sdbox for Amiga [Official thread]

[jbilander]

Hi, probably you need a 10k pull-up resistor on the MISO-line like SukkoPera did. You can check for activity on MISO/MOSI if you have access to an oscilloscope or a logic analyzer.

[Hiddenevil]

I bought one of these off ebay, works ok. Occasionally cocks up with read errors, which i think is due to compatability with the SD card. The only really gripe I have with it, is the guy who built it put one of the LED's in wrong. As only one LED lights up and i get no activity flash.

[mr.spiv]

Originally Posted by jbilander

Hi, probably you need a 10k pull-up resistor on the MISO-line like SukkoPera did. You can check for activity on MISO/MOSI if you have access to an oscilloscope or a logic analyzer.

The 10k pull-up resistor fix made it finally work

[philgood1351fr]

Hi, got one of this fabulous hardware piece from Aranet.
one question : My SD is mounted and I see the 1st partition of my SD card (2Gb out of 16Gb).
made a second and third 4GB partitions on SDcard but can't mount them on workbench...
How do we mount these extra partitions to see them appear on workbench ?
tried GiggleDisk - created a mountlist but then stuck...

any help please ?

[kassius]

Greetings!

First of all, thanks for this great piece of hardware!

EDIT: This was a power supply issue, solved by supplying external 5V power source.

Anyone have issues with Amiga locking up (freezing) when attempting to mount? I made sure the following checklist is complete:
- (ok) Latest fat95 file (from aminet) is in L:
- (ok) Latest spisd.device file is in Devs:
- (ok) Correct SD0 file (and the SD0.info file) is in Devs:
- (ok) main.hex file is flashed successfully to your Nano.
- (n/a) Your Nano V3 (clone) has a 16 MHz oscillator.
- (n/a) If powering via usb, check your power adapter (phone charger) gives a stable 5V.
- (ok) Identify dry joints. Unlike good solder joints that are shiny, dry joints have a dull or matt finish. Also when soldering them they appear to have a more granular appearance as the solder is melted.

(https://github.com/jbilander/sdbox/i...ment-766751175)

Item 5 (16 MHz oscillator) is in place presumably. I have no methods of checking and am not an electronics person, but my Nano looks same as the one in the Github photos. So I assume this is fine.

As for item 6 (power), my revision uses the 5V line from the parallel port.

I'll assume these are fine, but feel free to correct me once you read the symptoms.

Upon issuing "mount" command ("mount SD0" in "devs/" dir, or any of the various ways to do it), floppy disk churns for a couple of seconds, then everything freezes (including the clicking checks of empty floppy drive). Apart from PWR LED, no other LEDs are lit on the Nano board.

My Amiga 500 is rev. 6A, kick 3.1, with 1 MB chip memory hack and 1.5 MB trapdoor extension ("slow" memory). Hardware floppy drive in DF0 is nearly unusable for all intents and purposes, so I plugged an external Gotek as DF1 (which is why I upgraded kickstart, to be able to boot off it).

The system checks out with all "Amiga Test Kit" tests. This includes CIA timing. I don't have a parallel port dongle, so I couldn't test that. I am ready to prepare and test with one, if it proves to be a possible issue.

I'm hoping someone might know the cause offhand.

Thanks!

[sampedenawa]

I designed a cover for Sukkopera's variant (not compatible with original JBilander's) .


I made it freely available here:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4839301

[patracy]

Originally Posted by kassius

Greetings!

First of all, thanks for this great piece of hardware!

EDIT: This was a power supply issue, solved by supplying external 5V power source.

Anyone have issues with Amiga locking up (freezing) when attempting to mount? I made sure the following checklist is complete:
- (ok) Latest fat95 file (from aminet) is in L:
- (ok) Latest spisd.device file is in Devs:
- (ok) Correct SD0 file (and the SD0.info file) is in Devs:
- (ok) main.hex file is flashed successfully to your Nano.
- (n/a) Your Nano V3 (clone) has a 16 MHz oscillator.
- (n/a) If powering via usb, check your power adapter (phone charger) gives a stable 5V.
- (ok) Identify dry joints. Unlike good solder joints that are shiny, dry joints have a dull or matt finish. Also when soldering them they appear to have a more granular appearance as the solder is melted.

(https://github.com/jbilander/sdbox/i...ment-766751175)

Item 5 (16 MHz oscillator) is in place presumably. I have no methods of checking and am not an electronics person, but my Nano looks same as the one in the Github photos. So I assume this is fine.

