Using a Compact Flash card on a600/a1200 PCMCIA - Page 14

pedrorq · 10 June 2014, 21:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nobby_UK

Let us see the CF0: mount-list text

How do I check that? Sorry, I'm not the most Amiga-tech-savvy person in the world

I read somewhere I should have a mountlist file in my Devs drawer, but I have none. Lots of .device files (including the aforementioned CompactFlash.device) but no mountlist

Nobby_UK · 10 June 2014, 21:48

Amiga+E (execute a command)

Type devs:dosdrivers/CD0

Or temp change the Icon from Mount to Ed

pedrorq · 10 June 2014, 23:06

Changed the icon to Ed, here's what I got: http://1drv.ms/1hMJcZz

(sorry it has to be a screenshot, but I do not yet have any other way of passing information from the A1200 to the PC)

Nobby_UK · 11 June 2014, 00:51

That looks fine.

How does the Card look on the PC ?

dabone · 11 June 2014, 03:52

I decided to try to get a cf card working again, and I had some issues also.
I've got a lexar 1gb that works fine in the pc, and in my tandy 1000sx using the xtide bios and a 16bit controller in 8bit mode.

But if it's in the amiga when it boots, I get a blank workbench screen.
(I'm running classic wb on a 1200 with a aca1230/28.)

It doesn't matter if it's formatted fat or fat32, same lockup everytime.
If I insert it after boot, hdtoolbox sees it, but I can't mount it.

So I grabbed a sandisk 2gb card instead, and it works fine, fat or fat32.

I ended up putting the 1gb in my tandy and keeping the 2gb out for the amiga.
(I only use a 250meg partition on the 8088).

Later,
dabone

pedrorq · 11 June 2014, 08:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nobby_UK

That looks fine.

How does the Card look on the PC ?

The card (and adapter) works on a PC - I tested it with an old laptop that has a PCMCIA slot.

Prepcard on the A1200 correctly shows whether I've inserted or removed the CF card. Attempting to prepare the card however throws me an error.

Vot · 11 June 2014, 10:58

Use giggledisk to make a mountlist

pedrorq · 11 June 2014, 12:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vot

Use giggledisk to make a mountlist

Since the CF card was going to be my way of getting files into the Amiga, that's not going to be easy

Nobby_UK · 11 June 2014, 20:46

Quote:

Prepcard throws me an error.

That is normal --- At least it recognized it.

This is looking like one of those 'incompatible' jobbies

fgh · 12 June 2014, 09:26

Did you copy FAT95 to L:, compactflash.device to devs: and CF0 to devs/dosdrivers?

If you type 'version compactflash.device' and 'version L:fat95' you can see if the supplied versions are recent (1.32 and 3.18). Compatibility did increase significantly.
Your a1200 can read PC floppies ( as PC0: ) if you'd like to try the latest versions.

The DF0 mixup sounds like the result of some messed up setup (or a misunderstanding) rather than 'incompatibility' IMHO. I'd like to see a screenshot of 'dir cf0:' outputting df0: files

Which other files are in devs/dosdrivers?

There is no need to use giggledisk, your CF0 mountfile looks fine.

pedrorq · 12 June 2014, 10:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nobby_UK

That is normal --- At least it recognized it.

This is looking like one of those 'incompatible' jobbies

Is it more likely to be an incompatible CF card or an incompatible CF adapter?

Quote:

Originally Posted by fgh

Did you copy FAT95 to L:, compactflash.device to devs: and CF0 to devs/dosdrivers?

If you type 'version compactflash.device' and 'version L:fat95' you can see if the supplied versions are recent (1.32 and 3.18). Compatibility did increase significantly.

Your a1200 can read PC floppies ( as PC0: ) if you'd like to try the latest versions.

l:fat95 is 3.11
compactflash.device is 1.27

Should I upgrade them? From where?

Quote:

Originally Posted by fgh

The DF0 mixup sounds like the result of some messed up setup (or a misunderstanding) rather than 'incompatibility' IMHO. I'd like to see a screenshot of 'dir cf0:' outputting df0: files

I found that one at least

I was testing with the floppy I was given with drivers, which was named "CF0". I renamed it to "CF0disk" and that problem went away

Quote:

Originally Posted by fgh

Which other files are in devs/dosdrivers?

