CompactFlash.device how-to?

[paul1981]

I read this thread and am very confused!

Me too, especially today lol

[RedWarrior]

I think you said earlier RedWarrior that your A600 worked fine with a CF adapter and card - are you using the same CF card and CF adapter now as you did with the A600?

Yes. I have 2 adaptors and 2 cards... One of those CF cards was the guts of my A600, so it's out of action for now... I could put any old card into the a600 and it would at least give me an icon CFO:NDOS.

I'm confused about the comment from Thomas earlier suggesting it could be hardware or a bent pin on the a1200... Especially since Prepcard can identify the CF card... It's just workbench and the system that refuses to assign an icon and let me access the device.

I hope this misery and frustration is going to benefit someone else some day... =)

[SACC-guy]

You still did NOT clarify...

Are you using a ide to cf adaptor with a proven cf card?
In this case, you use Hdtoolbox to format the cd card as a hard drive replacement!

And Are you using a PCMICA adaptor with a second cf card formatted as "fat"
In this case, you format the cf card with a pc using "fat" and you need several files for the amiga, like fat96 in the "L" drawer.

The easy thing is just to buy either or both, a setup ready to go cf card set from AmigaKit!

[RedWarrior]

Cardreset usage?
The readme for cardreset is confusing... It says: "A PC Card must be plugged within the PCMCIA slot."

It also says it should be run as part of the startup-sequence... and I'm told to not insert the PCMCIA card until workbench is loaded?

Have run the command from a shell window: "cardreset TICKS 300"
(nothing happens... new line in shell)

I tried "cardreset TICKS 300 FORCE"
(nothing happens... new line in shell)

Is it meant to return some data? :-/

[RedWarrior]

You still did NOT clarify...

Are you using a ide to cf adaptor with a proven cf card?
In this case, you use Hdtoolbox to format the cd card as a hard drive replacement!

And Are you using a PCMICA adaptor with a second cf card formatted as "fat"
In this case, you format the cf card with a pc using "fat" and you need several files for the amiga, like fat96 in the "L" drawer.

The easy thing is just to buy either or both, a setup ready to go cf card set from AmigaKit!

Sorry- this has been a multi-step process and I did get confused briefly there while trying multiple options.

Hard drive situation is sorted. IDE>CF converter working just fine... (another thread has my cheering reaction to this success)

PCMCIA situation is NOT sorted, and as such- my Amiga is completely isolated from the world.

I have Fat95 in the l drawer. Which "other files" are you referring to? I have compactflash.device in Devs and the CF0 file in devs/dosdrivers...

A card formatted as Fat or fat 32 or NTFS or whatever should still show an icon in workbench... worst case should be CF0:NDOS... but I'm not even getting the worst case outcome here.

Hardware seems fine- pins all ok and Prepcard even identifies when a CF is connected to PCMCIA... So why isn't the system detecting a card? :-/

[SACC-guy]

It's why I asked if you had a "proven" cf card!
Some cf cards don't work. And Anything over 4 gigs needed extra care.

I use a AmigaKit set of a ide to cf adaptor with a pre-formatted 4 gig cf in three partitions.

Also from AmigaKit, My PCMICA adaptor to cf card is only 128 megs (plenty for Amiga)
The great thing was the install disk AmigaKit included in the set. It had all the files and installed them in the right places!

[RedWarrior]

It's why I asked if you had a "proven" cf card!
Some cf cards don't work. And Anything over 4 gigs needed extra care.

I use a AmigaKit set of a ide to cf adaptor with a pre-formatted 4 gig cf in three partitions.

Also from AmigaKit, My PCMICA adaptor to cf card is only 128 megs (plenty for Amiga)
The great thing was the install disk AmigaKit included in the set. It had all the files and installed them in the right places!

I don't think you've been following as closely as the others here- this is not an issue with IDE>CF. That part is already working fine. This is a PCMCIA issue. I shouldn't need to be buying new cards that have worked fine before.

