Amiga & Usb

Counia · 17 October 2010, 11:27

Just an litle hard+soft for use USB key/Disc with an Classic Amiga.
(This because 720ko floppy and drive no curent now)

It is based on VNC1L chip connected on serial port and use an AMOS program for drive it.

Not very fast transfert, because Amiga-serial-port limit in my A2000 = 22727bps.

No more explication because this language it is not easy for me, but visual here:
http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/5682/amigausb01.jpg
http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/4390/amigausb02.jpg
http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/804/amigausb03.jpg

And you can see other info and dowload here if interest: (prog + wire + avi)
http://capri351.free.fr/Amiga/

T_hairy_bootson · 17 October 2010, 13:55

Looks like a handy little device, well done.

stachu100 · 17 October 2010, 14:10

Very nice job done here, congratulations!

Cammy · 18 October 2010, 06:34

This is really impressive, I'm really happy that you have accomplished this awesome project! Do you have any further plans, like supporting any additional USB devices such as keyboards and mice?

This could be a great way of transferring data to and from older Amigas and CD32s, I'd love to learn more about your project.

Keep up the great work!

rkauer · 18 October 2010, 06:36

Awesome project, indeed! Even as "only" a reliable storage device it is a stunning piece of kit that I will be very interested in.

rkauer · 19 October 2010, 00:01

Boy! I checked the price of the two required active parts and the VDrive2 is a bonker: €42 without postage/packaging.

The Max3232 is cheap as chips.

AlfaRomeo · 19 October 2010, 01:32

Great work Counia.
Hope you keep your work going on and share it with us.

Counia · 19 October 2010, 12:39

Thanks all for your reception.

Effectively, VDRIVE cost exist, i buy one because i need an transfert USB for link my old Amiga with the PC on the NET.

No futher plans now, because it work well in my Amiga and i need no more .
Perhaps speed option with other connexion (Zorro/Floppy/CPU) if anyone can code right "DEVICE" (me i not capable for this programmation with only AMOS) ; but with my 7Mhs 68000, wait-time is time for an litle bear and no problem ;-)

Of course when i upgrade the "exe" AMOS code i share it.

desiv · 19 October 2010, 18:35

OK, here's a weird thought. (I'm full of those.. :-)

That looks great, and for all Amigas. Awesome.
Now, for Amigas with a clockport, there is a full USB clockport option, but it's a bit spendy.

So, would it be possible/feasible to adapt the vdrive2 to the clockport fairly easily. It would be much faster I would guess and you wouldn't have to remove any PCMCIA cards (ethernet) to get to mass storage...
And mostly because of this:
http://www.mouser.com/search/Product...scKT8PIQ%3d%3d

That's the vdrive2 WITH MP3 playback for only about $13 (USD) more than the vdrive2.

So, that would be a fairly inexpensive USB (storage only) device with MP3 playback.

Just sounds kind of interesting.

desiv

rkauer · 19 October 2010, 20:13

I think an affordable and faster solution for all Amiga range will be more well received than clockport: what about the parallel port?

It is present on all Amigas, there are parallel-to-serial translators chips on the wild for the same peanuts of the MAX3232 and a little adjust on the AMOS code is all that is needed. High(er) speed transfers and all that jazz!

desiv · 19 October 2010, 20:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkauer

I think an affordable and faster solution for all Amiga range will be more well received than clockport: what about the parallel port?

I wasn't thinking about NOT doing serial (or parallel) version.
I was just thinking about a additional "would it work" for clockports....

It's not that big a deal really...

Just wondering..

You can ignore me.

desiv
p.s. As far as the MP3 option, it looks like it's an internal totally MP3 player that plays MP3's that are on the USB storage. Makes sense. That means that it's unlikely that it will integrate with a standard Amiga sound system, but it also means that an A500 with slow serial connection should still be able to trigger playing MP3s just fine when/if someone writes a program for that.

mech · 19 October 2010, 21:15

Isn't the floppy port faster than both the parallel and serial?Ican't recall what speed floppy can transfer at,but its quite decent. also,zorro serial boards are cheap as chips,how fast can this thing go with a gvp i/o,ioblix,multiface?

