ReA4091: SCSI2 on Zorro III for everyone!

[idrougge]

Originally Posted by bubbob42

It features UW-SCSI.

Sorry, I should have phrased that better.
What I meant to ask is what Alex H meant by this:

Originally Posted by alexh

There is however another generation of storage controllers coming along integrated into the newer CPU accelerators such as Vampire and PiSTorm which move the storage controller to the other side of the 680x0 bus. Here, closely coupled to the SDRAM controller gives performance that is medium limited (e.g. The max speed of an SD card). Only one classic storage controller did this before, Cyberstorm MK III/PPC

[cdh]

Is there anyone here who currently owns an original A4091 with the Commodore box still intact? If so, I would really appreciate getting some measurements of the box (interior, exterior dimensions). Now that we have working boards (yeah!), we are hoping to be able to re-create the original box as well.

[seb132]

That would be fabulous to have the box too…

[patrik]

I would buy it delivered in a bag if it was available for purchase .

[jbenam]

If the boards are working, does that mean you will start selling them (PCB and/or kit form is fine) soon?

[alexh]

Originally Posted by idrougge

What sets the Cyberstorm Mk III apart from the Mk I or II, SCSI-wise?

CS MKIII/PPC has 32-bit SCSI3 whereas the MKI and MKII have 8-bit SCSI2.

[cdh]

Originally Posted by jbenam

If the boards are working, does that mean you will start selling them (PCB and/or kit form is fine) soon?

I should set some expectations. Although the Rev 1 PCB is functioning (with very minor rework), we are currently working toward a Rev 2 PCB to clean up all issues. There are other hurdles must be overcome before any boards could be shipped, including getting a custom slot bracket for the board, IP licensing, having manuals and boxes produced, and even some support software developed. The per-board BOM itself is more than $120, and a few components are NOS-only. Luckily the global parts shortage doesn't seem to be affecting the availability of NOS parts, but the price of components still being produced has definitely jumped.

I don't want to speak for Stefan on this, but with the above in mind, I do believe that we will produce and ship a batch of boards by the end of April.

[grelbfarlk]

That's great! Can we get some sysspeed or RSCP benchmarks to compare to the original boards?

[patrik]

@cdh: Support software wise, is anything more than hdtoolbox needed? (which is already included on everyone’s OS disks)

[reinauer]

Originally Posted by grelbfarlk

That's great! Can we get some sysspeed or RSCP benchmarks to compare to the original boards?

The card is exactly the same speed as the original at this point. With Elbox' drivespeed utility I got ~5.1MB on both.

[reinauer]

Originally Posted by patrik

@cdh: Support software wise, is anything more than hdtoolbox needed? (which is already included on everyone’s OS disks)

Nothing external is needed. I suppose if you use very old AmigaOS versions (3.0?) you will need a special SetPatch utility for 040 processors, if I remember correctly (i.e. just use the old install disk in that case). On anything 3.1.4 / 3.2 I have never used any non-OS software.

[reinauer]

Originally Posted by patrik

@cdh: Support software wise, is anything more than hdtoolbox needed? (which is already included on everyone’s OS disks)

Check out section 2.20 in http://aminet.net/docs/help/AmigaOS_3.2-FAQ.txt on how to let the card work with hard drives larger than 4GB on 3.2

[NorthWay]

I'm tempted to buy one just because. At the moment I don't really have anything that needs it...

[grelbfarlk]

Originally Posted by reinauer

The card is exactly the same speed as the original at this point. With Elbox' drivespeed utility I got ~5.1MB on both.

Is this with an A3640? On what system? With motherboard Fast RAM?

[reinauer]

This was with an A3640 on an A4000 with 2M chip/16M fast, if I remember correctly. The other machine I test with is an A3000 without accelerator and the same memory amount.

[seb132]

I’ll be up for a boxed card when available in April or any other month after that. Okay, I say only one because further than that I’d be making my own boards when Gerbers and technical data will be made available… hopefully!
Great work for the Community. Congrats guys!
About the PCI bracket, will it be available beyond your own batch?

[madmungo]

I wouldn't mind getting one, boxed or not, when available as well

[buggs]

I also hope that the relevant data is released for the DIY crowd.

[reinauer]

The plan is to make the card available for folks to build their own at some point when we are ready. We are also trying to figure out a feasible solution for the custom bracket for these cases, as it is not an off the shelf product. Of course you can always 3d print something.

[reinauer]

Things are promising.... Interested in getting a full kit with box, manual and bracket? Just a PCB? Just a bracket for your old broken 4091? Want to see the gerbers and just skip the pre-order? Let us know so we can get our priorities straight...

Let Chris and me know about Pre-Order Interest so we can plan better. There will also be a release of schematics / gerbers / BOM, but don't hesitate to fill out the form if that's what is interesting for you.