HDD equipped A500 - which WB ?

[nickoteen]

Hi,
 
The wait is over. My IDE68K has finally arrived. I haven't installed it yet (waiting for some peace and quiet time for myself, this weekend most probably), so I was wandering, what WB are you guys using on your hdd equipped A500s ?
 
I plan on installing whdload and .. erm, a bunch'o'stuff. Not sure yet.
I'm one of those "new" Amiga users who lacks the expirience/knowledge of the "golden era". What else would be worth having on my A500 ? Recommendations most welcome.
 
Thanks in advance.

[nickoteen]

I must say I don't follow. I contacted Mika, asked about the board and three weeks later, give or take, it arrived. V402. 48 euros, shipping included.

[nickoteen]

Oh, yeah, ks 3.1, 8 MB RAM.

[nickoteen]

Thanks ya all. ChaosLord, this is what you wanted:
 
 http://www.students.tut.fi/~leinone3/ide/ide68k.html
 http://www.students.tut.fi/~leinone3/ide/i68k.html
 
But it's not really that new of a product. It's been around for some time now. djos has one, if I'm not mistaken. Mine is v402, prior to it, there have been other revisions of the board, so I don't see why it wouldn't work. Will let you know as soon as I hook it up.

[nickoteen]

Install ClassicWB then. It is already set up for WHDLoad (unregistered). Just download the game packs, copy the Kickstart images into the correct folder and off you go.
 
You'll want the 68K version for your A500:
 
http://classicwb.abime.net/classicweb/68k.htm
 
I use this one on my Minimig, Chameleon64 and FPGA Arcade. It is very easy to set up using WinUAE. Just follow the instructions carefully and then transplant the drive into your Amiga.

Uhm, Darrin, a little help here please.
 
I've dl-ed the Classic WB 68K as you suggested, and managed to set it up under WinUAE without a hussle. But, how do I transfer that System.hdf to my CF card ? I'm clueless.
 
I can add my card as a hard drive under WinUAE, and it says it a 399 MB drive (the CF itself is 4 GB). I tried using HDSetup and HDTools that reside on WB 3.0 install disk, but neither of them managed to partition my card. The card is either invisible or I get a message similar to: Error - this drive cannot be partitioned.
 
The installation of a WB 3.0 (again, under WinUAE) to the 399MB (why 399 MB I don't know) partition went thru. After removing all floppies and reseting WinUAE, I sucessfully booted into WB 3.0 (took only 4 MBs on the card). How to partition the card ? What's the largest partition size I can use under WB.
 
A bus full of questions, I know. (Lord AGA, feel free to jump in at any point : ) )
 
Thanks in advance to all ...

[nickoteen]

Yeah, Kipper is awsome ! I have his 8 MB Fast Ram board and it works great. Ide68K is not that much of a problem either. Yes, you have to change your ROM, but they are 20-25 bucks a piece over at ebay. And yes, you have to solder 2 wires from ide68k board to the motherboard. But that's not a problem either. I bet you know someboday who can do it for you, if you can't. My oppinion anywayz. The reason I like this solution more is because it's an IDE controller which allows me to use modern CF cards. SCSI devices on the other hand, don't. (as far as I'm aware)

[nickoteen]

If you have the Cloanto version of WinUAE, mount your CF card as an Amiga drive under that, and use the AMISYS "HDTOOLBOX" to prep and format the CF Card (I say this because I've had problems prepping certain CF cards using OS3.1/OS3.9 HDToolbox. You should be able to format the whole card as a 4GB Amiga drive.
 
Once you have it formatted, mount your HDF file containing your complete ClassicWB installation and just simply copy the contents from the HDF to the CF card root.
 
Pop your CF card into your Miggy and you should be good to go.

Yes, Cloanto WinUAE here. AmiSys HDToolBox on the other hand, I don't have. Bummer. Any idea where can I get it ? Or a suggestion of some other (similar) utility ?

[nickoteen]

Well, after a whole week of playing with my cf card under WinUAE, trying all sorts of utilities and pulling my hair out (cause the card was either invisible, or if I managed to make it visible non of the hdd software could actually "save changes" to the drive), I finally did it ! I've got my self an Amiga formated 3.5 GB (FFS, I know) drive, with Classic WB installed along with a Mount Everest high pile of Whdload games, demos and stuff. Cool, eh ? Well, not quite ...
 
Yesterday I pulled out my soldering iron and
1.) Removed the original C307 cap (right above Paula) and replaced it with a new one (it was in a way of my (kipper2ks) cpu adapter board)
2.) soldered 2 connectors to expansion slot connectors 9 and 10 (gayle signaling)
3.) solderes 2 wires to my ide68k board
 
and just when I was ready to connect everything up and see if it works ... The Horror !
 
I mean, I just can't believe I've missed it.
 
Bloody ide68k has a 3.5 inch ide connector on itself (why ?) and my cf2ide adapter has 2.5 inch connector and cable connected to it.
 
Just my luck. I guess the 3.5" to 2.5" ide adapter is the missing component here. Right ? Is there anyone here owning ide68k to, ... er, point me in the right direction ?
djos perhaps ...
 
Thankz in advance ...

[nickoteen]

Got myself one of these:
http://www.minipc.de/catalog/il/441
 
Connected everything up and ... nothing.
When turned on, Amiga stays idle for some 30 seconds or so (blank screen, nothing), like she's trying to communicate with HDD (cf), then it reaches for a floppy.
 
When I disconnect the ide68k, the floppy drive is accessed immidiately after power up, so it looks like she's trying to "do" something with my CF but with no success.
 
Any help greatly appriciated.

[nickoteen]

Oh, man ... !
I've seen that post, even replyed with a question or two, but it wasn't until now that I really looked at the photos.
 
I've put my ide68k on the first cpu socket of kippers "cpu realocation" card, and my 8mb fast ram on the 2nd (angeled) cpu socket, and my MC68K was (is) put on top of my RAM board.
 
And of all the combinations, RAM board always worked without problems, and ide68k didn't.
 
I also couldn't close up my case with this kind of setup.
 
Djos has all the cards stacked one on top of the other, in the back cpu socket and MC68K on top of everything. Hmm ... Maybe this was the cause of my problems.
Maybe I connected everything in the wrong order.
 
Thanks mrknight 4 pointing that up 2 me. Will try djos setup asap !

[nickoteen]

Yeap, you accidentally helped me (i think), but quit brannigan about it ! : ))) j/k, big Futurama fan here ...

[nickoteen]

You think it's the wrong adapter type then ? Hm.
Well, it says, 2.5" to 3.5" ide adapter (my ide2cf adapter which holds my cf card is 2.5" and my ide68k ide connector is 3.5"), so I thought I was buying the right thing.
 
You got me puzzled now ...

[nickoteen]

But wait, the product description says:
 
"For connecting 2.5" harddrives to eg. Via ITX mainboards (Standard IDE)"
 
My cf card is mounted on a cf2ide adapter which has a 2.5" (44 pin) ide connector, hence, it's like a real 2.5" HD drive, whereas my ide68k has a 40 pin (Standard IDE) connector and to my conclusion, the adapter should be of the rigtht kind. Er ... right ? Anyone ?

[nickoteen]

Beats me...
I've been lost since the beginning of page two
 
EDIT:
Tell us the types of connectors (male or female). Adapters can have both.

44 pin side (2.5") has female connector, 40 pin side (3.5") has male connector.

[nickoteen]

Thanks Lord Aga. Will follow your recomendation then.