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkauer

I think an affordable and faster solution for all Amiga range will be more well received than clockport: what about the parallel port?

It is present on all Amigas, there are parallel-to-serial translators chips on the wild for the same peanuts of the MAX3232 and a little adjust on the AMOS code is all that is needed. High(er) speed transfers and all that jazz!

lambrettadave · 19 October 2010, 21:47

how fast can this thing go with a gvp i/o,ioblix,multiface?

i was just thinking the same as i have a silver surfer on me clockport and its only been used once to test a modem lol

So I would love one of these

lambrettadave · 19 October 2010, 22:13

Is'nt there a way to get this device to work as a diskdrive

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Amiga-USB-mous...item1c1645bf05

rkauer · 19 October 2010, 22:15

Editing a line on the AMOS program to reflect the actual serial interface is all needed to use a faster serial device instead the built-in Amiga one.

I was looking into designs that uses the parallel port and the best I can find is a parallel-2-serial interface using a single chip with (PC) ASM source: http://www.drdobbs.com/embedded-syst...MY32JVN?pgno=2

19 October 2010, 23:01

Nice Project!

Some thoughts:

Did anyone try to use BaudBandid.Device?

This should speed up things, with Transwarp (Amiga<->PC Transfer via Nullmodemcable) you can achieve 115'200 Baud Amiga->PC and 28'800 Baud PC->Amiga on unacceleraded AMIGA. When you reduce colors, I guess with graphiccard too, 38'400 Baud are possible.

Some Links i found:
Clockport for A500/CDTV:
http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/Amiga/de...clockport.html

/INT6 is connected via pullup to VCC should not be likethat, better solution would be connect it to Paula Pin 18 where it belongs too.

Prototype o a COM board for the clock port:
http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/Amiga/de...rial_card.html
This design is quite alike the design of Jens Schoenfeld of Individual Computers called Silver Surfer.
I don't know how much difference is between this two designs and if the linked design works at all and how far it is software compatible.

When you combine the linked design with the VNC1L you don't need the level conversion chips MAX208ECWG (Ian Stedman) and MAX2323 (Counia) and also the 4 condensators.

Amiga Parallelport can max handle about about 320'000 Baud (40 KByte/s).

rkauer · 19 October 2010, 23:48

I was thinking on swap the MAX3232 for the AT89C2051 programmable chip and interface it to the VDrive, adapting the AMOS code to use the parallel port instead of the serial. Big speed improvement "for free".

Only need to see the price of the Atmel chip...

[EDIT] Cheap as chips, yay!

19 October 2010, 23:58

Better solution would be use VNC2 instead of VNC1L and use custom Firmware can be connected to Parallel or Serial:

Embedded processor core.
16 bit Harvard architecture.
Two full-speed or low-speed USB 2.0 interfaces capable of host or slave functions.
256kbytes on-chip E-Flash Memory (128k x 16-bits).
16kbytes on-chip Data RAM (4k x 32-bits).
Programmable UART up to 6Mbaud.

Update:
After looking into datasheet i found out also VNC1L has Parallel Port and no custom Firmware should be needed!

rkauer · 21 October 2010, 03:29

I found a little ready-made device that may act as this circuit: http://www.ftdichip.com/Support/Docu...2%20Module.pdf

Wonder if will work with the software!

21 October 2010, 17:30

This device has a different purpose, it should elemininate an usb2serial-
adapter cable and give a more professional look by integrating the adapter inside the socket.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkauer

I found a little ready-made device that may act as this circuit: http://www.ftdichip.com/Support/Docu...2%20Module.pdf

Wonder if will work with the software!