There is no need to use giggledisk, your CF0 mountfile looks fine.

PC0, PC0.info
PC1, PC1.info
PIPE, PIPE.info

Vot · 12 June 2014, 10:22

Sorry about that didn't realise he posted a pic of the mount-list. Teach me to skim the thread not read it properly.

fgh · 12 June 2014, 10:45

Compatibility issues are usually compactflash.device vs the flash card. The many flash cards that are not 100% to standards specification are designed and tested to work on common platforms only.
So compactflash.device needs to allow for lots of non standard stuff..

16bit PCMCIA-CF adapters are very straight forward passive adapters. They are working or faulty, not 'incompatible'.

Your versions are fairly recent. If you'd like to try the latest ones you'll find them on aminet.

Pretty sure PC0/crossdos and CF0/FAT95 can live together, but you could always try removing PC0/1 from devs/dosdrivers (and reboot) to rule out any conflict.

You can also try changing the CF0 mountfile 'Flags' entry to 1 or 2.
Readme says Flags = 1 can help with software conflicts with other pcmcia equipment (wlan, ethernet, etc), and Flags = 2 can help for 'damaged or not quite officially standardized cards'.

I doubt that it helps, but you could also boot without startup-sequence, type mount cf0: and see if you can access it then.

Further troubleshooting would be to try the card+adapter in another a600/1200, try different CF cards etc.

Good luck!

pedrorq · 12 June 2014, 11:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by fgh

Compatibility issues are usually compactflash.device vs the flash card. The many flash cards that are not 100% to standards specification are designed and tested to work on common platforms only.
So compactflash.device needs to allow for lots of non standard stuff..

16bit PCMCIA-CF adapters are very straight forward passive adapters. They are working or faulty, not 'incompatible'.

Your versions are fairly recent. If you'd like to try the latest ones you'll find them on aminet.

Is this what I need? http://aminet.net/package/disk/misc/cfd.lha

I have access to a PC with floppy drive today, so I can copy the lha to a floppy and bring it home so.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fgh

Pretty sure PC0/crossdos and CF0/FAT95 can live together, but you could always try removing PC0/1 from devs/dosdrivers (and reboot) to rule out any conflict.

You can also try changing the CF0 mountfile 'Flags' entry to 1 or 2.
Readme says Flags = 1 can help with software conflicts with other pcmcia equipment (wlan, ethernet, etc), and Flags = 2 can help for 'damaged or not quite officially standardized cards'.

I doubt that it helps, but you could also boot without startup-sequence, type mount cf0: and see if you can access it then.

Will try these options as well as soon as I return home

Quote:

Originally Posted by fgh

Further troubleshooting would be to try the card+adapter in another a600/1200, try different CF cards etc.

I have an A600 at home as well but it has no HD/workbench/etc . How easy would it be to test the CF card there?

Quote:

Originally Posted by fgh

Good luck!

Thanks, I think I'll need it

If push comes to shove, is there a list of "CF compatible cards" somewhere out there?

fgh · 12 June 2014, 15:10

That's the one. You could catch the latest fat95 as well.

Remember that only DD floppies (720kb) work on the a1200. If you only have HD floppies you can tape over the HD window (Not the write protect window) and reformat as 720kb on the pc.

As for your a600, it's a bit of work without a harddrive.. Getting a different CF card to test is probably easier.

A list of compatible cards is difficult, because the cards change internals all the time, so seemingly identical cards can be different below the sticker.
Sandisk cards seem to be popular. Some Kingston cards usually do not work on pcmcia.

Toni Wilen · 12 June 2014, 17:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by pedrorq

Prepcard on the A1200 correctly shows whether I've inserted or removed the CF card. Attempting to prepare the card however throws me an error.

