Hi to all,
As I've decided to start my new A500/+ project (yes, another one :D) I've bought this great SCSI Reader to allow my GVP A500 HD8+ II booting from different media.
Attachment 37727
Sorry for the stock photo but I'm waiting for it.
:)
Printable View
Hi to all,
As I've decided to start my new A500/+ project (yes, another one :D) I've bought this great SCSI Reader to allow my GVP A500 HD8+ II booting from different media.
Attachment 37727
Sorry for the stock photo but I'm waiting for it.
:)
These looks really cool - I was tempted to buy 1 or 2 for my big box Amiga's but found them a little too expensive when I already have USB options.
Nice product though and will probably grab one at some point! Would be awesome to hang one off my CSMkIII or a CSPPC :cool:
Deneb only gets me 6mb/sec for transfers, I imagine this should give up to 20mb/sec? :ninja:
They are really great, I had the exact same setup :)
The only tricky thing is fitting it inside the GVP case, but it IS possible. The nice thing about the GVP controller is that it allows you to boot from the CF slot (the A590 for example can only boot from the PCMCIA slot with CF adaptor).
Hi Steve & velourfog
Thanks to both for your kind words.
Sad to inform these readers & kits are marqued as "Sold out" at Mechware :(. But surely there will be available soon :)
I think maximum speed will be reached depending of the controller you use. In my case 3.5 or 3.8 MB/s will be a great improvement :)
I had no idea you could get SCSI card readers. :thumbsup:
I'm also considering to get this reader. Hope Mechy has more of them soon :)
Good news, the reader is at my home in Spain... Few days more and it comes to my living/work place :)
Anyway I've sent this message to Mechware:
I imagine that if they receive more requests, the new production will be faster.....Quote:
Dear Sirs,
Thanks a lot for the fast delivery and your services.
I am seriously considering buying two more SCM PCD-50B SCSI Card Readers. Are you planning to have some for sale soon?
Thanks in advance & Kind regards
:coffee:
I've read that the top speed with any card is around 2.5mb/s so it might be wasted on a faster SCSI Bus. I've been using one for a while, it's good stuff :)
Robert.
That is about what i get with mine ( bought the same as merlin)Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert17
But hey, when do you need the extra speed? :)
Regarding the Mechware specs with 1.28 firmware...
Can't wait to test it :roll:Quote:
Features for PCD-50B > Five separate slots allow simultaneous use> 4 to 5MB/sec. data transfer rates(depending on SCSI controller capability)> No additional drivers needed for retro systems-Attach it to the cable and treat it like a hard drive> Fully shielded enclosure> Uses standard SCSI-2 interface(backward compatible with SCSI-1)> Supports all standard SCSI drivers and software for DOS, Unix, UNIX,> SCO, Windows 3.x, Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP & Windows NT, Win7
I don't know, maybe with my 4.15 ROM I can get the max speed for the GVP A500 HD8+ II? (3.5 MB/s)
http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/impact500mk2
@velourfog... you can post some pics showing your reader's speed? :)
Sorry, I've sold it since I wanted an internal solution for my A500+ :( I never bothered to benchmark, speed wasn't the issue :)Quote:
Originally Posted by merlinkv
Not problem mate, thanks in anyway :thumbsup:Quote:
Originally Posted by velourfog
I can help you with that.Quote:
Originally Posted by merlinkvNot problem mate, thanks in anyway :thumbsup:Quote:
Originally Posted by velourfog
Maby not the kind of speed you want to see but this is what i get :)
http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/5416/scsi.jpg
Hi Kawazu,
Thanks a lot mate :)
A bit slower than expected, but is not a big problem. Best for me is to have a removable boot device. :)
I get around 1.2mb/s attached to a GVP Combo 030, you may see about the same speed if you've got a 68000 CPU, so long as the GVP Has Ram Onboard :)
Robert.
