Algor USB in Mediator setup

[doctorq]

Hi,

I have recently put my Amiga 4000 in a new tower, and a part of my plans was to add USB ports. I have a Mirage PCI board in the computer so I would be able to use a Voodoo graphics card and a cheap PCI ethernet card, but zorro slots are of course there.

Now, I don't like the Spider USB, mainly because USB ports aren't available at boot up. Therefore I would like to use an Algor USB instead. The idea about having flashram in the board as well also appeals to me. In other words I get 2 boards in one (USB board and Kickflash OS4).

However, I just searched the forum for "Algor Mediator" and the first topic that comes up, has a topic like "ELBOX is going to make sure that ALGOR can not be used in Mediator" or something similar. Clicking on the topic doesn't help; I guess it has been deleted.

Basicly, all I want to know is if I can use the Algor USB in my Mediator equipped Amiga. I have tried to write to ELBOX, but strangly enough I haven't gotten an answer to my question. It has been a couple of days, and they normally answers back quite fast. I guess not when it's about competing products....

Anyone tried an Algor in a Mediator + Zorro setup?

[Thomas]

I use a Highway USB in the Mediator PCI 4000 and it works without problems. As flash ROM I use an eFlash4000, though. The Poseidon software works fine from the ROM, I can boot frmo USB drives.

AFAIK none of the threats has been made true yet, neither have Elbox changed the Mediator to reject E3B cards nor has Chris Hodges changed the Poseidon software to reject the Spider.

Bye,
Thomas

[doctorq]

So since Highway and Algor is produced by the same firm, there should be a fair chance of being able to use the Algor in my Mediator Amiga?

I think I'm going to stick with the Algor, so I don't get to many cards cramped in there.

[mboehmer_e3b]

doctorq wrote:
So since Highway and Algor is produced by the same firm, there should be a fair chance of being able to use the Algor in my Mediator Amiga?

You could have asked the manufacturer of the ALGOR, also  :-) and received an answer within some hours.
 
We have quite some people using E3B USB controllers in combination with Mediators; mainly SUBWAY clockport cards in A1200 setups, but also ALGORs and HIGHWAYs. No problems are known to us at the moment.

We have noticed the (old) threat of our competitors to jam our USB controllers by software, but AFAIK no tries have been made up to now.

Michael

[Orjan]

Thomas wrote:

I use a Highway USB in the Mediator PCI 4000 and it works without problems. As flash ROM I use an eFlash4000, though. The Poseidon software works fine from the ROM, I can boot frmo USB drives.

The Amiga, designed and built more than ten years ago, long before anyone even had the slightest idea about what USB was ever going to be, is today able to boot from a USB device like any other...

And people ask why some of us still use the "old and obsolete" computers... :-)

[doctorq]

@mboehmer_e3b

Yeah, you are right, I could just as well have written to you guys instead. I didn't even think of that possibility, but thanks for clearing the issue. Better safe than sorry :-)

[Thomas]

Orjan wrote:
The Amiga, designed and built more than ten years ago, long before anyone even had the slightest idea about what USB was ever going to be, is today able to boot from a USB device like any other...

Even better than others. My five year old PC can only boot from USB floppy drives, not from any other USB device (like memory sticks or card readers) although I have the latest BIOS. Poseidon can boot from any USB device, even from an MS-DOS formatted memory stick (with the help of FAT95's Boot95). In fact this USB stick is kind of dual-boot: if I stick it into a PC it boots a Windows98 console and if I stick it into an Amiga it boots AmigaOS 3.9 :-)

Bye,
Thomas