Also- this keeps getting weirder. I just removed the Boot drive contents and replaced with the old installation- mounted CF0: and tried to open it... No disk present. Then I swapped CF cards with a 16GB card I didn't expect to work at all and it gave me a DIFFERENT ERROR: "Not a DOS disk". Which is awesome, right?!  Though still no disk icon on workbench...

When I switched back to the newer install- same "No disk present" error, no matter which CF card I had in there.

I think I need a different Workbench install- a reliable one... The WINUAE one is just dodgy perhaps...

Where might I find the Workbench 3.1 install disks? (still gotta run this through winuae)

Thanks again guys =)

[RedWarrior]

I'm 99% certain this is not hardware... I just pulled another Amiga 1200 out of the garage to confirm. This one I'd used and confirmed CF (PCMCIA) was working when it had its old hard drive in it. So there's some weird bugs in the Workbench install I think...

[SACC-guy]

True, I read thru the entire thread at once. I wasn't following because your starts and stops confused me. So I asked a first base question to get to "some" understanding.

Now, if it's software... what are the clues?

Without the cf card in the PCMICA adaptor...does the system boot from the internal cf card, which should be device CF0: (?)

If after the system boots to workbench, what do you see in the shell when you type "info"?

[paul1981]

@RedWarrior

He (Thomas) means check the PCMCIA card slot on the A1200. Shine a torch in the side and just make sure there's no missing or bent pins. Just because it shows up in PrepCard doesn't necessarily mean that all of your pins are good.

http://aminet.net/package/disk/misc/cfd

Are you using the latest CF0 and compactflash.device from the above link? Did you edit your CF0 earlier? If so please try the one direct from the above link.

[Thomas]

(nothing happens... new line in shell)

You shouldn't ignore my posts and answer my questions.
http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?p=813273#post813273

And I agree with the others. You confuse people by jumping forth and back like you don't know what you're doing.

If you constantly change the starting position, it is difficult to follow a logical track.

I think I need a different Workbench install- a reliable one... The WINUAE one is just dodgy perhaps...

There is no Workbench coming with WinUAE. WinUAE is a free product under GPL license. Workbench is a commercial product, it is illegal to distribute it without a license.

If you've got Amiga Forever (which includes a workbench-311.hdf), Workbench install disks are included (as ADF files).

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Where might I find the Workbench 3.1 install disks?

Here you go, for the princely sum of $14.25 USD:

http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1211

Also, this thread is nuts.  I can't even.  Might want to start over and clearly re-state exactly what you're trying to do, lol.  

[SACC-guy]

OH! OH! OH! I know.
Red has a 600 which had a cf card as hard drive.
Red has a 1200 which has a bad floppy drive and moved his cf card over from his 600.
So Red tried to set up a cd card with winuae on a pc and plug it into his PCMICA slot.
It didn't work and he tried to make other things work instead!

[giZmo350]

You are correct Sir! :laugh1:

Gimmeeeee 5!

[utri007]

It isn't difficult - >

Copy - >
System:devs/compactflash.device
Copy - >
System:devs/dosdrivers/CF0
System:devs/dosdrivers/CF0.info

Done - Z CF card should work now - >

Copy - >
System:l/fat95

Done - Z Fat/Fat32 formated cf cards should work now.

Copy CarReset and CardPatch to you System:c folder
http://aminet.net/package/util/boot/CardPatch
http://aminet.net/package/util/boot/CardReset

Add these lines to you startup-sequence, after setpatch
C:CardPatch
C:CardReset

No other swicthes or options needed

Get small CF card like 128mb, or something like that. Format it to use FAT16 not FAT32

Open command prompt on your Win machine, type format E: (<-correct drive letter to this) /FS:Fat

If it doesn't work, you card is wrong / not supported, OR pins inside of PCMCIA connector on your Amiga is bend OR you are doing it worng