IDE CDROM questions for TF536 with A2000.

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I understand this is possible, but I just wonder if anyone has advice about what kind of CDROMs will work with it? 

I've heard that you still use scsi.device even though it's IDE, but has me wondering if that's right. 

I'd love to hear any first hand experiences of A2000 owners who have done this successfully or otherwise.  I feel a bit disappointed when I learned that this accelerator would not work with SCSI cards, which means no ZIP or SCSI drives which I already own..  so I'm trying to at least get a CDROM working so I can install video toaster software and heck, check out other CD Media out there.

I was told this would be a good cable but being $25 I don't really want to buy it if it's not the right one.  https://www.ebay.com/itm/290822701631?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3D312cf8860fb749e8bf8d6f35ec6fda7e%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D15%26sd%3D353712720447%26itm%3D290822701631%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2380057%26brand%3DCablesOnline&_trksid=p2380057.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3A0dd8117f-294c-11ec-bb96-3a79b4d4a6f6%7Cparentrq%3A6710a5ba17c0a44c2b528d15fffb92bc%7Ciid%3A1

Thanks!
Caleb

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That's great.  Sounds promising.  Any word on knowing if a cable will work or not?  I heard something about unbuffered or buffered cables and want to be sure I get the right kind. 

I will have access to 1.3 2.05 3.1 and 3.2 on this system when everything arrives in the mail.  Hopefully 3.2 might have some advancements in this department? 

Thanks for confirming the cable.  yea I think the accelerator will be pretty close to the Drive bay so assuming this cable isn't too long for the voltage itself, I shouldn't need to extend it any further. 

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what is the significance of that +5 v to the card?  the cable you mean is this one i liked specifically?  i'm just making sure i don't get info mixed up. 

Good about 3.1 insight.  That's my personal preference as well.  Thanks for that tip!  I figure 3.2 has potential where it can be enhanced / updated vs. 3.1 being locked in time and nice that 3.0 got a chance to get a revision to work out the kinks of a significantly updated rom. 

"fake Gayle" IDE implementation. ?   what does that mean?  there is an IDE pin setup on the card.  how does this work?  do cd ide adapters have master/slave pins?  i know the cd rom would have to be the other of course..  assuming cf is master and cd rom would be slave. 

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awesome that's great to hear! This all sounds very promising.  i'll know more once i have the amiga 2000, which arrives this week.  I have the TF536 packed away.  I've been keeping it safe till i absolutely need to pull it out to install it. 

So yes 44 pins on the TF536.  So this means it provides power with the extra pins?  I also took a look at my card and it's 44pin and it does have master slave pins.. 

So with that knowledge it seems like this cable is good that was linked above right?  TF card (44pin) to CF Card set to Master (44pin) to CDROM (40pin) and only the CDROM would need A2000 direct power 4pin Molex cables.  If i'm not mistaken the TF card is installed in the middle of the machine..

OK yes so it sounds like I could try 3.1 or 3.2 to get it working.  I may start with 3.2 until i run into issues.  Sounds like it would be the fastest way just to see that it works.  I'm still partial to making 3.1 work with a little effort but if 3.2 out of the box should work I might start there. 

Would a DVD drive work? or should I stick to a strict CD ROM for success?  burning CDs easy with Amiga?  is that even a viable thing?  I've heard there is software that can, but i've never used any of it before. 

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what do you mean by "relocators"? 

when you refer to (that cable) you mean the original one i linked? 

I will have the CD ROM get it's power from the A2000 case.  I'm not sure how i could power the CF card without the 44 pin from the TF card.  I'm assuming that if the CDROM is powered externally this should mean the TF card is getting no more power stress than powering the CF Card itself, which I imagine is not that much power right?  it's not even a micro-drive, no moving parts. 

Are you maybe suggesting the Molex cable on the ribbon is intended to be plugged into the A2000 to get extra power?  it's a female receptor so it seems like that would SEND power to the cord, but dear lord I wouldn't want to send voltage to the card and do damage! 


Now regarding the length, I should be ok to use some kind of extender like this right? https://www.ebay.com/itm/270752545769?hash=item3f0a1bfbe9:g:SAIAAOSw~OVWznSJ 

As for cost / convenience, I will ask around, but its free shipping and i figure for it to be worth anyone's time and shipping from UK.. it's going to almost certainly get close to the same cost..  it IS expensive, but if it does the job it's a reasonable investment.   Just so long as it does the job right and doesn't hurt the computer in the process.

