Expansion board for the CD32

[E-Penguin]

You could move onto the CD32/Akiko to IDE converter now.

Chop chop, there's a good man.

[alexh]

Originally Posted by E-Penguin

You could move onto the CD32/Akiko to IDE converter now.

What is that? To allow the use of IDE CD drives instead of the CD32 CD loader?

[E-Penguin]

I'm mostly being silly, but yes, the CD32 laser modules are notoriously fickle and won't last forever - if we could plug in an off-the-shelf IDE cd drive wouldn't that be lovely?

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by E-Penguin

if we could plug in an off-the-shelf IDE cd drive wouldn't that be lovely?

Can't you just do that with an IDE drive anyway? A1200 users with IDE drives got that CD32 emulation stuff, but that was to emulate Akiko, right? Did it do anything else?

The best goal would be if CD32Load ever manages to get CD audio support, then optical drives begone! All optical drives are fickle.

[plasmab]

Originally Posted by Akira

Can't you just do that with an IDE drive anyway? A1200 users with IDE drives got that CD32 emulation stuff, but that was to emulate Akiko, right? Did it do anything else?

The best goal would be if CD32Load ever manages to get CD audio support, then optical drives begone! All optical drives are fickle.

I think this is a software issue really. If the cd.device that drives the CD32 were replaced with one that looks on the IDE chain you could seemlessly replace the CD32 drive. *IF* my assumptions of how this work are correct. So it would mean a hardware rom dropped into one of the expansion rom locations probably.

[th4t1guy]

Originally Posted by Akira

Can't you just do that with an IDE drive anyway? A1200 users with IDE drives got that CD32 emulation stuff, but that was to emulate Akiko, right? Did it do anything else?

The best goal would be if CD32Load ever manages to get CD audio support, then optical drives begone! All optical drives are fickle.

I've never tried it, but I would doubt that it would "just work". I believe the custom CD drive accesses the device and cdfs through the rom (feel free to correct me, I'm no expert on this stuff), whereas through IDE you may need to install something like ASIMcdfs.

Athough it seems that the sx32 pro does do DMA for IDE through Akiko.

[plasmab]

Originally Posted by eXeler0

@plasma & @kipper2k
We are lucky that we live among Wizards like you in this day and age ;-) Thanks for the interesting work and effort.
As for the need to modify stuff to better suite one's needs - that is and always will be the case. No reason to get upset, one solution will be perfect for some, other's will prefer it different. It's not a big deal and should not be taken personally. It doesn't mean anything is wrong with a particular design, just that there's room for a few different versions.

Thanx again for your work and effort.

I agree. And in general im fine with modifcations. Its just the immediate complete rewrite that bugs me.... let me see if i can explain....

I want people to enjoy my creations, i want them to have the freedom to fix issues but I also want feedback on my designs and decisions and to be able to use them a part of a CV/Reference. I don't think its too much to ask in return. So if the board is completely re-layed out immediately then there is no feedback.. i cant even point to things and say..."yeah i screwed this up a and fixed it in rev2". Or this trace was "ringing like a church bell" when i went to EMC testing.

Nobody has done anything wrong (with the exception of one person who has taken my copyright notice off the TF530 board.. i am very upset about that) but if people are so willing to reroute the boards then why didnt they make them years ago?? Routing is by far the hardest part.

EDIT: There is also an element of people will come crying to me if they cant get it to work.

[jotd]

A lot of games use custom IDE access, not cd.device. CD32load uses a custom CD loader which doesn't / cannot use the OS for various reasons.

WHDload needs a lot of memory. So IF cd.device can be rerouted to IDE and the machine gets a lot of fast memory, then it's worth. Just changing the CD device isn't worth (unless hardware compatibility with custom IDE registers are preserved)

[Amiga1992]

A custom ROM or loading of a ROM module sounds like a good idea if we can do things like read from IDE A bin/cue with CDDA and all.

[plasmab]

Main PC has just died. May be some time before i am up and running again

[alenppc]

You seem to be having lots of PC problems lately, @plasmab.

Well, I decided to become an early adopter of your CD32 board. Of course, "early" is a very relative term considering how long the shipping from China takes...

[plasmab]

Originally Posted by alenppc

You seem to be having lots of PC problems lately, @plasmab.