Well, I got 2.5 mb/s attached on a Blizzard 2060, using a scsi/ide bridge I get more than 5 mb/s with the same cf card. With my G-Force 040 using the GURU ROM I get 1.6 mb/s when using this card reader...
Hey guys,i see some of you are using the pcd-50b card readers and i thought i would clear up a few things.Quote:
Originally Posted by KawazuI can help you with that.Quote:
Originally Posted by merlinkvNot problem mate, thanks in anyway :thumbsup:Quote:
Originally Posted by velourfog
Maby not the kind of speed you want to see but this is what i get :)
http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/5416/scsi.jpg
These are off the shelf card readers, i do not build them. They have been out of production since about the year 2000. I had 900 brand new ones that have been sold over the last 2 years. They were new old warehouse stock. I personally had to flash each drive from v1.23 read only firmware to the read/write v1.28 firmware.
The manufacturer suggests 4-5MB speed,but the most i managed was 4MB using a class 10 SDHC transcend card on a cyberstorm PPC with a 60 to 50 pin high byte adapter and active termination.
speeds will vary depending on what CF/SD(hc),memstik etc you use.Active termination helps in some cases. All scsi interfaces should be set to run SYNCHRONOUS.
A3000(t) and A4000T users should be sure SYNCHRONOUS is set to get the max speed. On the A3000(t) you do this by running SCSIPREFS.LHA from aminet. you must have a working clock battery to turn on luns and keep the scsi settings(or put them in the startup sequence).
Many of you with A3000's using the old proto wd chip with revision -04 will not get max speed. This chip has known bugs and should be upgraded to the WD-08 or amd chip. I stock the AMD scsi chips on the store.There is not always a speed improvement,but the new chip supports the full scsi II command set properly and fixes a bug where multiple drives can cause trouble.
many 2091,some gvp cards,A3000,3000t came with these old scsi chips in many cases and replacing them with the newer one can sometimes fix quarkiness. card readers have been used with gvp 4.13 roms and up.
tested on the 2091/590 with 6.6 and up...V7.0 are recommended.
Someone also mentioned that the 2091/590 cannot boot off anything but the PCMCIA.. this is not true. the 4th dip switch on the A590 is marked "factory use" but is actually what will enable luns when on! C= botched this in the manual.setup the card on the pcmcia then swap it to the cf port.
Its been my experience the 590/2091 are really slow with luns so be warned,boot time will suffer.
The card readers can be fit inside the 590. i posted a thread on EAB long ago about this with the story how i discovered the dip switch setting!
Gvp card users should also enable the SYNCHRONOUS scsi mode via their tools. this should gain some speed.
Althought everyone wants max raw speed, this doesn't tell the whole story. The card reading being cf/sd etc are very fast access and little latency like a real scsi HD. so they seem much faster then a hard drive.
only large file transfers is where it will seem slow. most workbench files etc are small and quick.
Being scsi these card readers can DMA(add ram to the 590 to speed it up alot!) and also have very little cpu overhead like IDE.
Anyone with questions can email me on the store,i am always happy to help.
One last note. Using FFS is SLOW. use SFS or PFS(scsi direct) to get better speeds.
Mech
Great customer suport as always mech :thumbsup:
I think i have an old scsi ship but i dont mind the 2mb speed, the largest files im using is at tops 20-30mb.
The system itself is very responsive and as you said you only notice the speed if you transfer large files.
100% Agreed :)
Thanks for the info :thumbsup:
Hi to all,
If anyone want to buy new units, a new stock is available at Mechware http://a4000t.com/store/index.php?ma...ex&cPath=65_79
:)
Hi Merlin, on which SCSI controller will you connect it ?
Any plan to use it as your reader for your hardrive ? This is how I expect to use mine on my A4000T but I'm far from having everything to do the installation before next year...
Hi mate :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Rakeim132
I just bougth two units few days a go but not installed at the moment.
I'm planning to use on my GVP A500 HD8+ II controllers to have removable boot devices on my A500/+ projects.