Thanks for the explanation about DVD and CD Maker. That is awesome that it could burn disks.  What would be a good speed for the amiga's IDE bus?  4x? 

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OK gotcha now.  I do have the relocator as a precaution but i may consider having it installed directly into the socket knowing that if the extension card proves to not be effective.  I am taking the unit in to a local repair person to replace the existing varta (hasn't started leaking yet) with a new one.  I like computers that can keep time. 

So yea seeing him having to get that into the system it probably would be pretty easy to install the accelerator into the socket, or is it still really tricky?  My A2000 arrives tomorrow so I'll have more concrete view of things. 

I am surprised that little additional copper would degrade the voltage that much but i know these are low voltages so i understand it's a thing because people are talking about it. 

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do you have a suggestion for a good sd hard drive alternative?  the TF came with the CF but frankly I'm partial to SD because it's newer..  CF is getting old and I imagine more prone to wear out sooner at this point. 

Yea i like to think this one is cleaner than most i've seen.  not to say it's immaculate.. it's not..  i figure some deoxit and a toothbrush will do the various slots some good.. 

the 68000 cpu is removable I take it?  if I did put the TF in the cpu slot..   in theory if I ever got a original accelerator (after selling a kidney) and i had the TF in the cpu.. would the other card effectively bypass it? 

I'm still a bit disappointed about this card not allowing me to use scsi. but the IDE option makes it ok..  I just gave up on any SCSI hopes and video flyer...  but obviously seeing the insanely steep prices of A2000 accelerators it was the sane solution. 

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So this is the one that AmigaKit came back saying I should get http://amigakit.amiga.store/adapter-cable-25cm-p-1289.html

So this looks about the same BUT it's actually shorter than the one I ordered.. and no power port..  would I damage something if i plugged one of my Molex connectors into that port on the ribbon?  Or would it provide helpful voltage to power the devices or might it zap something?

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to explain why TF doesn't work, the SCSI cards want to write to ram directly and apparently the zorro based cards can't reach the TF ram.. thats my understanding at least.  So flaw, but i'm sure it was necessary for efficiency and frankly my need for SCSI is fairly Niche for things like SCSI Flyer..  maybe some day someone will make a real big box accelerator like TF but with design that supports full DMA..

now i'm super paranoid (measure.. three times.. cut once) "It's fine to do that. Really." when you say that @Pat, you mean

     1. using the original cable I linked and to plug a Molex into it would be a good thing..  it's 3" longer than the one amigakit linked so that seems like that's a good thing or added flexibility.  but yea i guess a little more resistance.

     2. would you say if i do that it would be ok to use the accelerator adapter card, or better to go directly into the motherboard still?  or would having the Molex

so good news so far, box arrived and everything is in good shape physically.  i'll try to fire it up tonight.  Just juggling a few things while everyone is up and about in the house.  gotta clear some space off my workspace.. man these big boxes are really BIG.. heh. 

but yes probably everything will just work.. i'm just dealing with a lot of new things..  but TF for awhile is right out because i just have 1.3 WB..  and TF needs 3.1+ so waiting on new rom selector.. and a few other enhancements

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So I got the unit and it does boot!  See attached..  at least it shows disk.  I'm not 100% confident the primary floppy is good though as it didn't like most of the disks and the two that it seemed to do more than reject outright said it couldn't read them..

the other issue is that i have one of those usb/mouse adapters and trying it in the left and right slot (which one is ACTUALLY the mouse port?) when it was in that "can't read" view i could see the mouse but it wouldn't move.  I'm just not sure if my usb / mouse adapter is compatible with A2000..  it does work fine with my A1200..  so it's working, but maybe voltages are different or A2000 is more picky..  just hoping it's not bad joystick ports.

The three fingered salute worked so at least that works on the keyboard for sure.  Haven't gotten anything to run so i can test the keyboard.. 

battery is definitely leak free which is nice to see!  Will feel better when it's replaced. 

I have ADF to Floppy on my A1200 so tomorrow I'm going to make a fresh set of 1.3 disks and see if those fair better. 

I have not put the accelerator in and won't for awhile as without 3.1+ it effectively becomes a 7mhz 030 and no extra ram / hdd..  so no reason to stick it in till i have rom for it.

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ok thanks for that.. yea i figured out it was the left..  now i just hope its ok and it's just my usb adapter that doesn't work well with it.  do you know if there is a particularly good usb/ps2 adapter for the A2000 so I know I have something good?  I have one coming in the mail because i wanted to have one for my A1200 still.. but sadly it looks like it's the same one that I have now..  could it be that some usb optical mice don't work great with these usb to amiga mouse adapters?

