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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: BraindeaD on April 18, 2008, 06:28:11 AM

Title: Compact Flash as HD in Amiga500?
Post by: BraindeaD on April 18, 2008, 06:28:11 AM

Hi there!

I've used the search but I can find nothing about it.
Can I use a compact flash as Hard Disk unit, in an Amiga 500 with kickstart 1.3?
If it is possible, anybody can explain how? What I need (what kind of card adapter, and so)?

Thank you!
Regards.

PS: sorry for my bad english

Title: Re: Compact Flash as HD in Amiga500?
Post by: Terse on April 18, 2008, 06:33:38 AM

You need a CF to IDE adapter and then an IDE host controller on the A500.  There are not many out there (maybe 1 or 2 internal like the ICD and 1 or 2 external side expansions)
Alternately, if you can get a slightly more common external SCSI sidecar-style controller for the A500 (Dataflyer, Supra, Commodore, GVP, etc) you could go CF -> IDE adapter -> SCSI bridge.

Title: Re: Compact Flash as HD in Amiga500?
Post by: countzero on April 18, 2008, 06:34:40 AM

you need either ;

1- SCSI A500 sidecar (A590, GVP A500HD+) - SCSI*IDE adapter - IDE*CF adapter

2- IDE A500 sidecar (AlfaData and such) - IDE*CF adapter

alternatively, you can try ICD 68000 socket IDE addons. Or mrkl's 68k IDE adapter, but it requires kickstart 2.350 minimum (3.1 recommended).

Title: Re: Compact Flash as HD in Amiga500?
Post by: BraindeaD on April 18, 2008, 03:03:01 PM

Thanks for the answers, I'll try to find something to provide an IDE or SCSI port to my a500.

Thanks for the help!

Title: Re: Compact Flash as HD in Amiga500?
Post by: motorollin on April 18, 2008, 03:09:32 PM

You can also make one... (http://aminet.net/package/docs/hard/a500ide)

--
moto

Title: Re: Compact Flash as HD in Amiga500?
Post by: pyrre on April 18, 2008, 03:20:42 PM

@ Moto

If someone put the ide.device for this particular controller inside the kickstart. Would it then be possible to autoboot from it?
Or would you have to do more than just that?

Title: Re: Compact Flash as HD in Amiga500?
Post by: Ilwrath on April 18, 2008, 03:39:11 PM

Quote

1- SCSI A500 sidecar (A590, GVP A500HD+) - SCSI*IDE adapter - IDE*CF adapter

2- IDE A500 sidecar (AlfaData and such) - IDE*CF adapter

Or,
3- SCSI A500 sidecar (A590, GVP A500HD+) - SCSI*CF Media reader/writer.  

They're available for keyboards and samplers (so they work without needing custom drivers).  They're a little rare, but this site (http://scsiforsamplers.com/) claims to be selling them...

Title: Re: Compact Flash as HD in Amiga500?
Post by: motorollin on April 18, 2008, 03:42:50 PM

Quote

pyrre wrote:
If someone put the ide.device for this particular controller inside the kickstart. Would it then be possible to autoboot from it?
Or would you have to do more than just that?

I don't know. I know that there are autobooting interfaces for the A500, but I would guess their BIOS would do more than just make the device available to the system.

--
moto

Title: Re: Compact Flash as HD in Amiga500?
Post by: rkauer on April 18, 2008, 06:53:08 PM

 If the user are smart enough, there is way to put a reset-survivor driver in RAM: to start from the HD in the second soft-reset, using the driver in a special boot floppy.

Title: Re: Compact Flash as HD in Amiga500?
Post by: pyrre on April 18, 2008, 07:59:41 PM

@ rkauer

Quote

using the driver in a special boot floppy.

I would like to avoid that. And boot it from the harddrive itself...

@ moto

How complex is the task of adding a bios to this or similar devices....?