17 October 2010, 11:27	#1
Counia Registered User Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Bx / France Posts: 26	Amiga & Usb Just an litle hard+soft for use USB key/Disc with an Classic Amiga. (This because 720ko floppy and drive no curent now) It is based on VNC1L chip connected on serial port and use an AMOS program for drive it. Not very fast transfert, because Amiga-serial-port limit in my A2000 = 22727bps. No more explication because this language it is not easy for me, but visual here: http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/5682/amigausb01.jpg http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/4390/amigausb02.jpg http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/804/amigausb03.jpg And you can see other info and dowload here if interest: (prog + wire + avi) http://capri351.free.fr/Amiga/

19 October 2010, 23:01	#16
natas Posts: n/a	Nice Project! Some thoughts: Did anyone try to use BaudBandid.Device? This should speed up things, with Transwarp (Amiga<->PC Transfer via Nullmodemcable) you can achieve 115'200 Baud Amiga->PC and 28'800 Baud PC->Amiga on unacceleraded AMIGA. When you reduce colors, I guess with graphiccard too, 38'400 Baud are possible. Some Links i found: Clockport for A500/CDTV: http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/Amiga/de...clockport.html /INT6 is connected via pullup to VCC should not be likethat, better solution would be connect it to Paula Pin 18 where it belongs too. Prototype o a COM board for the clock port: http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/Amiga/de...rial_card.html This design is quite alike the design of Jens Schoenfeld of Individual Computers called Silver Surfer. I don't know how much difference is between this two designs and if the linked design works at all and how far it is software compatible. When you combine the linked design with the VNC1L you don't need the level conversion chips MAX208ECWG (Ian Stedman) and MAX2323 (Counia) and also the 4 condensators. Amiga Parallelport can max handle about about 320'000 Baud (40 KByte/s). Last edited by natas; 28 October 2010 at 19:53.

19 October 2010, 23:58	#18
natas Posts: n/a	Better solution would be use VNC2 instead of VNC1L and use custom Firmware can be connected to Parallel or Serial: Embedded processor core. 16 bit Harvard architecture. Two full-speed or low-speed USB 2.0 interfaces capable of host or slave functions. 256kbytes on-chip E-Flash Memory (128k x 16-bits). 16kbytes on-chip Data RAM (4k x 32-bits). Programmable UART up to 6Mbaud. Update: After looking into datasheet i found out also VNC1L has Parallel Port and no custom Firmware should be needed! Last edited by natas; 26 October 2010 at 18:25. Reason: Read the datasheet

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Amithlon & USB	caver99	support.Other	0	24 February 2013 11:42
Thylacine USB Drivers & Software	Cymru	support.Hardware	4	17 October 2012 16:18
Usb & WhdLoad Odd Issue	marcolau	support.Hardware	6	23 November 2009 21:50
amiga & USB	ruttolomeo	support.Hardware	3	23 February 2009 18:57
FS: Subway USB & MP3@64	Fingerlickin_B	MarketPlace	2	08 August 2008 00:55

17 October 2010, 13:55	#2
T_hairy_bootson Workbitch 1.3 Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Melbourne, Australia Age: 46 Posts: 2,084	Looks like a handy little device, well done.

17 October 2010, 14:10	#3
stachu100 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Poland Posts: 339	Very nice job done here, congratulations!

18 October 2010, 06:34	#4
Cammy Registered User Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Tasmania, Australia Age: 39 Posts: 1,189	This is really impressive, I'm really happy that you have accomplished this awesome project! Do you have any further plans, like supporting any additional USB devices such as keyboards and mice? This could be a great way of transferring data to and from older Amigas and CD32s, I'd love to learn more about your project. Keep up the great work!

18 October 2010, 06:36	#5
rkauer I hate potatos and shirts Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Sao Leopoldo / Brazil Age: 58 Posts: 3,482	Awesome project, indeed! Even as "only" a reliable storage device it is a stunning piece of kit that I will be very interested in.

