Sony Vaio PCMCIA CDROM Drive Model PCGA-CD51

NovaCoder · 02 April 2008, 01:23

Out of interest, would this work ok with a 1200?

Looks like a type 2 card, not sure if it's 16 or 32 bit.

Any driver issues?

Sony Vaio PCMCIA CDROM Drive Model PCGA-CD51

Thanx

Jope · 02 April 2008, 07:48

That's 16-bit, but no drivers.

NovaCoder · 02 April 2008, 07:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jope

That's 16-bit, but no drivers.

What would be the chances of tracking down Amiga 1200 drivers...no hope in hell?

Jope · 02 April 2008, 13:05

It's not a matter of tracking them down, but writing them.

Nightshft · 02 January 2023, 16:48

Looks like Aidan Holmes now wrote a device driver for this external Sony Vaio CD-Rom.

The PCGA-CD51/A

Did anybody try it out?

And does anybody know if similar drives like the Sony PCGA-CD5 (also an external pcmcia Vaio CD-Rom) work?

Think I might have one in the basement storage room, but will need some days before I have time to give it a go.

amigoun · 02 January 2023, 17:02

I also want to try this. But do not have the particular Sony drive. Just curious if some similar other brand 16-bit pcmcia cdrom would work, also need to locate it in the storage room and then try it

Good achievement from Aidan for the drivers he made.

kriz · 02 January 2023, 19:42

Ahh that looks like a nice product, but hard to get it seems

Lemaru · 17 January 2023, 18:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nightshft

Looks like Aidan Holmes now wrote a device driver for this external Sony Vaio CD-Rom.

The PCGA-CD51/A

Did anybody try it out?

And does anybody know if similar drives like the Sony PCGA-CD5 (also an external pcmcia Vaio CD-Rom) work?

Think I might have one in the basement storage room, but will need some days before I have time to give it a go.

I've got one, and it's working great for data disks. Had a divide by zero error when using with a PiStorm, so have been testing drivers for Aidan and he has got the issue resolved. An updated driver will be released soon.

Only briefly tried one audio CD but PlayCD that comes with OS3.9 didn't like it as it complains that it's not to the SCSI-2 standard. Not yet tried any other players though

amigoun · 18 January 2023, 00:33

I was hoping the audio cd would work. Looking forward if Aidan improves the driver and implements scsi commands emulation.

TuKo · 18 January 2023, 12:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lemaru

I've got one, and it's working great for data disks. Had a divide by zero error when using with a PiStorm, so have been testing drivers for Aidan and he has got the issue resolved. An updated driver will be released soon.

Very good news ! I couldn't get mine working on PiStorm too though it works well on V1200 and IceDrake V4.

Lemaru · 18 January 2023, 16:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by TuKo

Very good news ! I couldn't get mine working on PiStorm too though it works well on V1200 and IceDrake V4.

The last two versions of the driver he sent to test both seemed to work fine. The latter I believe also has some speed improvements. It should be on Aminet soon

Lemaru · 18 January 2023, 16:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by amigoun

I was hoping the audio cd would work. Looking forward if Aidan improves the driver and implements scsi commands emulation.

Might be worth trying some other CD player utilities

*Update* Just spoke with the developer and IDEFix CD Player works fine.

v1.1 should be on Aminet any moment

fryguy · 18 January 2023, 16:59

I got my Vaio CD-ROM today and tried the driver on my A1200, it works fine for me too.

amigoun · 18 January 2023, 17:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lemaru

Might be worth trying some other CD player utilities

*Update* Just spoke with the developer and IDEFix CD Player works fine.

v1.1 should be on Aminet any moment

Sounds great. Just to confirm, the drive has any audio out connector or have to be modded?

alexh · 18 January 2023, 17:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by amigoun

Sounds great. Just to confirm, the drive has any audio out connector or have to be modded?

They have a 3.5mm stereo line out port.

alexh · 18 January 2023, 19:26

I don't own one but in every photo I have seen there is a 3.5mm line out socket on the side CD-ROM drive. Half way up on the same side as the Power LED on the top.