Well, I decided to become an early adopter of your CD32 board. Of course, "early" is a very relative term considering how long the shipping from China takes...

I will have my boards on monday. Just ordered up a new PC. This one has lasted a while to be fair and its been on almost 24/7 since 2011.

[EzdineG]

Originally Posted by plasmab

I will have my boards on monday. Just ordered up a new PC. This one has lasted a while to be fair and its been on almost 24/7 since 2011.

I too will be joining these ranks soon. I hope you're not already sick of my feedback as it is. I still need to get my hands on one of these riser boards, though.

Now to recap this CD32. I really really really don't want to deal with that part.

[plasmab]

Originally Posted by EzdineG

I too will be joining these ranks soon. I hope you're not already sick of my feedback as it is. I still need to get my hands on one of these riser boards, though.

Now to recap this CD32. I really really really don't want to deal with that part.

Your feedback has been good. I've got some of ISSI TF530 ram to experiment with.

[EzdineG]

Originally Posted by plasmab

Your feedback has been good. I've got some of ISSI TF530 ram to experiment with.

Lets hope I didn't just get a bad batch and waste hours of both of our time.

Are you going to eBay any spare 328 boards from your Rev 1 order? I really don't need 10 and DirtyPCB's takes like 2 months to get boards to me. I wonder if that $5 deal can be repeated from that other vendor. [I guess my wife could use an account.]

[plasmab]

Originally Posted by EzdineG

Lets hope I didn't just get a bad batch and waste hours of both of our time.

Are you going to eBay any spare 328 boards from your Rev 1 order? I really don't need 10 and DirtyPCB's takes like 2 months to get boards to me. I wonder if that $5 deal can be repeated from that other vendor. [I guess my wife could use an account.]

I'll be doing the same as I do with the TF530.. i'll put what i have on ebay then i'll use the proceeds to buy another batch when they reach 5 left. £7+shipping on the 328. The batch was more expensive because it was 120mm x 90mm. Howerver i think i could maybe make a version that only uses the digital part of the cd32 connector and shave 2cm off it in future.

[spudje]

Originally Posted by Akira

A custom ROM or loading of a ROM module sounds like a good idea if we can do things like read from IDE A bin/cue with CDDA and all.

Yes. ideally we would want a CDROM alternative to a gotek. Hook up a device to the CD32 CDROM connector with a USB port.Put in a USB device with bin/cue images (including CDaudio) and run from there.

But in the mean time I would love to buy a TF328. Were there already offers listed somewhere?

[Amiga1992]

[QUOTE=spudje;1175836]Yes. ideally we would want a CDROM alternative to a gotek. Hook up a device to the CD32 CDROM connector with a USB port.Put in a USB device with bin/cue images (including CDaudio) and run from there.
But that sounds a lot more complex, emulating a whole drive system, when you can maybe just redirect calls on a ROM routine and it would be easier.
Also needs special hardware, if you can just change a module, you need nothing but maybe an EPROM if you want to make a custom Kickstart.
I digress anyway!

But in the mean time I would love to buy a TF328. Were there already offers listed somewhere?

No, as far as I know, the only built unit(s) is the one plasmab was playing with before in his tests. Nobody else has received their printed PCBs yet.

Also do not forget, there's Wicher CD32 incoming as well!

[dalek]

Originally Posted by plasmab

... Routing is by far the hardest part.
...

Actually I think you are selling yourself short here - I think the logic in firmware that you have created for us are by far the "hardest" parts that have prevented many projects from getting beyond the idea stage.

I think people reroute your boards because that is the "easy" part - but I don't think we have seen any alternative firmwares yet?

[plasmab]

Originally Posted by dalek

Actually I think you are selling yourself short here - I think the logic in firmware that you have created for us are by far the "hardest" parts that have prevented many projects from getting beyond the idea stage.

I think people reroute your boards because that is the "easy" part - but I don't think we have seen any alternative firmwares yet?

That's trivial stuff except for the clock domain cross stuff in the A500 boards. The firmware takes minutes for me. The boards take weeks.

But either way I'm not content with my work being brushed aside. I feel like I'm the mug that takes all the risk and expense to prove something worthy then others dive in moaning and complaining and discard most of the work.

Unlikely to open source again. Doesn't mean I'll stop making boards though.


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