Uses for SCSI on my A1200

[MrClump]

My seemingly never ending quest to empty my bank account by purchasing yet more Amiga kit continues.

My 1200 accelerator (Blizzard 1230) is complete with the SCSI board and the cable to take a port out to the expansion port at the rear of the case. I initially removed it thinking it would not be useful, but I'm now wondering what I could use it for.

Initially I'm thinking a CD-ROM drive might be nice, but would any old drive do or do I need to look for something specific? Would that then allow me to load CD32 games?

Is there something more unusual I could use it for? I'm not really interested in adding external hard drives, as I don't want anything like that hanging out the back of the case.

[pipper]

Get a SCSI2SD and use it internally as HDD replacement :-)

[Jope]

Originally Posted by pipper

Get a SCSI2SD and use it internally as HDD replacement :-)

Have you got this to work well with the B1230scsi?

Which scsi2sd card and firmware version, please? What are yout scsi emulation settings in the scsi2sd tool?

[nikosidis]

I also have a B1230scsi but I can not find any good cable for it. I have the standard cable but it is 25-pin.
I need at least 50-pin. I tried with some adapter, gender changer etc. but it was not good connection. I got lot of errors etc.

[Daedalus]

A simple adaptor should be enough. I made a 25-50 pin adaptor back in the day and it's still working fine now, 15 or 20 years later. Maybe the adaptor wasn't the right type (not connecting all the additional grounds for example) or your termination wasn't set correctly, but it's relatively straightforward.

[Kin Hell]

Originally Posted by nikosidis

I also have a B1230scsi but I can not find any good cable for it. I have the standard cable but it is 25-pin.
I need at least 50-pin. I tried with some adapter, gender changer etc. but it was not good connection. I got lot of errors etc.

I used this very cable on my Desktop A1200 with BLIZZARD 1230-IV without issue. http://amigakit.amiga.store/product_...roducts_id=498

& Yes to the OP

Originally Posted by MrClump

<snip>


My 1200 accelerator (Blizzard 1230) is complete with the SCSI board and the cable to take a port out to the expansion port at the rear of the case. I initially removed it thinking it would not be useful, but I'm now wondering what I could use it for.

Initially I'm thinking a CD-ROM drive might be nice, but would any old drive do or do I need to look for something specific? Would that then allow me to load CD32 games?
<snip>

You can boot CD32 titles but you'll need to create a CD32 Boot Floppy for it.

Download it from Installer Heaven. It's in the Surf Squirrel DMS file.

[crazyc]

I use mine (from a B1260) with an SCSI to IDE adapter (now often expensive and difficult to find) to then connect to a CF drive. If the V6 SCSI to SD stuff was around then I would have gone down that route, but only the slower v5 was which offered little to no speed increase.

[nikosidis]

Kin Hell:

I have exactly that cable, but from that one and to 50-pin it is difficult? I would like a cable like that going from 25-pin to 50-pin.

[nikosidis]

Originally Posted by Daedalus

A simple adaptor should be enough. I made a 25-50 pin adaptor back in the day and it's still working fine now, 15 or 20 years later. Maybe the adaptor wasn't the right type (not connecting all the additional grounds for example) or your termination wasn't set correctly, but it's relatively straightforward.

How do you make that cable?
Termination was correct. I'm sure.

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by nikosidis

How do you make that cable?
Termination was correct. I'm sure.

It's just a matter of finding both pinouts and connecting them. But from memory, other than a couple of pins, the connections on the 50 pin are the same as the 25 pin but with an additional ground in between. These grounds are all connected together and connected to a ground terminal on the 25-pin connector.

[zipper]

Yes, afair the other side had the signals, other just ground.

[ptyerman]

I also have the Blizzard SCSI kit in one of my A1200's and a Squirrel in the other. I find the use of SCSI very useful, although it can be expensive to get the peripherals now-a-days!
I have two SCSI media card readers which are extremely useful, if you can find one of those you would possibly find it invaluable as I do.
I have several SCSI CD Writers, always great to have. Also makes it possible to run CDTV and CD32 titles straight from disc with the right software/drivers.
Have a couple of external SCSI hard drives which can still be useful even though I have the card readers.
I have a SCSI flatbed scanner connected to the Blizzard SCSI, it works flawlessly and does a sterling job too!
There is SCSI printers, plotters, tape drives and so on, the list is endless really.
I was fortunate enough to have purchased most of my SCSI stuff when it was cheap and have kept it over the years and even used some of it on the PC.
Once you get connected and find some peripherals you fancy you'll wonder how you managed without it!

[Daedalus]

Yeah, I'd love to have a SCSI card reader, but they seem to be crazy money these days!

[nikosidis]

Thanks Daedalus and Zipper. I will look at this and try to make that cable.

[pipper]

https://store.inertialcomputing.com/...c50f-db25f.htm

But be aware that it has a female 25pin socket. So, the cable on the scsi kit has to have a male 25pin socket at the end. I am not sure if Anigakit sells them this way (maybe they can be asked to make one, though?)

[nikosidis]

pipper: I have that one. I use this gender changer and all kind of crap. It is not working good, but thx anyway.

[MrClump]

Lots of very interesting suggestions here. When I bought it I thought the SCSI board would be something that just lived in the loft and immediately removed it from the card, I think it may be going back in the A1200 soon!

I'm very interested in the idea of a CD-ROM, partly for CD32 (and CDTV) software, but also because I primarily want to do all the things with my A1200 that I could never afford to do when I had one as a teenager. Having an accelerator was the first thing I always lusted over, and a CD drive was always next.

The SCSI2SD looks very interesting too, although I'm not certain how much bang for buck it's going to give me on a machine that is never used for anything actually useful.

[Kin Hell]

Originally Posted by nikosidis

Kin Hell:

I have exactly that cable, but from that one and to 50-pin it is difficult? I would like a cable like that going from 25-pin to 50-pin.

25 Way SCSI I to 50 way Centronics Connectors are readily available.

Search eBay for "SCSI Lead 25 Pin Male to 50 Pin Centronic Male"



You then need an External SCSI CDROM in it's own Box to connect to.
You plug the above cable into the Female Centronics on the CDROM box.

It would normally look like this:




and from the back of this connector inside the CDROM box, a 50 way Ribbon to a 50 pin Female IDC Header on a short bit of 50 way cable.

Set Termination to on & you should be good to go.

[pipper]

This is how it can look like. I currently keep the SCSI2SD in an antistatic bag, but in future I hope to use a 3D printed cradle.
It should also be possible to have both, an internal and external connector (lead through the expansion port at the back); it’s just a matter of making the right cable.

[nikosidis]

Pipper: Are the SCSI HDD fast and are you happy with it?