using IDE68K board and 4mb/8mb fastmem board

[kipper2k]

hi all,

I have been giving some thought as to how to implement the IDE68K board with my fastmem board and have the following thoughts.

due to different A500 revisions, the location of the IDE68k board and my 4mb/8mb fastmem board need to sit as far back in the a500 as possible to allow closing of the case. I intend on leaving the design of the fastmem board as is (people who have already bought the fastmem board will probably be happy to hear this) and also leave the a500 CPU adapter as is.

This will mean that i will redesign the IDE68k board (Thanks MKL ) and i will either...

- implement a 44 pin header so that people can plug in their own CF cards on their adapters,
- add a CF card header to the board, or
- both
- add a RTC clock (using 6v non rechargable lithium battery)

It all depends on board size and ease of design. As i think you all know i have been pretty busy and i am trying to juggle various projects so progress can be slow.

As to when this will be done, i am hoping about 4 - 6 weeks for design and then a couple of weeks for a few test boards so no earlier than April.

Any thoughts, let me know

 

[fitzsteve]

This is one I've been looking forward to especially now we know the ACA500 is going to be an external design.

I'd say forget the clock unless it's really cheap to implement.

CF adapter + IDE header be good in case someone wants to use a real HDD although I'd be happy with just a CF adapter.

All we need really is a cheap simple solution for some IDE and extra Ram on the A500 so this would be ideal and an internal solution is something that interests me.

Keep up the great work.

Steve.

 

[alexh]

The design should be made to be compatible physically with the CDTV. Do you have one for measuring space etc? I'm sure there are enough of us CDTV owners who could help.

I imagine that the same goes for the A2000.

You can probably support all 3 in one form factor without compromising? Get us some full scale PCB outlines we can print to paper and we can overlay them in our machines.

 

[kipper2k]

i think it will work with the CDTV and A2000 using the a1000 risers. I'll try to confirm before i start routing the traces

 

[TjLaZer]

IMHO I would redesign it so you don't have to use a CPU adaptor, thats kind of an ugly hack isn't it? It would seem to me that the CPU adaptors should be for the A1000/CDTV users, not the A500.

 

[roy_bates]

i wouldnt worry too much about the rtc,maybe you could have it as a option where the components could simply be added later.


as for ide or cf or both(yep,im one of those that prefers real phisical drives to cf's for drives)its upto you there,it doesent really matter.
any drive that goes inside an a500 is a bonus.a nice one.

 

[velourfog]

Nice that you are working on this kipper, I think you are on the right track with an internal design.

My thoughts:

Skip RTC or keep it optional. Most users will have a A500+ or a trapdoor expansion which already have RTC anyways?

A standard IDE header is probably best, then people can choose what they want to connect, just make sure a CF adapter still fits.

Do you think it would be possible to support the IDE for older Kickstarts like 1.3->2.04?

Also agree with TjLaZer, avoid the adaptor if possible.

 

[kipper2k]

Nice that you are working on this kipper, I think you are on the right track with an internal design.

My thoughts:

Skip RTC or keep it optional. Most users will have a A500+ or a trapdoor expansion which already have RTC anyways?

A standard IDE header is probably best, then people can choose what they want to connect, just make sure a CF adapter still fits.

Do you think it would be possible to support the IDE for older Kickstarts like 1.3->2.04?

Also agree with TjLaZer, avoid the adaptor if possible.

Te RTC can be optional. The adapter will still be necessary because of where the CPU and ide68k would sit which is on the slope of the case which means there are height limitations so if you have IDE cables and slots that sit there it would make it a tight fit so one way or another it would need to move towards the back of the case...

People are using patched 1.3 ROMs with the IDE68K so that shouldnt be a problem

 

[velourfog]

Hm, I'm not sure I understand what will be different in your design from mkl's? Besides the RTC.

Patched ROM yes, but I supposed stock 1.3-2.04 still will not be supported then?

 

[mfilos]

Patched ROM yes, but I supposed stock 1.3-2.04 still will not be supported then?