19 October 2010, 00:01	#6
rkauer I hate potatos and shirts Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Sao Leopoldo / Brazil Age: 58 Posts: 3,482	Boy! I checked the price of the two required active parts and the VDrive2 is a bonker: €42 without postage/packaging. The Max3232 is cheap as chips.

19 October 2010, 01:32	#7
AlfaRomeo A1200 040 SAM440EP 667 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Lisbon / Portugal Posts: 873	Great work Counia. Hope you keep your work going on and share it with us.

19 October 2010, 12:39	#8
Counia Registered User Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Bx / France Posts: 26	Thanks all for your reception. Effectively, VDRIVE cost exist, i buy one because i need an transfert USB for link my old Amiga with the PC on the NET. No futher plans now, because it work well in my Amiga and i need no more . Perhaps speed option with other connexion (Zorro/Floppy/CPU) if anyone can code right "DEVICE" (me i not capable for this programmation with only AMOS) ; but with my 7Mhs 68000, wait-time is time for an litle bear and no problem ;-) Of course when i upgrade the "exe" AMOS code i share it.

19 October 2010, 18:35	#9
desiv Registered User Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Salem, OR Posts: 1,767	OK, here's a weird thought. (I'm full of those.. :-) That looks great, and for all Amigas. Awesome. Now, for Amigas with a clockport, there is a full USB clockport option, but it's a bit spendy. So, would it be possible/feasible to adapt the vdrive2 to the clockport fairly easily. It would be much faster I would guess and you wouldn't have to remove any PCMCIA cards (ethernet) to get to mass storage... And mostly because of this: http://www.mouser.com/search/Product...scKT8PIQ%3d%3d That's the vdrive2 WITH MP3 playback for only about $13 (USD) more than the vdrive2. So, that would be a fairly inexpensive USB (storage only) device with MP3 playback. Just sounds kind of interesting. desiv

19 October 2010, 20:13	#10
rkauer I hate potatos and shirts Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Sao Leopoldo / Brazil Age: 58 Posts: 3,482	I think an affordable and faster solution for all Amiga range will be more well received than clockport: what about the parallel port? It is present on all Amigas, there are parallel-to-serial translators chips on the wild for the same peanuts of the MAX3232 and a little adjust on the AMOS code is all that is needed. High(er) speed transfers and all that jazz!

19 October 2010, 21:47	#13
lambrettadave Registered User Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: south shields Posts: 140	how fast can this thing go with a gvp i/o,ioblix,multiface? i was just thinking the same as i have a silver surfer on me clockport and its only been used once to test a modem lol So I would love one of these

19 October 2010, 22:13	#14
lambrettadave Registered User Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: south shields Posts: 140	Is'nt there a way to get this device to work as a diskdrive http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Amiga-USB-mous...item1c1645bf05

19 October 2010, 22:15	#15
rkauer I hate potatos and shirts Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Sao Leopoldo / Brazil Age: 58 Posts: 3,482	Editing a line on the AMOS program to reflect the actual serial interface is all needed to use a faster serial device instead the built-in Amiga one. I was looking into designs that uses the parallel port and the best I can find is a parallel-2-serial interface using a single chip with (PC) ASM source: http://www.drdobbs.com/embedded-syst...MY32JVN?pgno=2

19 October 2010, 23:48	#17
rkauer I hate potatos and shirts Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Sao Leopoldo / Brazil Age: 58 Posts: 3,482	I was thinking on swap the MAX3232 for the AT89C2051 programmable chip and interface it to the VDrive, adapting the AMOS code to use the parallel port instead of the serial. Big speed improvement "for free". Only need to see the price of the Atmel chip... [EDIT] Cheap as chips, yay!

21 October 2010, 03:29	#19
rkauer I hate potatos and shirts Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Sao Leopoldo / Brazil Age: 58 Posts: 3,482	I found a little ready-made device that may act as this circuit: http://www.ftdichip.com/Support/Docu...2%20Module.pdf Wonder if will work with the software!

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)