> Pretty lame to put CF and SATA in the title when it requires an IDE-SATA adapter
> Indeed, judging by the picture, this controller has nothing to do with SATA...
> I belive that previous versions hasn't worked with CF adapters.
FastATA 4000 controllers without CF/SATA description have supported Compact Flash cards and SATA drives but only in PIO 0 and in PIO 3 modes. Controllers with CF/SATA in name support them also in the higher PIO mods (PIO 4 and PIO5).
Using CF cards requires
Compact Flash - PATA adapter. Using SATA drives requires
PATA-to-SATA converter. These few dollars adapters are easy to obtain and very convenient to use. To each PATA ribbon you can connect two adapters, one set as MASTER, second as SLAVE. MASTER/SLAVE setting is switchable by jumpers located on these adapters. Here is photos showing typical installation of Compact Flash - PATA adapter and SATA drive in the Amiga tower system:
> I think it's about high time that Elbox made a proper SATA controller instead.
Soldering CF card sockets or SATA connectors on the FastATA boards would not give any advantage over current solution, which is in our opinion more flexible and more convenient to use.
> I'm also interested in the changelog, or is the change from MK VI to VII only:
> * color changed from green to black
* small changes on the board layout
* some timing enhancements in the CPLD firmware
* new BootROM (ver. 9.0)
The main change in new BootROM is that it does not generate scsi.device even if there is nothing attached to the A4000 motherboard IDE port. It starts from 2nd.scsi.device. If you have more FastATA 4000 controllers installed in computer the second controller starts from 3rd.scsi.device and so on.