It is normal. Prepcard only works with PCMCIA SRAM cards.

ptyerman · 12 June 2014, 22:22

I can confirm that earlier versions of compactflash.device won't recognize a lot of compact flash cards. A lot of my problems with compact flash cards went away after I put the latest compactflash.device in devs, overwriting the old one. Cards that didn't work with the earlier version work fine with the later version.

pedrorq · 13 June 2014, 02:22

First preliminary tests with new drivers show no changes, unfortunately

Tomorrow will try the other suggestions by fgh

Contacted seller, he suggests PCMCIA port pins may be damaged. How likely is that? Surely if prepcard recognizes when a card is inserted or removed, means the PCMCIA port and the adapter are working correctly?

fgh · 13 June 2014, 10:21

Not sure. The fact that it looks like a sandisk card and that you bought it as a kit for amiga use increase the likelihood. But that it shows up in prepcard reduce it

There certainly are cards that don't work with compactflash.device. I have a kingston 266x that produces the same 'no disk in drive' status. Would be lousy to sell such a 'kit' though.

Trying the same card+adapter in the A600 would tell you more. As would trying different CF cards on the A1200.

You can make a bootable floppy with cfd and fat95 on it to try.
(or get a super cheap CF or SD adapter and some chip and fast ram and have another super WHDLoad machine)

pedrorq · 13 June 2014, 11:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by fgh

Not sure. The fact that it looks like a sandisk card and that you bought it as a kit for amiga use increase the likelihood. But that it shows up in prepcard reduce it

I've checked the pins and everything seems "straight" and OK. Unless it's a controller of sorts that isn't working?!

Quote:

Originally Posted by fgh

There certainly are cards that don't work with compactflash.device. I have a kingston 266x that produces the same 'no disk in drive' status. Would be lousy to sell such a 'kit' though.

I haven't yet gotten the seller to confirm he tested this on an Amiga. In the meantime I've taken a few photos of the card, nothing at it screams "fake" so it does seem like a regular, good quality SanDisk that surely I'm not the only one using

http://imgur.com/a/VthP6

Will probably go buy a new CF card today, just for "kicks"

Quote:

Originally Posted by fgh

Trying the same card+adapter in the A600 would tell you more. As would trying different CF cards on the A1200.

You can make a bootable floppy with cfd and fat95 on it to try.

How easy would this be to make? If you could point me to some instructions I'd really appreciate it

Quote:

Originally Posted by fgh

(or get a super cheap CF or SD adapter and some chip and fast ram and have another super WHDLoad machine)

Ohhhh I'm tempted already

That SD adapter looks like a great plan, I have quite a few SD cards lying around. Why chip and fast ram btw, not just one or the other?

But I got time for that after I sort the issue with this card

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10 June 2014, 21:48	#262
Nobby_UK Registered User Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Liverpool Posts: 2,595	Amiga+E (execute a command) Type devs:dosdrivers/CD0 Or temp change the Icon from Mount to Ed

10 June 2014, 23:06	#263
pedrorq Registered User Join Date: May 2014 Location: Ireland Posts: 25	Changed the icon to Ed, here's what I got: http://1drv.ms/1hMJcZz (sorry it has to be a screenshot, but I do not yet have any other way of passing information from the A1200 to the PC)

11 June 2014, 00:51	#264
Nobby_UK Registered User Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Liverpool Posts: 2,595	That looks fine. How does the Card look on the PC ?

11 June 2014, 03:52	#265
dabone Registered User Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Chattanooga TN, USA Posts: 109	I decided to try to get a cf card working again, and I had some issues also. I've got a lexar 1gb that works fine in the pc, and in my tandy 1000sx using the xtide bios and a 16bit controller in 8bit mode. But if it's in the amiga when it boots, I get a blank workbench screen. (I'm running classic wb on a 1200 with a aca1230/28.) It doesn't matter if it's formatted fat or fat32, same lockup everytime. If I insert it after boot, hdtoolbox sees it, but I can't mount it. So I grabbed a sandisk 2gb card instead, and it works fine, fat or fat32. I ended up putting the 1gb in my tandy and keeping the 2gb out for the amiga. (I only use a 250meg partition on the 8088). Later, dabone