As for item 6 (power), my revision uses the 5V line from the parallel port.

I'll assume these are fine, but feel free to correct me once you read the symptoms.

Upon issuing "mount" command ("mount SD0" in "devs/" dir, or any of the various ways to do it), floppy disk churns for a couple of seconds, then everything freezes (including the clicking checks of empty floppy drive). Apart from PWR LED, no other LEDs are lit on the Nano board.

My Amiga 500 is rev. 6A, kick 3.1, with 1 MB chip memory hack and 1.5 MB trapdoor extension ("slow" memory). Hardware floppy drive in DF0 is nearly unusable for all intents and purposes, so I plugged an external Gotek as DF1 (which is why I upgraded kickstart, to be able to boot off it).

The system checks out with all "Amiga Test Kit" tests. This includes CIA timing. I don't have a parallel port dongle, so I couldn't test that. I am ready to prepare and test with one, if it proves to be a possible issue.

I'm hoping someone might know the cause offhand.

Thanks!

I'm having the same problem in a 3000 with a A3660. I'm using ozkano's from amibay. Also using his install floppy to run. I'm wondering if my issues are timing related with the A3660?

[jbilander]

Hi, I see many modified SDBox derivatives out there on Ebay/Amibay/Amiga-Stores etc. which is great. What is not so great is that many of them do not honour the copyleft GPLv3-license, meaning if you make derivatives/modifications you are obligated to share your modified work publicly as GPLv3 so that others can choose to use/build your version rather than the original. I don't want to go after people, and I have nothing against people building and selling units making a small profit, but please if you as a consumer are considering buying a SDBox, please do so from a seller/builder who honours the GPL and shares their modified/improved version. It is as simple as asking the seller where the download link to the complete source code is for both software and hardware. If they can't provide one then please go to another seller that can.

It is not about the money, it is about user freedom and respecting the GPLv3. Please choose wisely. If you are still unsure what GPL means please google "Youtube Richard Stallman Four Freedoms" and listen when he explains the four freedoms.

Also, if you decide to build and sell units, you will support them.

Thanks and Happy Hackin'

[Photon]

Looks neat!

I'd like to leave the parallel port for a sampler or Plipbox maybe, but that's me. Speaking of Plipbox, it has the same issue getting started (chicken-and-egg), how do you transfer drivers?(e.g. FAT95)

(Wait, can you order physical WB floppies officially now? They should have the necessary stuff.)

p.s. I checked the inner loop and you can get a performance gain of up to 20% by unrolling it if you want.

[mr.spiv]

Originally Posted by patracy

I'm having the same problem in a 3000 with a A3660. I'm using ozkano's from amibay. Also using his install floppy to run. I'm wondering if my issues are timing related with the A3660?

I have similar issues.. or rather that SD-Box does not work in my A3000/040/40 at all and on-off-manner with my A3000/030/25. In A600/020/14 SD-Box is rock solid. I actually got 2 "basic" SD-Boxes both with 10k Ohm fix. I checked parallel ports with the mentioned test kit + self-made dongle. All good.

When A3000/030/25 misbehaves the SD is not accessible/mountable or freezed as described above. Occasionally a successfully mounted SD just suddenly becomes "full of errors" i.e. all reads report an error. Reboot fixes this.

I have not really had time & will to debug this further yet.. sorry.

*Update* The picky SD-Box is USB powered while the other that work in my A3000's is external +5V powered.

[jbilander]

SDBox-v2 is now released. This new version supports Niklas's awesome new card detect feature. It's not compatible with the older firmware. There is also a SDBox-Mini in the works, almost finished actually and not based on the Nano, but currently stalled because of an item on backorder. More on that later.

https://github.com/jbilander/SDBox-v2

Please respect the GPLv3 copyleft license which means you share publicly any modifications you make.

Happy Hackin´

[gdonner]

Originally Posted by jbilander

SDBox-v2 is now released. This new version supports Niklas's awesome new card detect feature. It's not compatible with the older firmware. There is also a SDBox-Mini in the works, almost finished actually and not based on the Nano, but currently stalled because of an item on backorder. More on that later.

https://github.com/jbilander/SDBox-v2

Please respect the GPLv3 copyleft license which means you share publicly any modifications you make.

Happy Hackin´

Thanks for creating these devices! I've wondered if someone would make something like the mouSTer, but as a self-contained flash drive for fast and easy Amiga software access. Nice work! I'll keep an eye out for the SDBox-Mini's release.

