CDROM via Deneb in A4000D =D

[fitzsteve]

Yo Peeps,

Thought I'd share this with ya'll, I was thinking of another way connect the CDROM in my A4000D without using the onboard IDE.

I bought a cheap USB-IDE adapter off eBay and it works a treat connected to my Deneb USB

I connected it to my Debeb's internal USB port via a 4way hub which also connects my front USB/Card reader:

Device mounted!

Now to test some CD's

T0 didn't run, due to missing file - I guess due to the DOS renaming, I need to try another CD file system for this game

Tried another:

\o/ Dizzy FTW

 

[roy_bates]

come on fitzypoos,lets have some transfer speed tests

 

[LTAC]

Yo Steve,
Is it possible to have the name (or the link) of this USB-IDE adapter?
Many thanks!

 

[fitzsteve]

Hi!

This is the one I bought:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130701809705?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

You can get them cheaper from Chinese sellers but I chose a UK seller as I wanted it quickly

@Roy,

I can't get any benchmark software to work, SysInfo tries to read from the CDROM and then locks up the Amiga!

SysSpeed causes the device to time out.

In fact I'm actually getting lockups now when I mount the CDROM so need to do further testing.

I'll update when I try another CD File System

I get approx 6mb/sec from my external USB-2 HDD I use for storage, much faster than the native IDE, it's really awesome for moving data between SCSI and USB drives

 

[Peter]

What CD file system are you using Steve?

 

[roy_bates]

a bit OT steve,but do you know whats sort of transfer speeds to expect from a pci usb cards in a mediator?


using say,usb flash disks thumb drives etc.

i will probably get one of those adaptors you linked to as they come in handy for transfers.

 

[fitzsteve]

What CD file system are you using Steve?

Just the one supplied with Classic Workbench,(CDFileSystem) I have registered IDEFix and CacheCDFS here so might try those although I think the Elbox one requires Elbox hardware to be installed.

You know of any better free one?

---------- Post added at 14:57 ---------- Previous post was at 14:52 ----------

a bit OT steve,but do you know whats sort of transfer speeds to expect from a pci usb cards in a mediator?


using say,usb flash disks thumb drives etc.

i will probably get one of those adaptors you linked to as they come in handy for transfers.

I think it's about 3mb/sec mate, johnim will be able to confirm

 

[Xanxi]

I did that also on my A2000's Deneb. However i haven't been able to burn a CD with MakeCD. It does not recognize that device. I removed it because i have no use for a CD reader now.
Are you able to burn a disk? Fryingpan maybe (didn't try it)?
What is the read speed compared to IDE?

 

[roy_bates]

hmm,3mb's a sec steve.that aint too bad.

just waiting for the card to turn up,i have to be pateint though because of the weather.

ive never had usb in an amiga before so it'll be fun

funny thing is when i tried a scsi pci card that was 3mb's a sec too,i wonder if any of thesee cards take advantage of dma?

EDIT: did you get the card reader from ebay as well steve,ive got a couple in watching but one more wont go a miss.if you could link to it mate(yours looks better to be honest,ive also got to get a conveter for the bay because its for 3.5 inch)

 

[Peter]

I use CacheCDFS when connecting my External USB CD Rom to my Subway - works ok although audio CD's don't work as I recall... I use the usbscsi.device

 

[arnljot]

Kudos! That is some sweet set up in terms of mass storage and effective moving of files between the Amiga and the rest of the world. Very good.

 

[fitzsteve]

Hey guys!

I made some more progress

I tested CacheCDFS and AllegroCDFS, can't use the Elbox one as I though due to no Elbox hardware installed... However CacheCDFS (from IDEFix97) works ok.

I found the cause of the lockups, I can't benchmark in DMA mode, I have to set the Demeb in PIO mode. I was then able to benchmark with SysInfo (but still not the CD via SysSpeed as it caused the USB stack to drop out)

Here's the Benchmark for the CD read speed:

I thought 3mb/sec isn't too shabby compared to the onboard IDE...

In this setup my USB HDD gets just over 4mb/sec:

And SysSpeed benchmarks it at around 5mb/sec:

I also solved the problem with T-Zer0, it shows up correct if I use AmiCDFS from Aminet:

I'm really please with the results, thanks for the kind words arnljot

This is turning out to be a great all round setup, when I'm flicking around Workbench and playing Games it's easy to forget there's only an 030 in there!

 

[Xanxi]

What about burning discs? Any success?

 

[fitzsteve]

What about burning discs? Any success?

I have no desire to burn any CD's with this system, only to read them

 

[arnljot]

Moving big data out can be done with the mass storage devices (mem cards). Making Amiga spesific roms mostly is done from existing iso images I'd suspect, in those rare cases where one has legit need to do that. Then a Win/*nix or Mac would be faster... Time shouldn't be spent burning CDs, but rather spent playing Napalm or T-Zero

 

[fitzsteve]

@Roy,

I bought one of these to use with my Subway in the A4000T, it worked well but I had to modify the connector block as it was standard PC 9pin type:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/350245170932?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

This one is pretty useful if you have proper USB socket inside like the Deneb had (some Spider do too)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/320385314133?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

I probably have a spare 5.5-3.5 bay caddy if you need it (yours for free)

This is the USB Hub I use:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-2-0-H...t=UK_Computing_USB_Cables&hash=item4d08cccc18

You get what you pay for lol, it needs resetting to pick up the card reader but it seems solid enough once it's running

USB on Amiga is underrated, a lot of people use just for thumb drives and mice but the USB stack it really powerful and can do all sorts of awesome stuff, for example mounting the CD is all done by the USB stack, you don't need any mount list or CD0: in Devs, etc.

You just need a CD File system in L:

Here's the one that I got to work with T-Zer0

http://aminet.net/package/disk/cdrom/amicdfs240

I didn't bother with the installer, I just dropped the files in the right places

 

[Xanxi]

This is the USB Hub I use:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-2-0-H...t=UK_Computing_USB_Cables&hash=item4d08cccc18

I would recommend this better internal powered hub that i use in my A2000.
No power problem at all for my USB ports. Good enough to power an external hard drive or external USB floppy drive with ease.

 

[roy_bates]

cheers steve, ive put them all in watching,i might go for the second one as it saves a bit of hacking.


EDIT: hey steve, do you know the max harddrive size fat95 can use? ive got a 1tb usb drive do you think it will see it?
probably not but its worth a laugh and giggle.

 

[fitzsteve]

cheers steve, ive put them all in watching,i might go for the second one as it saves a bit of hacking.


EDIT: hey steve, do you know the max harddrive size fat95 can use? ive got a 1tb usb drive do you think it will see it?
probably not but its worth a laugh and giggle.

Isn't it 32gb for Fat32? I think you can have lots of 32gb partitions tho

---------- Post added at 19:06 ---------- Previous post was at 19:05 ----------

@Xanxi

That Hub looks nice, I'll take a look

I tried MakeCD, it don't find a suitable scsi.device

 

[roy_bates]

its formatted for fat32 the whole 1 tb drive is seen

i use it for backup's ~cough~ and videos on my ps3