11 June 2014, 10:58	#267
Vot Registered User Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Australia Posts: 651	Use giggledisk to make a mountlist

12 June 2014, 09:26	#270
fgh Registered User Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Norway Posts: 817	Did you copy FAT95 to L:, compactflash.device to devs: and CF0 to devs/dosdrivers? If you type 'version compactflash.device' and 'version L:fat95' you can see if the supplied versions are recent (1.32 and 3.18). Compatibility did increase significantly. Your a1200 can read PC floppies ( as PC0: ) if you'd like to try the latest versions. The DF0 mixup sounds like the result of some messed up setup (or a misunderstanding) rather than 'incompatibility' IMHO. I'd like to see a screenshot of 'dir cf0:' outputting df0: files Which other files are in devs/dosdrivers? There is no need to use giggledisk, your CF0 mountfile looks fine.

12 June 2014, 10:22	#272
Vot Registered User Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Australia Posts: 651	Sorry about that didn't realise he posted a pic of the mount-list. Teach me to skim the thread not read it properly.

12 June 2014, 10:45	#273
fgh Registered User Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Norway Posts: 817	Compatibility issues are usually compactflash.device vs the flash card. The many flash cards that are not 100% to standards specification are designed and tested to work on common platforms only. So compactflash.device needs to allow for lots of non standard stuff.. 16bit PCMCIA-CF adapters are very straight forward passive adapters. They are working or faulty, not 'incompatible'. Your versions are fairly recent. If you'd like to try the latest ones you'll find them on aminet. Pretty sure PC0/crossdos and CF0/FAT95 can live together, but you could always try removing PC0/1 from devs/dosdrivers (and reboot) to rule out any conflict. You can also try changing the CF0 mountfile 'Flags' entry to 1 or 2. Readme says Flags = 1 can help with software conflicts with other pcmcia equipment (wlan, ethernet, etc), and Flags = 2 can help for 'damaged or not quite officially standardized cards'. I doubt that it helps, but you could also boot without startup-sequence, type mount cf0: and see if you can access it then. Further troubleshooting would be to try the card+adapter in another a600/1200, try different CF cards etc. Good luck!

12 June 2014, 15:10	#275
fgh Registered User Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Norway Posts: 817	That's the one. You could catch the latest fat95 as well. Remember that only DD floppies (720kb) work on the a1200. If you only have HD floppies you can tape over the HD window (Not the write protect window) and reformat as 720kb on the pc. As for your a600, it's a bit of work without a harddrive.. Getting a different CF card to test is probably easier. A list of compatible cards is difficult, because the cards change internals all the time, so seemingly identical cards can be different below the sticker. Sandisk cards seem to be popular. Some Kingston cards usually do not work on pcmcia.

12 June 2014, 22:22	#277
ptyerman Registered User Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Worksop/UK Age: 59 Posts: 1,328	I can confirm that earlier versions of compactflash.device won't recognize a lot of compact flash cards. A lot of my problems with compact flash cards went away after I put the latest compactflash.device in devs, overwriting the old one. Cards that didn't work with the earlier version work fine with the later version.

13 June 2014, 02:22	#278
pedrorq Registered User Join Date: May 2014 Location: Ireland Posts: 25	First preliminary tests with new drivers show no changes, unfortunately Tomorrow will try the other suggestions by fgh Contacted seller, he suggests PCMCIA port pins may be damaged. How likely is that? Surely if prepcard recognizes when a card is inserted or removed, means the PCMCIA port and the adapter are working correctly?

13 June 2014, 10:21	#279
fgh Registered User Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Norway Posts: 817	Not sure. The fact that it looks like a sandisk card and that you bought it as a kit for amiga use increase the likelihood. But that it shows up in prepcard reduce it There certainly are cards that don't work with compactflash.device. I have a kingston 266x that produces the same 'no disk in drive' status. Would be lousy to sell such a 'kit' though. Trying the same card+adapter in the A600 would tell you more. As would trying different CF cards on the A1200. You can make a bootable floppy with cfd and fat95 on it to try. (or get a super cheap CF or SD adapter and some chip and fast ram and have another super WHDLoad machine)

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