For A4K's I use CF-IDE-UW SCSI combination to get the best performance with CSPPC's
:)
I see... I would think that direct connection to the SCSI of the PPC would be faster than ACARD+IDE CF. Anyway, I'll try both and figure out. :D
This is what i get with an Acard->IDE 3.5" -> IDE 2.5"Quote:
Originally Posted by Rakeim132
On my CSPPC SCSI chain
http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/3...001277x855.jpg
:blink: Woww. Am I reading correctly ? This configuration is more than 10 times faster than the SCSI reader !?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rakeim132
Hi mate
The SCSI Reader is a FastSCSI II device, in theory you can reach up to 20 MB/s but it depends on the computer & controller you use.
The CSPPC is an UW-SCSI controller and you can reach up to 40 MB/s.
Also, if I don't remember bad, if you connect an SCSI-II device to one UW-SCSI chain, the whole chain decrease to the SCSI-II performance (I'm not 100% sure).
:)
All right... I was just commenting Kawazu's tests results.
No worry. Will figure out myself in time. ;)
Hi to all,
Time to revive this old thread :lol:
This weekend I started one of my A500+'s projects and the first step was to mod one of my GVP A500-HD8+ controllers.
The first problem I've found is the ROM as I don't have 27C256 IC's (are comming at home :)), but looking on my desk I found one spare W27E257-12 which is compatible.
So, started to burn my new 4.15 ROM, just loaded the hex file and no success, one time, two times, and :(..... and finally I found the solution :Doh:: Loading the hex file starting at 4000H as explained here http://babel.de/amiga.html, the new ROM 4.15 works great :)
Well, time to take out the old HDD and connect the SCSI Reader. I can setup my CF's using the GVP floppy without problems, but some considerations:
- All CF's must be partitioned using a PCMCIA to CF or SD Adapter, after that you can use CF/SD cards without problems in the PCMCIA, CF or SD slots.
- If you're using KS 1.3 and select copy the WB 1.3 files using the GVP floppy you get the message "This disk need Kickstart 2.04 to work" (or something like that).
- So, to use KS 1.3 I needed to: Setup the CF and format the partitions with the GVP Faaastprep disk and in PCMCIA slot. Power off, insert the WB 1.3 disk, boot the systen and copy WB1.3 files to DH0: ..... Now boot under KS 1.3 and all partitions are recognized.
Noted that I started with 2GB CF's, this evening I will try with 4GB ones. If possible I will upload some pics later.
:coffee:
Not a bad SCSI device. But I have gone the other way its still a SCSI unit but mine fits in floppy drive bay and has two PCMCIA slot. Unit has lots of jumpers inside at lease 7 from the last time I looked at it and I do know the slot can be split ie come under two SCSI id or be configured as one SCSI id but will show LUN 0 & LUN 1 so I can transfer data between two PCMCIA device. I am only awaiting OS4.x to have a SCSI driver so unit can be fitted to desktop A1200.
But im not to worried if SCSI driver does not appear as I have a floppy drive with card reader which also fits in the floppy drive bay which use standard floppy drive cable & USB for the card reader.
Both of my above units fit in floppy drive bay and may become a replacement for the floppy drive on a standard A1200 desktop.
---------- Post added at 10:00 ---------- Previous post was at 09:49 ----------
Am I reading this correctly. You burned your own rom so that it can accepted higher density CF cards,if so I think my unit is also limited but have not checked but there are a few chips that are in sockets I will have to check again when I have time as I have not looked at the unit for over 4 years.
Yes is a nice device :)
My next step is assemble the reader within an Amiga floppy housing and then installed above the GVP :)
But I have one more question.....
There is no problem if I use one ATX PSU to power on the system (A500+ & SCSI controller) at the same time?
Normally I power on the GVP, then the A500+.....
---------- Post added at 09:12 ---------- Previous post was at 09:09 ----------
Yes, in this case I burned one EEPROM with the 4.15 update. But I don't know now the limit size, I tested yesterday only with 2GB cards. This evening I will try with 4GB and biggerQuote:
Originally Posted by delshay
do you mean power the scsi and the 500+ from the atx supply?