Here is a picture of the box and it is clearly visible.

https://imgur.com/a/eaxzZd9

Higgy · 19 January 2023, 09:53

I've got the early tiny Sony VAIO laptop with a camera, but no cd drive!
The Windows installation is password locked, I can't strip the laptop down to remove the Harddrive so need a CD-ROM to reinstall Windows!
Impressive tiny laptop although wide-screen LCD is usually letterboxed unless looking at pictures.

lesta_smsc · 20 January 2023, 02:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Higgy

I've got the early tiny Sony VAIO laptop with a camera, but no cd drive!
The Windows installation is password locked, I can't strip the laptop down to remove the Harddrive so need a CD-ROM to reinstall Windows!
Impressive tiny laptop although wide-screen LCD is usually letterboxed unless looking at pictures.

Does it have USB? If you can't select USB boot then you can try Plop Boot Manager (https://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager/download.html) - I used this on an old laptop and managed to install Windows via USB! This tool is great as it runs off floppy drive!

The other option is to set up a TFTP server and use network PXE boot!

itsmedoofer · 21 January 2023, 23:00

Was looking at getting one of these drives but prices have gone stratospheric. Great work on the revised drivers though, great stuff, appreciated

alexh · 21 January 2023, 23:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by itsmedoofer

Was looking at getting one of these drives but prices have gone stratospheric.

No news listings have become available for long time. The crazy prices are listings that were crazy before. I think they are just so rare. But realistically who needs CD's these days with PCMCIA CF being so cheap and much bigger and faster. These are really just a bit of fun

02 April 2008, 01:23	#1
NovaCoder Registered User Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Melbourne/Australia Posts: 4,400	Sony Vaio PCMCIA CDROM Drive Model PCGA-CD51 Out of interest, would this work ok with a 1200? Looks like a type 2 card, not sure if it's 16 or 32 bit. Any driver issues? Sony Vaio PCMCIA CDROM Drive Model PCGA-CD51 Thanx

18 January 2023, 19:26	#16
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,337	I don't own one but in every photo I have seen there is a 3.5mm line out socket on the side CD-ROM drive. Half way up on the same side as the Power LED on the top. Here is a picture of the box and it is clearly visible. https://imgur.com/a/eaxzZd9 Last edited by alexh; 18 January 2023 at 19:44.

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02 April 2008, 07:48	#2
Jope - Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Helsinki / Finland Age: 43 Posts: 9,861	That's 16-bit, but no drivers.

02 April 2008, 13:05	#4
Jope - Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Helsinki / Finland Age: 43 Posts: 9,861	It's not a matter of tracking them down, but writing them.

02 January 2023, 16:48	#5
Nightshft Registered User Join Date: Mar 2018 Location: Austria Posts: 615	Looks like Aidan Holmes now wrote a device driver for this external Sony Vaio CD-Rom. The PCGA-CD51/A Did anybody try it out? And does anybody know if similar drives like the Sony PCGA-CD5 (also an external pcmcia Vaio CD-Rom) work? Think I might have one in the basement storage room, but will need some days before I have time to give it a go.

02 January 2023, 17:02	#6
amigoun Registered User Join Date: May 2010 Location: Czech Rep Posts: 599	I also want to try this. But do not have the particular Sony drive. Just curious if some similar other brand 16-bit pcmcia cdrom would work, also need to locate it in the storage room and then try it Good achievement from Aidan for the drivers he made.

02 January 2023, 19:42	#7
kriz Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: No(R)Way Age: 41 Posts: 3,185	Ahh that looks like a nice product, but hard to get it seems

18 January 2023, 00:33	#9
amigoun Registered User Join Date: May 2010 Location: Czech Rep Posts: 599	I was hoping the audio cd would work. Looking forward if Aidan improves the driver and implements scsi commands emulation.

18 January 2023, 16:59	#13
fryguy Registered User Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Skarabörg, Sweden Age: 44 Posts: 1,019	I got my Vaio CD-ROM today and tried the driver on my A1200, it works fine for me too.

19 January 2023, 09:53	#17
Higgy Registered User Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Somerset, UK Posts: 547	I've got the early tiny Sony VAIO laptop with a camera, but no cd drive! The Windows installation is password locked, I can't strip the laptop down to remove the Harddrive so need a CD-ROM to reinstall Windows! Impressive tiny laptop although wide-screen LCD is usually letterboxed unless looking at pictures.

21 January 2023, 23:00	#19
itsmedoofer Registered User Join Date: May 2021 Location: ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha Posts: 124	Was looking at getting one of these drives but prices have gone stratospheric. Great work on the revised drivers though, great stuff, appreciated

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