the one with all those other slots, too? over $60? these two details are just fine, as long as this is really the most well-suited answers.* are they easy to install? just plug it up and go, or are additional drivers needed? sorry if i ask a dumb question; I'm trying to expect the unexpected, since amiga hardware seems to have some strange magic to it (always "advanced", i don't doubt for a moment).
*my primary internet connection is currently the one on my cellphone, so let me know if i overlooked what you were referring to. don't worry, I'll have full internet by the time i make my decision and place an order. i used a footnote on a forum, woohoo.
also, if my asking doesnt stray too far from the original topic, what would i need to replace the floppy drive with, if it does turn out to be broken? some special floppy drive, or just a "regular" one? floppy drive specs have always confused me, other than "ya plug it in and turn it on." if anyone can explain a brief bit on that (it's double density, yet so-and-so-hundred-K rather than more than that? are these those blue floppies i find everywhere?), two birds would get taken down by one stone, and i might bypass NEEDING the card interface... although it wouldn't bypass the WANTING of one (:
As they said above,the only options for the A2000 is a scsi to ide bridge(usually costs more),A ide controller(costs more and is out of production-used market only),A Algor,algor pro, or deneb USB card(Deneb out of production recently,algors long since out of production).
this leaves the scsi card readers(assuming your A2000 has a scsi card).
Most controllers like the 2091(6.6 or later rom recommended),gvp work(4.15 rom) or scsi off the accelerator(gvp,warp engine,blizzard etc..
For the most part,you set the jumpers on the reader(device # and termination) and plug it into the scsi controller.Device #0 is best in most cases,as some have buggy LUN support on different devices.
SCSI Card readers
-----------------
LUNS are logical unit numbers, they are simply a way for the card reader to address the other card slots,under the same device number,for example, the PCD-50B scsi card reader:
device 0,lun0 is the pcmcia slot (use a pcmcia->cf adapter here for xtra cf slot-also needed on some controllers that don't support LUNS)
device 0,lun 1 is the compact flash slot
device 0,lun 2 is the Smart media card slot
device 0,lun 3 is the SD/MMC slot
device 0,lun 4 is sony memory stik
Luns were invented so you could have multiple devices under 1 scsi device# and not use up all 7 of your scsi ID's (this applies to narrow,50 pin scsi).
If your controller cannot support luns,you must use the scsi reader with the pcmcia to cf adapter with a cf in this slot. you will not have access to the other slots.this still makes for a fine compact flash scsi hard drive.
If your controller supports LUNS correctly,it is possible to use all the above slots. you could even set each different card up with a different OS and select them at boot time from the early startup. You could put mac/pctask emulation on them-a safe way to do this and never endanger your main amiga boot system. The best thing is at any time you can change cards
NOTE: on a good scsi controller,All cards are hot swappable(can be changed with power on!) EXCEPT the card you booted from(Never remove the os card while powered-this will not cause any hardware damage,but can scramble the OS).AmigaOS 3.1 will see these card swaps just fine.
The biggest trouble you are likely to have with it is the software side,using HDtoolbox to partition and format the card.Its not particularly hard,but to a beginner it can be daunting.I am happy to help with this.
Cammy has already scolded me for not having a guide. i just never seem to have time. As you can see,with my grammar,punctuation,etc,no one could understand it(much like franko) lol.
Notes on CF cards:
------------------
If you have to do one thing,BUY a quality CF. The biggest problems i have had selling these scsi readers is people who want to use their own cf cards. they have either bought a cheap,crappy counterfiet off ebay(tons of fake cards on ebay which cause tons of problems) or some no name card.Many of these cards do not support the IDE protocols right.some are hacked cards relabeled and are not the true capacity,they scramble when you try and access the full amount.
Some CF's are set as the factory as "REMOVEABLE" only and no matter what you do you cannot get them to work as a hard drive. the factory has a utility to change this,but rarely give them out!. If in doubt buy a 2Gb transcend i have or a good sandisk/transcend elsewhere,its worth saving yourself the grief. note some kingstons are problematic.the kingston pro cards seem to be ok,but the cheaper models can be hit or miss. I have also had reports that some newer kingstons(red labels)266x are set as removeable only.kingston will not give out the tool to fix this!
This is not to say that there are not many generic cards that will work because there are.Sandisk is the most counterfieted card BTW. Buy from companies like newegg if inside the USA.
Floppy Drives
------------
The A2000 uses 880K double density drives.they can read/write 720K ibm formatted floppies). Many floppy drives on amiga that are condemmed are not always bad. What happens is there is a worm screw off the stepper motor that moves the head has old lithium grease on this can get hard and literally stop the head from moving.cleaning this grease off (use a toothpick)and re-lubing it carefully(use very little lithium grease here!)can sometimes revive it.Also,clean the read/write heads carefully with isopropyl alcohol and a cotton swab(don't use the gin you are drinking) while you are there.sometimes its just a case of someone used a bad disk in the drive and the oxide off the bad disk clogged the head up and it won't read.
assuming this is good, connect it back up(be sure to use the right cable connector. try both if you are unsure. the red stripe on the cable should face the side of the drive with no power connector.Verify the cable is also plugged into the motherboard correctly-the red stripe should be aligned with the "1" printed on the motherboard.If none of this works,a replacement floppy is the chinon fb-354..commonly found in the A500(missing the face plate) or the A3000 (missing faceplate). Just swap your A2000 faceplate and button to them and they work fine.Ebay is probabaly your only hope to find one or on amiga forums.
hope that helps some
mech
