A600: CF in IDE, SRAM card in PCMCIA... how to add a 'to PC transfer card'?

[Photon]

It's an open-ended question, I'll take any ideas.

Problem: want to copy files to/from PC, IDE and PCMCIA occupied.

Wanted solution: something to stick in my Windows laptop and copy files from/to - without having to turn off the A600. (Otherwise the CF card would work.) This is both for ease of transfer and regular backups / email files to people etc.

Mounting and/or running a program to transfer is okay, but it must work in CLI.

Are there IDE "splitters" that have no problems? If so, then I can just get that and an IDE-SD adapter and the problem is solved

If I could somehow add fastram internally or "share" the PCMCIA and have the SRAM card internally, the problem is also solved :P

Maybe I had bad luck, but the one I tried gave corruption errors as soon as a second unit was attached, there was no way to jumper [Edit] the drives to work.

If not, all other ideas are welcome!

ps. A600 rig in specs, I have chipmem in trapdoor, an accelerator, and no internal floppy (if internal space is relevant, I mean...)

[rkauer]

Hombre, perhaps? You need to have a serial port on your laptop.

[alexh]

Originally Posted by Photon

I can just get that and an IDE-SD adapter and the problem is solved

AFAIK there are no IDE-SD adapters which support hot-plug on Amiga.

Originally Posted by Photon

ps. A600 rig in specs, I have chipmem in trapdoor, an accelerator, and no internal floppy

If you have an accelerator then surely you already have fastram? Why bother with PCMCIA SRAM? Is it for the odd occasions where you want to revert to 68000 mode? Surely you just swap at that point? And with no floppy drive what use would 68000 mode be?

[Photon]

Originally Posted by alexh

AFAIK there are no IDE-SD adapters which support hot-plug on Amiga.


If you have an accelerator then surely you already have fastram?

Do you know any accelerator that has its 32-bit ram available when switched to 68000 mode?

Originally Posted by alexh

Why bother with PCMCIA SRAM? Is it for the odd occasions where you want to revert to 68000 mode? Surely you just swap at that point? And with no floppy drive what use would 68000 mode be?

Asking "why do you want to do that??" is like telling people how they should do things, that usually isn't popular. I'm trying to make a working solution, suggest something that reaches my goal then.



Suffice to say that fastram in 68000 mode allows me to test code I write for my target platform, A500 512k/512k. The accelerator is mainly there for faster assembly of larger projects, like the one I'm coding now.

If I need to turn off the Amiga (and even swap PCMCIA-cards) and reboot and start programs every time I needed to transfer a file, I'd be extremely hindered. I'm sure you can see that that wouldn't be a good solution.


Regarding hot-plugging SD it worked fine when I had my french SD-IDE adapter, I don't remember if I had to mount/unmount, but that's a price I'll pay. Sadly I sold it long ago :P

Will an SD-IDE adapter connected via a multiport IDE interface work without corrupting the disks? If so, that's a solution.

Originally Posted by rkauer

Hombre, perhaps? You need to have a serial port on your laptop.

Serial occurred to me right after posting, but I'm a bit skeptical about it for two reasons; 1) I'd like to have the backup-unit available always, ie. just copy a file and it's safe. And then the laptop+cable+programs have to be hooked up and running all the time. A card is much better. and 2) I'm allergic to non-permanently cables attached to Amiga ports... it's just a matter of time before you're statically charged and zap one of the CIAs...

[thomas]

Why do you need SRAM when your target is A500 with 1MB RAM? A 1MB trapdoor expansion should be sufficient for that. Then the PCMCIA becomes free for network or CF cards.

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by Photon

Do you know any accelerator that has its 32-bit ram available when switched to 68000 mode?

I don't know of one. The Apollo 630 does not have a disable function at all and the Viper/M-TEC 630's have only 24bit Ram.

My Apollo 620 which also has 24bit Ram has a disable function seperate to Ram, I'd have to check if the Fast Ram is still available after disable the 020 though.

Will have a look at that later. In theory it should be possible for me to boot into 68k workbench with 4mb Fast Ram and 020 disabled ensuring PCMCIA comnpatibilty from the Jumpers I have available.

Steve.

[Photon]

Originally Posted by thomas

Why do you need SRAM when your target is A500 with 1MB RAM? A 1MB trapdoor expansion should be sufficient for that. Then the PCMCIA becomes free for network or CF cards.

Yes, that's how it is now. If this were satisfactory, problem would be solved and I would have posted, would I? But I could neither test nor run (all) demos (and games) for A500 512k/512k. This is the (main) platform I must support, and so I must be able to test it on this Amiga - or bring an A500 also.

What am I? Some freak who wants an Amiga 100% compatible with the most sold platform that the most games and demos were made for?

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

I don't know of one. The Apollo 630 does not have a disable function at all and the Viper/M-TEC 630's have only 24bit Ram.

My Apollo 620 which also has 24bit Ram has a disable function seperate to Ram, I'd have to check if the Fast Ram is still available after disable the 020 though.

Will have a look at that later. In theory it should be possible for me to boot into 68k workbench with 4mb Fast Ram and 020 disabled ensuring PCMCIA comnpatibilty from the Jumpers I have available.

Steve.

You test if you like to (it won't help me since I have the accel I have), but this was only to shock Alexh with the fact that people who have accelerators occasionally use it in 68000 mode sometimes!

[rkauer]

#1 hypothesis: RAM is 8Mb (at maximum) and is mapped to Zorro2 space: FAST RAM is available to 68000 mode;

#2: (real) FAST RAM is mapped outside Zorro2 space and so is disabled when >68000 CPU is inactive (most common behaviour).

[fitzsteve]

I tested the theory in my A600, with the 020 disabled there is no Fast Ram on the Apollo 620

[Photon]

I will test the CF-IDE together with an SD-IDE controller on something like Idefix. Any tips for an SD-IDE-controller and which 'Ide splitter' to buy?