IF the ports were for some reason bad, what chip would be responsible for that and how hard would it be to repair? 

Yes you are correct again the one on the right is the zero drive and what it tries to boot from.. but i have little confidence the disks I'm using.  Most are later 2.05 and later OS expecting disks..  i'm using the mono output for now..  which should show anything that comes out of the RGB port right?  just grayscale?  like if I booted from a lemmings disk (not that i have that game) I'd see everything just in b/w?

I haven't tried swapping the drives to see if maybe the other works better?  i have a disk cleaning disk I can pop in there to help insure the heads are clean..  the right drive seems to behave healthy.  sounds good but yea could be sick..  i've used pressured air to blow out dust from around the area and throughout the Box.  Nothing scary came out.. just some acceptable dust bunnies

Well according to the seller the TF cards work like this..   If no 3.1 or newer..  no ram..  no CF card..  and 030 defautls to 7mhz for compatibility..  so yea the card does still "work" without 3.1+ but i figure what's the point if nothing actually improves with it in..  so I'll keep the card out till I replace the rom..  and i have to install the denise scan doubler as well when it arrives

I didn't know about the hot key!  I will try that out tonight.. and swap the disk drives on the chance that left drive might be in better working order..

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@Pat I have a video toaster unfortunately so that's right out

I'll have to test some different mice.  i only tried one, though it was one that works with my A1200.  It's probably just that. 

I see a number of ps/2 to 9pin adapters like this one.. https://www.ebay.com/itm/383611674085?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=383611674085&targetid=1262779893289&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9001994&poi=&campaignid=13917593257&mkgroupid=128459893881&rlsatarget=pla-1262779893289&abcId=9300613&merchantid=113781450&gclid=Cj0KCQjwqp-LBhDQARIsAO0a6aI4nEdp1GJnICIgJgGYmT-cQAa_P2HklYz9J30ucAjzSGSKHIClE5AaAnIsEALw_wcB

I would feel better using a ps/2 mouse rather than usb just because i could see it being closer to the era.. less voltage expectation..

the 9 pin connectors are healthy.  so i don't think it's a connectivity issue, but i'll have to troubleshoot further

I have a 6.2 rev board.  So that also makes me feel more confident its the mouse not the motherboard.

Cool glad to know the visuals are 1:1 in all situations with composite (except grayscale)

Yea i'll take the drives out and give a good cleaning.  Lord knows they have earned it! 

Thanks for those shortcuts.. i've never used any of this even back when i was an exclusive user of the amiga.. heh.      the more you know! 

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yea understood about adapter.. figured as much.. was just checking.  no one would make amiga ps/2 adapters if existing pc adapters worked..  still pretty common.. 

so at this point i'm pretty sure it must be the fuse..  so i'm going to see about troubleshooting it and getting the fuse replaced..  i do need to first find out what pins have voltage and do a basic multimeter check.  if anyone knows which pins to check against i'd appreciate the tip! (ha! see what i did there?)

I need to take my box into a local repair guy to replace the varta.. i could probably do that myself but now that i know this fuse needs changing it just makes it that much better.. i'd rather pay someone more skilled with a soldering iron locally..   he's reasonable.  probably $40-50..   he's installed various composite mods for me for the same price.. and i'd rather do this than ship it at this point.. 

I can confirm as well that at least the L Amiga + arrow keys moves the cursor around as well..  so basically i need to service the two floppy drives, replace the fuse for the mouse.. i do wish i knew what caused the fuse to pop in the first place..  that bothers me some..  just because i don't want it to just pop again.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jz_UrKJKxM this was a nice video.. but there's also this video showing a shortcut (basically leaving the old fuse) which i see is pragmatic but i must say i kinda prefer doing the full replacement..  will have to check with my guy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syDCZh7U_XM

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if the CIA chip were bad could this cause no 5v?  I'm trying to pre-diagnose the issue before I take it to my guy who's not an amiga technician, but knows his way around a computer for sure, just makes the work quicker / more effective.. 

logic probe?  oh i see, i've never seen one of those before, just googled.  interesting.  I'll have to look into getting one of these.  I figured one of the pins has a constant +5 volt on it standard.. like pin 1 or something.. i just didn't want to start poking around with metal while on.. and zorch something..

So it's possible that a passive mouse like a ball mouse might actually work?