Slim optical drive

As my SCSI project seems to be failing miserably, I have turned my thoughts to adding an optical drive to my a1200. Why? because I can......
I amusing an ID-FIX express and will want to run this off the secondary 40 pin channel. I will probably split the floppy connector to power it.
My a1200 is raised due to the angled sim slot on my blizzard 1260, and due to space constraints I want to fit this drive facing forwards and slung under the miggy, on the left hand side.

Ideally what I would really like is a slot loading white/cream bezelled drive with an eject button, along with instructions for what adapter I need to fit on the back to then connect it to the IDE-FIX Express. I am considering whether or not I cannibalise one of those enclosures for drives to provide a case for it, or given that you will basically not see anything but the front bezel, whether I bother.
I could probably even just go for a black slot loader I suppose.

So, rethinking it, a compatible black slot loader slim (laptop type) drive with an eject button.

Any offers? / suggestions?

On a related note, I currently have a feed running directly off the 12v (I think - the top 2 prongs) on the PSU connector, which is powering 4 small fans (2 case, 1 Indy 1 Blizzy). Would I be better pulling the feed for the optical drive off that? It is more conveniently located being honest.

Cheers
C

EDIT - this thread began life as a wanted thread, and although the final result was in fact what I had set out to achieve, there were quite a few mistakes and lessons learnt during the process. It has been suggested that this could serve as a useful thread under AmiOracle which is fine by me - just need a mod to make it happen......

I use a Sata slot loading DVD drive with a Sata to 44 pin adapter in my A1200. It connects to a 4xeide'99 interface. I imagine you could also use a Sata to 40 pin adapter.

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Originally Posted by Arnie

I use a Sata slot loading DVD drive with a Sata to 44 pin adapter in my A1200. It connects to a 4xeide'99 interface. I imagine you could also use a Sata to 40 pin adapter.

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Sounds good -could you provide any links to pics of your set up? I get confused between the various connections as sata is different to what some call slim sata? I think? Hence looking for something that works easily.

Might just go for the easy option of a tray loader now.

Does it need a fascia, or are you going to use the casing and just cut a slot for the drive slot?

I might have some laptop optical drives lying about, I'll check back and let you know.

:thumbsup:

I am not really sure - depends what drive I end up with and how visible it is under the miggy. I was thinking of getting an enclosure such as (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/External-U...item337e5b8e52 - its a BIN link) as an example and butchering the back end to run my connections. Obviously that one doesn't have an eject though.

Cheers
C

- - - Updated - - -

Being honest this looks like what I would be aiming towards perhaps: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=231260433321 (Another BIN link by the way)

you just need a JAE adapter less than something from poundland over on the other bay ;)

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Originally Posted by Justin

you just need a JAE adapter less than something from poundland over on the other bay ;)

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So something like this, powered from the floppy connector: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/50-PIN-JAE...item27ab435136 (yes - its a BIN link)

yeah thats the bad boy :)

Dont bother with 40 pin jae adapters get a 44 pin one ,the power from the IDE header will cope no probs running a slot CD or slim dvd/cd drive, I know I done a few of them, less cables and I use no buffered adapters and they work flawlessly its just the setup you have to get right, IDEfix works great with it.
This a slot DVD on A600

Attachment 72151Attachment 72152

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Originally Posted by supaduper

Dont bother with 40 pin jae adapters get a 44 pin one ,the power from the IDE header will cope no probs running a slot CD or slim dvd/cd drive, I know I done a few of them, less cables and I use no buffered adapters and they work flawlessly its just the setup you have to get right, IDEfix works great with it.
This a slot DVD on A600

Attachment 72151Attachment 72152

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But I dont have a spare 44 pin header? The IDE-FIX Express has only got one 44 pin header which is on the primary channel and is used for my CF card adapter, so the optical drive will run off the secondary channel which only has a 40 pin header?
Or am I missing something?

And in your pic isnt the optical drive powered from the floppy header anyway? :)

I think I see what you are suggesting now - running both the IDE-FIX and the Optical drive off the same cable from the motherboard.
Hmmm. Dont know why but it doesn't feel right? Whats the point of a buffered interface if its not needed?

No the cable you think is the power is the Audio ouput,I have hard wired that to the mobo, something you might want to consider too as you wont be able to run the audio straight through the IDE cable it will lock the miggy up :)

I have done a couple of A1200 mods with this setup, and regarding Buffered yes its belt and braces but its also a selling point for the adapter manufacturer, I now dont use them because I dont need them :)

sell your IDE-Express and go Commando ! :)

Knowing CrazyC he'll probabaly buy a Prisma Soundcard when it comes out and run the CD Audio through that, it's what I was going to do with mine :)

This is the adapter I used, connected to the 44 pin ide header of the 4xeide'99 interface with a 3 way cable.

