbenam

Programming info is open and online since a few months already:
http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/USB_module

Thanks Jens for sharing your documentations, I don't know if I can start a module for ANAIIS, but all challenges are good for mental health

[dirkies]

ordered on Sunday eve, delivered this morning at home, registered package!
(Xsurf100, Rapidroad and out of pure curiosity a Lyra2)

Flawless service of Jens. Well packaged.
And also my way of supporting him for all the work he does for Amiga, after 20 years of being gone off the market!

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resi...nt=photo%2cjpg

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resi...nt=photo%2cjpg

Now I really need to get my A4000 reassembled to test this out! Also means I won't need my Highway+Norway Z2 USB+ethernet board anymore! Will put it on sale soon once the Xsurf is happily installed.

[fitzsteve]

You have my envy dirkies

[demolition]

Same here, ordered this weekend, arrived this morning, so I know what to do tonight..

[ancalimon]

Originally Posted by demolition

Same here, ordered this weekend, arrived this morning, so I know what to do tonight..

Don't forget telling us how it performs

[radzik]

Is it OS4 friendly?

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by radzik

Is it OS4 friendly?

Well the USB stack is, but I highly doubt Jens has tested it on OS4.x

[Schoenfeld]

Originally Posted by radzik

Is it OS4 friendly?

There's a guy on a1k.org who initially posted that it doesn't work, then edited his post some time later and reported that it works.

I cannot confirm any of this, as I don't have any PPC and related operating systems. Naturally, I can never guarantee RapidRoad to work in a PPC setup.

Jens

[radzik]

Hmm... I bought it. I will try if this is working or not. No risk no fun.

[demolition]

Originally Posted by ancalimon

Don't forget telling us how it performs

Just spent some hours installing and testing it, so here's a little info on my status. I managed to break the thread on one of the plastic bolts/nuts as I was connecting the ground cable to the Amiga, so be careful pulling on that cable since the thread holding it cannot handle very much.

Otherwise installation was quite straight-forward and it sits nicely behind the floppy without any risk of shorting. Due to the amount of cables connected to it, it is not likely to move anywhere.

Currently I just have the USB sockets dangling out the back so will need to find some nice solution for that (or wait for Jens' solution if he makes a back plate which can hold the Indivision DVI connector and 1/2 USB ports, which would be very nice).

Software installation was easy and worked out of the box. I tried connecting various devices and most of them worked:

Logitech K750 wireless USB keyboard -> Worked
Logitech MX518 USB mouse -> Worked
2 USB memory sticks -> Worked
USB-SATA adapter with SATA HDD -> No device detected
Digitech RPx400 guitar effects board -> Partly
Cheap USB sound card -> Detected and could produce noise

I know that the compatiblity has to do with Poseidon and not the RapidRoad hardware.

For the Digitech guitar board that was mostly for fun. It presents 1x audio-out and 2x audio-in devices, 1x MIDI-in and 1xMIDI-out. All these devices were detected in Poseidon, however I could not play AHI audio through it. I tried instead with a cheap USB audio adapter and managed to start AHI playback, however it was mostly interrupted noise.. I should probably get a bigger CPU if I expect to play back MP3 through USB audio, even at low quality.

One note towards using the MX518 mouse - it was actually smoother and had less latency than the optical PS/2 mouse I normally use through an Amiga mouse adapter.

I have one issue here and that is how to set Poseidon as offline and online from the command-line? Most(all?) WHDload games crash when I start them if Poseidon is online. If I go to Trident (the config tool) and select offline first, then there is no problem. I have not been able to find info on how to do this automatically from the command-line, but surely someone else must have used this?

[Retrofan]

There are a couple of icon-scripts to connect and disconnect it, I lost them but Mfilos has to have them still.

Edit: Well it has taked a minute to find them: http://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=789024&postcount=2

[bubbob42]

Look into your scripts-folder (s. There you will find WHDLoad.startup and .cleanup - open them with an editor and uncomment the two lines with "psdstackloader".

No need to trigger extra icons, WHDload will handle this all by itself.

[demolition]

Originally Posted by bubbob42

Look into your scripts-folder (s. There you will find WHDLoad.startup and .cleanup - open them with an editor and uncomment the two lines with "psdstackloader".

Thanks, I knew I needed to add some commands to those files, but did not check what was already in there. Simply uncommenting those lines solved the problem.

[CodyJarrett]

My RapidRoad arrived yesterday and the installation was very straightforward. It and Poseidon are amazing and the mice, keyboard and USB sticks that I tried just work!

Would I be correct in saying that it's not possible to use any USB devices with WHDLoad and that only OS friendly games like Colonization will work?

In that case if I use a USB mouse, keyboard and joypad in Workbench do I still need to keep a mouse and joystick plugged into the standard ports and use the normal Amiga keyboard for WHDLoad gaming?

[fitzsteve]

That's correct cody, you can only use usb for os friendly stuff, for example of the game is hd installable it should work but you must disable the USB stack for whdload.