A4000 4-Device IDE Interface From Amiga Kit

[amigakit]

A4000™ 4-Device IDE interface - new revision 3

Compatible with the Commodore Amiga 4000 Desktop or A4000T.
 
The standard Commodore Amiga 4000 is supplied with a single IDE  connector as standard allowing only two IDE devices to be connected.   This interface overcomes this factory limitation by providing two IDE  connectors. Each IDE interface allows two devices so with this adapter a  total of up to 4x IDE devices is possible.
 
Features 2x 40-pin IDE connectors (primary/secondary) and 1x 40-pin IDE  connector to link to original Amiga motherboard IDE interface.
 
The 40-way (3.5") IDE cable to connect this adapter to the Amiga  motherboard IDE connector can be optionally added below at various  lengths.
 
 To use the secondary port, third party software such as IDEFIX software package should be installed.


Direct Product Link:


http://amigakit.amiga.store/product_info.php?products_id=599

[AndyFC]

What a great price!

Please can you tell me if it will work in an A1200 with a 2.5 to 3.5" ide ribbon cable?

[amigakit]

Hi

Thanks for the kind words.  We are working on providing low cost quality Amiga hardware and keeping market prices down to sensible levels for our hobby.

Yes it will work with a 2.5"->3.5" adapter on Amiga 1200.

[AndyFC]

Thanks for the fast reply. I'm awaiting delivery of an IDE to SD card adapter (ebay) so if it works with my A1200 I'll be ordering this so I can use it with my HD and CD ROM.

Your approach to cost is brilliant and really appreciated.

[amigakit]

Thanks a lot for your words of encouragement.

We have been the main supplier of Amiga hardware for 15 years and we have recently noticed in the last few years there are a lot of hobbyist / part time resellers emerging.  A lot of the hardware they are selling is not of commercial quality.  Of course this is fully understandable as it is assembled by "bedroom" sellers.  What concerns us is that with the lower quality standards, the hardware also has high price points.  The market prices have gone up a lot in the same period of time that hobbyist / part time sellers have starting supplying to our community.

To counteract this problem, we are producing a dozen quality Amiga hardware product lines in the next few months with low pricing.  We hope this will restore quality levels in the marketplace and reduce price inflation of Amiga products we all need for our hobby.

[Rob]

The A4000 has buffered IDE while the A1200 and A600 do not.  In the past the magazines and dealers tended to advise against using long cables without a buffered IDE interface although I quick google brought up some conflicting anecdotal evidence.  I'm just wondering if you've tested this interface with an A1200 in various usage cases and can confirm that end users will have no problems. 

[amigakit]

We recommend buffered IDE interface for Amiga 1200 when using long cables. We are working on that project now.    However with short adapter cabling this does work. 

[TenWheeler]

Already order one for my 4000.

Thank you for offering all these great products.


  On the buffered topic was the DataFlyer XDS buffered?  If I remember correctly it had a long cable.

[amigakit]

@TenWheeler

Many thanks for the order and supporting our hardware projects.

I am quite sure that the DataFlyer XDS did not have any buffering circuitary.

[AndyFC]

Thank you Amigakit!

I ordered my 4-device IDE interface at lunchtime yesterday and it arrived in the post this morning.

I've set it up with the HD and CD-ROM on the first channel and the SD to IDE adapter on the second and it all seems to be working brilliantly. I'm just copying from the CD to the SD adapter to test sustained load and it's done 200MB so far without crashing.

If anyone else is thinking of doing what I have, and using this with an A1200, I'd recommend it but don't go too long on the IDE cables. I have 25cm ones from the board to the IDE devices, and Amigakit 2.5 inch to 2 x 3.5" IDE between the Amiga and the interface (with the interface on the first connector). Any longer cables and I'd get random crashes.

[amigakit]

Thanks for the feedback, glad package arrived fast and safely.