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Originally Posted by fitzsteve

Knowing CrazyC he'll probabaly buy a Prisma Soundcard when it comes out and run the CD Audio through that, it's what I was going to do with mine :)

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Hadn't thought of that = didnt I read that the prisma had no header for CD audio though? - anyway, was eyeing up the clock port for this new USB thing Jens is working on.

Haven't really thought of what I would use the CD rom for on the miggy anyway - just thought I would add one. :Doh:
So if I stick a music CD in it, does it play or not? what do I need to do to make it work? I can play mp3s on my miggy OK, although she has to work for it I think.

CDDA from the CD drive will not play down the IDE cable poor miggy cant compute data like that at with processors 25 years old, the mp3 will play no probs they are small compressed files :)

just hard wire the audio cable to the botom of the RCA jacks for direct audio output prob solved.
Also aCD drive is great for transfering Amiga files from your PC to the amiga just use cheap CDR`s or CDRW,

I usually transfer files via my NAS and AmiTradecenter being honest, rather than using cards or CDs or anything.

I also have the soldering skills of a clumsy grizzly bear with a sore head, so am a little pessimistic about actually messing with stuff like that, but I could achieve the same end another way, so if I do so how do I play music on the miggy, do I just run Eaglepayer or something and the music just comes out the speakers rather than being processed via the miggy?
Cheers

Just buy something like this or similar, hook it up to the drive ,but you will need to push it through some kind of amplifier for oomph !!, you can buy mini speaker amplifiers, battery or mains on the bay which do a great job.

http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/...roducts_id=448

Or this I assume will mix the signals safely? Allowing my to use just one set of speakers for both?
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/...roducts_id=485
Obviously a little hackery would be required......

Those are fine dont forget you just swap from the miggys Phono`s to the Audio ones if you want to play cd`s simple and yes you can use any of the Good amiga CD playing progs like you mentioned IDEfix as its own CDDA player that pops up when CD is inserted

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Originally Posted by supaduper

Those are fine dont forget you just swap from the miggys Phono`s to the Audio ones if you want to play cd`s simple

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OK I am a noob to all this and rather stupid, but now I am slightly confused. Looking at the item in post #18, I assumed that the odd square connector went to the CD drive, one set of RCA ports went to those on the back of the miggy, and the other went to the amp/device I am playing the music through. I assumed the amigakit device mixed the audio so there would be no swapping around of anything?
Damn its all got me confused now.
Thank you for all the help by the way.

Yes you got it, its just a loop through one set goes from the Amiga RCA`s to the RCA jacks on the bracket( the lead shown with the bracket), then just put the leads that were in the Amiga`s audio RCA`s into the other bracket RCA`s,you now have a loop through :)

just dont ask me anything to do with mixing music LoL

2 quick qns:
Looking at the jae adapters they dint seem to have the audio out connectors? And is there and advantage or disadvatage to using a DVD drive rather than a CD drive?
Cheers

yes the JAE adapters have Audio connectors thet are the `Mitsumi` white 4pin small block connector, I have one if you need it :)
There is no difference really between DVD or CD I just find the Sony slimline DVDroms work well with our miggys

OK - I have now ordered stuff off the other bay and so this wanted thread can be closed. I will open an advice thread in the relevant section once the bits arrive next week and I cannot make it work.....

He he don't be defeated so easily!

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Originally Posted by fitzsteve

He he don't be defeated so easily!

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Not defeated - recent experience just suggests it will be more challenging than expected....

Dont worry bud we will get you there :thumbsup:

If you do have issues try another cable, mine was too long (or wrong type) and was causing errors.

you can actually mix the cd's audio and amiga's together internally with passive components its not very difficult at all.

i have done it a few times,it works great.
you cant connect them together directly because the one audio channel will cancel out the other or drown out one another if wired directly...


and steve is right,you will have to be careful of ide cables and there length,especially on a un-buffered port.
if its not buffered i would not go beyond 12 inches.due to data loss and crosstalk.

Crazy's got an IDEFix Express so he's all set, when you install it mate use the IDEfix97 installer to setup the CDROM. You can skip the bit about loading the idefix97 driver if it crashes as it's not needed for CDROM, the installer will take care of the file system and dos driver to mount it :)

Cheers guys, I will ask before I do anything I think. I won't have the bits till the middle of next week anyway. in the mean time I need to fix on an extra fan, and tidy up my internal wiring.

Sent from my HTC One using Forum Fiend v1.2.7.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by roy_bates

you can actually mix the cd's audio and amiga's together internally with passive components its not very difficult at all.

i have done it a few times,it works great.
you cant connect them together directly because the one audio channel will cancel out the other or drown out one another if wired directly...
.

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Dont suppose you have an idiot proof guide?....... :lol:

sorry,i dont have an idiot proof guide for this sort of thing.but im pretty sure others have done it.mfilos maybe?..one of the moderators on this very site im sure he has done it with trim pots.

besides you will have to solder to the motherboard,so im probably making this sound alot more easier that it is for some.
but it was simple for me,if i get a sec i'll draw a quick schematic,but dont worry it will only be passives.

i think steady was going to make a active mixer,but i dont know what happened with that project...i may ask one day.

i just realised this is in your wanted thread,i dont want to bog it down with offtopic posts,:lol:

hi what about these on here http://simon.mooli.org.uk/AF/article/GOODWIN/GW01.HTML under mixing

cheers john,thats perfect for reference.