[jbilander]

Here some pics of the SDBox Mini. It fits inside a standard d-sub DB25 plastic hood Well, with some small mods/drill holes for LEDs etc. I haven't tested it much yet but seems to work fine the little I've tested so far.





A short video clip showing card detect (and +5V sourced from the floppy port).
https://i.imgur.com/g5mvKkD.mp4

One little obstacle we hit was flashing of the fw can't be done with U4 chip in place as it drives/conflicts with MISO on ICSP (In-Circuit Serial Programming). Perhaps this can be fixed by replacing 74LVC1G17 with 74LVC1G07 and a pull-up. IDK, but right now the fw-flashing has to be done before soldering U4 in position. I will release this work in the public domain after some more testing has been done.

[Malakie]

Hi,

I bought one of these for an Amiga 2000 from one of the Amiga online stores.

I can't get it to work. I plugged it in, have usb power supplied to it. Used the install disk which appears to install some drivers...

But I never see or get an icon for the thing nor in CLI/SHELL can I access it in any manner.

Anyone help on this one?

[amiman99]

Originally Posted by jbilander

SDBox-v2 is now released. This new version supports Niklas's awesome new card detect feature. It's not compatible with the older firmware.

Happy Hackin´

I was able to make one SDBox v1A. It did not wanted to work until I made the pull up resistor mod.
I was able read and write to 2GB FAT card.

I have few questions:
1. My Activity LED is always ON, does not blink, any reasons? Is my LED backwards, or something else?
2. Can I use v2 firmware with "Niklas's awesome new card detect feature" on my v1A PCB?
3. Do I need C1 capacitor, on the schematic it looks like it's for external power.

Thanks

[jbilander]

@Malakie

Please contact the seller to return it or have it fixed by them. I have no affiliation with any sellers and I'm not going to do their support. In fact I haven't even been contacted by anyone for a heads up that they are going to sell units which one might think would be the polite thing to do. But you know...Amigaland....

@amiman99

Nice!

1. It should turn off as soon as the Amiga is powered on and vice versa. It's an active low signal that switches the transistors. Schematic here https://github.com/jbilander/sdbox/b...atic_rev1a.pdf

Orientation of LEDs should be like in this pic, pay attention to the long leg(s), that is the Anode (the positive side):
https://github.com/jbilander/sdbox/b...uild_pic24.jpg

2. No, you would need a Rev 2 SDBox or the Mini for that. The pinout (and wiring) is somewhat different.

3. It's mentioned in the BOM https://github.com/jbilander/sdbox/tree/master/hardware
C1 is not needed when you power via the Mini-USB on the Nano, it's for when using the Barrel Jack.

[amiman99]

Originally Posted by jbilander

@amiman99

Nice!

1. It should turn off as soon as the Amiga is powered on and vice versa. It's an active low signal that switches the transistors. Schematic here https://github.com/jbilander/sdbox/b...atic_rev1a.pdf

Orientation of LEDs should be like in this pic, pay attention to the long leg(s), that is the Anode (the positive side):
https://github.com/jbilander/sdbox/b...uild_pic24.jpg

The Activity LED is always ON for some reason. All connections and solder seem correct.
During troubleshooting I shorted something, let some smoke out for a second. Somewhere under the Nano. BUT, it still works, so I'm just going to leave it alone.

The Mini looks nice!

[stylon]

Is anyone using their SDBox with an Indivision Mk3 equipped A1200?

I bought my SDBox from Amigastore.eu and it works great but it has an irritating feature that I can't get to the bottom of... Whenever the card is being accessed the screen sort of flickers/wobbles? I've got it powered via an external 5v USB charger.

I've fiddled with the advanced features of the card which you can use to remove some kinds of artifacts but they don't help.

[stylon]

OK a bit more info...

I've done some more testing and discovered that this only happens when using interlaced HIGHGFX screenmodes. Standard amiga screenmodes, even interlaced ones are free from this issue. Likewise standard non-interlaced HIGHGFX screenmodes are fine too. As my go-to screenmode is 'HIGHGFX Super-High Res Laced' it affects me all the time.

I did a video of what it looks like here: [ Show youtube player ]

I posted my issue on the Individual Computers forum and after initially getting some digs in about amigastore.eu Jens suggested it was down to hitting 'VSTROBE'. This means nothing to me.

The SDBox still works and as long as it's not damaging my Amiga? then I can live with it but obviously it would be nice to find a solution if possible.

[LIV2]

The code does not use the v/hstrobe registers at all from what I can see.

Code is open source and available here https://github.com/niklasekstrom/ami...examples/spisd