How can they be supported when the stock ROMS don't have scsi.device inside?
This is what the patched ROM do.... they include the scsi.device and IDE6k is doing a Gayle (which found in A600) emulation alas the IDE works!

kipper2k's design is based on the IDE68k schematic. Someone could make a board that could possibly have the autoconfig ability to boot (like other accelerators like viper did) but there's no reason to reinvent the wheel when you can easily have an updated ROM... almost free

 

[luy32]

@kipper2k

I think, with all the goodies that u have designed, u should start to redesign the a500 mb
everything in one place, the 8mb fastmem, ide, usb(ps/2) mouse port etc.etc.

just a thought

 

[kipper2k]

Hm, I'm not sure I understand what will be different in your design from mkl's? Besides the RTC.

Patched ROM yes, but I supposed stock 1.3-2.04 still will not be supported then?

It is MKL's design, his design does noyt have the 44 pin header or a CF card header on it. i am just wanting to add CF card capability to it by adding a CF card header and as Mfilos has already stated it can use the patched roms. Nothing spectacular but i think useful

 

[protek]

Hm, I'm not sure I understand what will be different in your design from mkl's? Besides the RTC.

Patched ROM yes, but I supposed stock 1.3-2.04 still will not be supported then?

It is MKL's design, his design does noyt have the 44 pin header or a CF card header on it. i am just wanting to add CF card capability to it by adding a CF card header and as Mfilos has already stated it can use the patched roms. Nothing spectacular but i think useful

An older revision IDE68k had the CF reader. Wonder why MKL left it out.

 

[mfilos]

CF reader got in the way in case you had an Indivision ECS unless you put another socket underneath.
IIRC with the extra socket there's a change that the keyboard could touch the 68000 CPU mounted on top of the IDE68k.

 

[amigean]

any update on this? Really looking forward to it! As I am sure others are too

 

[rkauer]

Any news on this, Brian?

 

[kipper2k]

Any news on this, Brian?

I put out feelers about this as i am wondering if interest would be high enough with Jens releasing the ACA500. The price on this would probably be about $69 and if an adapter board is required mabbe another $9.

How does the price sound? I can now actually redesign it to be similar to the a600 design in that it would have configurable ram 0, 1.5, 4, 5.5, and 8mb ram

If there is enough interest then i will go ahead, i really need about minimum 25 to make it worth my while. The designing is not hard, its the verifying prototypes that takes the while

 

[fitzsteve]

Hey Brian, I think there will be a market for it as it's internal and the ACA is external plus with the ACA you need to buy another board (i.e ACA1220/1232 to make it worth while)

Will your board need soldering like the old IDE68k?

Many people I'm sure would rather an internal solution with more memory as standard.

Not only that yours should work with A1000/CDTV right?

 

[amigean]

This is effectively a clean solution that converts unexpandable Amiga 500s into mean WHDLoad machines and makes them much more useable with a range of productivity software too. Judging by the popularity of HxC which sells at slightly above your estimated price, I think there should be demand for many more than 25.

Myself I would take one for A500 and, if it's compatible, 1 for CDTV.

 

[kipper2k]

This is effectively a clean solution that converts unexpandable Amiga 500s into mean WHDLoad machines and makes them much more useable with a range of productivity software too. Judging by the popularity of HxC which sells at slightly above your estimated price, I think there should be demand for many more than 25.

Myself I would take one for A500 and, if it's compatible, 1 for CDTV.

With the new design that allows multiple mem configs then i see no reason why it wouldnt work in all 68K processors. It will still need the 2 wires to the motherboard as they are not signals attached to the CPU. I would try to make the solution as easy as possible for those who have not soldered before. It isn't a hard thing to do. If the board sits too low or wrong angle for some of the other Amigas then a combination of risers/adapters can make it work.

In the 1.5mb config, it actually gives you memory at $c00000 which is what is needed for some of the older games so that may be a bonus. and of course case jumpers or even a key press could actually set memory... (I would definately need help for the latter option)

Also, due to the fact it does not use an Altera PLCC then it might actually fit inside all A500's without an adapter like what is needed in the Rev 5's to allow the case to close