:thumbsup:

Just to say - although this has gone quiet, I am just awaiting a flurry of deliveries before embarking upon the next stage of the adventure. I think I shall end up doing a 'project' type post with pictures......

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CrazyC

I think I shall end up doing a 'project' type post with pictures......

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Good good! We like those here on AmiBay!

:thumbsup:

Just landed on my desk!

Now just waiting on Amigakit - although the cables I want were and are all in stock, it apparently is taking a week to locate them on the shelf and pick them....

Oh nuts.
Just got home and looked and I got confused - the drive has a slim SATA interface on the back - not the JAE.
Guess the JAE to IDE converter I got wont help much here.
Any suggestions guys?
I see the one linked to on the first page converts slimsata to 44 pin IDE, but has no CDDA output - am I screwed or how do I take that forwards? (Its not the end of the world - and does solve the sound mixing problem)

Cheers
C.

your creating yourself a world of pain bud, try and return the sata drive you need a 50 pin JAE IDE CDrom drive one so the adapter will fit

the jae adapter on the first page is not a slim sata its the 50 pin JAE atapi connector found on laptops

Oh the joy of stuffing up!
Much as I wanted to get a move on with this, I think this warrants a breather.
I have not seen a drive even close to what I wanted - see the pic of the drive I bought - (white, slot loading with eject button).
The other drive was from ebay and not likely to be returnable as its my fault. I may have a use for it elsewhere though if I put it in an enclosure and make it an external USB drive.
I shall then look for a JAE drive that fits my need. Another lesson learnt.

:picard:picard:picard:picard:picard:picard:picard:picard:picard:picard:picard:Doh::Doh::Doh::Doh::Doh::Doh::Doh::Doh::Doh::Doh::Doh::Doh::Doh:

:roll:

check you mail bud just pm`d you :)

Thank you for the kind offer (it is appreciated), but I have not given up hope of a white slot loader yet, and already have a currently useless JAE adapter - just need the drive to fit it.
I shall put the nice white DVD one in an enclosure and find an alternate use for it, writing that off as a lesson learnt.

Blimey - finding a white slot loading IDE drive - even without the eject button I want - is proving extremely challenging. In fact even a suitable white/cream tray loading drive is challenging.
This is quite frustrating as I am caught in the modding fever currently.
Now, given that I do not expect to actually use this drive very much, and am doing this mainly 'because I can', do I wait in the hope of finding exactly what I want, or do I go with the drive I have got - which is exactly what I wanted except I cannot have the CDDA out and so would not be able to play audio cds directly to speakers? Hmmm. I rarely if ever play cds at home at all - everything is ripped and played via media players/phones/ipods etc.
If I have not found an alternative by the weekend then I suspect I will go with the drive I have as IMHO it does look rather cool.

I have a SATA-IDE adapter here, is that any use to you?

Thanks for the offer Steve - but I have one winging its way to me in the post already.
If I use it though, I lose the ability to play music CD's don't I? I am just weighing up how much of an issue - if at all - that is when weighed against the lack of suitable (in my mind) IDE drives.
You have/had a drive fitted - what do you reckon?

Right now I don't have my drive fitted but when I did there was no ausio either as I've not done any of the mods mentioned above. I was going to use it with the Prisma Soundcard when it comes out and I still might if I can't get a new top case for my A1200 I'll fabricate a bracket for the 3.5in hole I cut that will seat the audio connectors of the Prisma and my external CF card.

In this case I will put the CD drive back in and hook it bup to the Prisma for CD Audio from Games, I'm not interested in playing regulkar Audio CD's in my A1200 but the Games that have CDDA Music like T-Zer0 it's nice to hear it.

I guess without CD Audio it's fine for must stuff and to be honest I don't use a lot of CD's these days, everything is on the HDD with assigns.

I've got a slimline, slot-loading IDE optical drive with a JAE adapter on the back. You can have it. Totally free. The only downside is I don't think the bezel is beige. PM me if you want it.

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Originally Posted by AndyLandy

I've got a slimline, slot-loading IDE optical drive with a JAE adapter on the back. You can have it. Totally free. The only downside is I don't think the bezel is beige. PM me if you want it.

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Thank you for the very much appreciated offer - could you hold that thought for a few days? Having considered my options and read the replies above, I have formulated a plan:
1. I think I shall try out the Blog option on Amibay to detail all my endeavours, including all my stuff ups (perhaps as a warning to others)
2. I shall try to use the SATA drive that I have got (which I personally believe is a very good looking drive), and see how that works out. my SATA to IDE converter should be here tomorrow. If I cant get it all working by the weekend I may take you up on your offer.

Cheers
C.