While burning your own rom you may want to look at other parameters ie speed,latency ect,ect im sure you get my drift.
ALL MODIFICATIONS AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Yes, that's my idea.... but using the two power connectors (GVP & A500+)Quote:
Originally Posted by roy_bates
Quote:
Originally Posted by merlinkvYes, that's my idea....Quote:
Originally Posted by roy_bates
you should be ok:)
I will try today (praying :lol:)Quote:
Originally Posted by roy_bates
Quote:
Originally Posted by merlinkvI will try today (praying :lol:)Quote:
Originally Posted by roy_bates
if...you have it wired to be powered from the amiga:)
Pablo my friend check this very informative thread over EAB that has Mechwares replies and what he did on a 590 HD :)
- http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=62178
I will try that as well soon I think
Now the A500+ is powered fromt the ATX PSU (with switch). Mi idea is to make one cable to connect also the ATX to the external connector of the GVP. Then power on the two "systems" at the same time.... It's possible? or I need to power on first the GVP?
Why don't you get the power from the sidecar connector?
There's a thread on EAB about what wire to solder to get the expansion work without an extra AC adapter :)
Thanks Marios :thumbsup:Quote:
Originally Posted by mfilos
I will read it carefully :)
But I want to use the power directly from one PSU (now I have 3 external floppys and the internal one powered from the PSU)
Here I have one power supply that powers everything. Desktop A1200,one external unit that has three bays,two SCSI DVD drive and one PCMCIA device SCSI,two external floppy drive,one Power Amp 70w.
NOTE: Power Amp is ment for a car and needs plenty of Amps on the 12v rail to drive it. Clever users could fit a two or even a 6 channel Power Amp inside a tower if the amiga OS can do 5.1 output.
Also note I fitted the Power Amp as I have a powerful Power Supply and most of it is wasted as the A1200 does not use much of the 12v rail and did not want to waste all those AMPS.
One power supply to rule them all,just one switch.
ALL MODIFICATIONS AT YOUR OWN RISK
you can power it from the sidecar port without the extra leads to power it.
its only two wires.:) (inside the unit)
This is the link Pablo:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~davem2/...ck/a500hd.html
I thought to share to buy you some time :P
@All
Thanks a lot for the help :thumbsup:
@Marios
My boards are Rev 3 ones and I have these jumpers:
CN5 (OFF-OPEN) - CN15 (ON)
CN6 (OFF-OPEN) - CN16 (ON)
Also near to the power connector I have a jumper CN8 (OFF-OPEN)
Google search and... I cannot find a manual for these boards
Finally I mounted the Reader inside a floppy enclosure (very old and a bit damaged but I don't have another at the moment), connected all and.... works great.
Some pics
Attachment 46071 Attachment 46072 Attachment 46073
Attachment 46074 Attachment 46075 Attachment 46076
Attachment 46077 Attachment 46078 Attachment 46079
Attachment 46080
Partitions are created in PCMCIA slot LUN0 but as I said before the CF card works great in LUN1 :)
Just waiting an answer about the power question....
Thanks again to all :thumbsup:
Great! That was a nice implementation my friend! Kudos :)
Thanks for the kind words my friend :)
Do you know about the Rev3 boards and power jumpers? I'm a bit lost :picard
simply test cn5 and cn6 with a multimeter if there +5 and +12 volts(in theary there should be avoltage on one side of the jumper) switch them to on and power the drive from the amiga(not both) and see if it works.
if it works dont bother with the other one.
Hi Roy,Quote:
Originally Posted by roy_bates
Thanks mate, but I have doubts with the CN15, CN16 & CN8 (this one is near the power connector)
Hmm,
SCSI card reader - why have I never heard of these?
I can think of a few interesting applications for one (or more) of these...
Thanks for opening my eye merlinkv, kudos for the build too. :)