NEC usb hack for mediator

[Hizoap]

I ran all these cards for a good while with the ports loaded(1hr+). the 3 port card has a ldo regulator and a jumper for 3.3/5v  i ran the card at 5v on the 3.3 setting(torture testing),it makes me think the chipsets are 5v tolerant,because i saw no i'll effects.The 5 port card has no regulator to speak of but it too ran flawless for over a hour loaded.My mediator does not have a 3.3v hack.

the 2- 5 port cards i have are going to friends for stress testing,and i won't have more till the beginning of the week. by then multiple people have tested them and if theres a problem to be found it should surface. but i am confident they work well.
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From wiki-take it for what its worth:

Card voltage and keying

 
 
 
 Typical PCI cards have either one or two key notches, depending on  their signaling voltage. Cards requiring 3.3 volts have a notch 56.21 mm  from the card backplate; those requiring 5 volts have a notch 104.47 mm  from the backplate. "Universal cards" accepting either voltage have  both key notches. This allows cards to be fitted only into slots with a  voltage they support.
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the cards i'm using have both notches,so i believe them to be universal.

mech

The nec 720101 has 3.3 V power supply, PCI signal pins have 5 V tolerant circuit.

[Bamiga2002]

It has started: Elbox removed spider.device from their webpages
http://www.elbox.com/downloads_mediator.html
So it can only be obtained on the Spider CD when you buy the "Spider" USB card...

[Comi]

It has started: Elbox removed spider.device from their webpages
http://www.elbox.com/downloads_mediator.html
So it can only be obtained on the Spider CD when you buy the "Spider" USB card...

Too late!
Spider hack is in the air!

Once more they show their right face!

Dragon's & Shark's  

[nicholas]

It has started: Elbox removed spider.device from their webpages
http://www.elbox.com/downloads_mediator.html
So it can only be obtained on the Spider CD when you buy the "Spider" USB card...

I'll quite gladly host it for download on CommodoreAmiga.ir if someone sends me the file.

[johnklos]

I don't have an EPROM programmer, so when I need to program those EPROMS, I solder one onto a PCI ATI Radeon, use a flashrom program booted from MS-DOS, write what I need, desolder and put where it belongs. An old ATI Radeon can be had for next to nothing.

[Christian Johansson]

Nice! But wouldn't it be possible to hexedit the driver to support cards with other device numbers instead? Or is it encrypted or something?

EDIT: just noticed that someone already asked this.

[mechy]

Belkin F5U220 (REV 6 works,REV3 does not)

Did the eprom hack on 2 of the belkins, one was a revision 3(which didnt  work for me) and the other is revision 6 which worked fine

they both use the same D720101GJ chipset but the differences are

rev3: L1085D voltage regulator,48Mhz 4 pin square oscillator and a few more caps.

rev6: MT1117 voltage regulator and a 2 pin 30mhz crystal.

some misc resistors and capacitors different between the two.

the rev 6 seems to work flawless. The rev 3 caused crashes and reboots  any time i plugged anything in. I don't know if its a simple voltage  regulator difference or the differences in the cards clocking etc.The  color of the cards are actually barely a shade of blue difference- My  camera flash made them look drastically different.
Here are some pictures:
DSC00057.jpg
DSC00059.jpg

[slaapliedje]

Count me in for one of these!  I have had a Mediator for almost as long as I've had my Amiga 4000D.  I also have a 256mb Radeon that I'm using the memory out of, though I think for some reason the Amiga sees it as two banks of memory (one for each head?)  since it's only ever seeing 128mb of ram.

I kept debating whether or not to get a Deneb, but now I'm hearing they're sold out everywhere.

Now what devices work through USB for the Amiga?  Is the bus fast enough to handle USB2 speeds?  Otherwise, can I plug in a USB2 flash stick and back up my Amiga to it?

If so, I would love one.  Would be nice for mouse / keyboard support, though I have both for the Amiga (though I really miss the mouse wheel...)

Rock on to all who managed to get this working!

slaapliedje

P.S. I also could probably host the file, though I'm wondering if Elbox will start going after people.  I figure I've given them enough money, buying both the Mediator and a Radeon directly from them, which ended up being a 64mb card, so I ended up finding another Radeon card that supported the 5v.)  I bought three Radeon cards for this thing!  Two work, though I still get weird Ramlib errors...

[mechy]

download the poseidon archive at http://www.platon42.de/poseidon.html
Should give you a idea of what works. most common stuff works.
USB works pretty well on amiga. i've been using it a long time.
Its too bad the deneb is out of production.
You should know that some usb devices won't be available at boot time since the spider cards have no flashmem to store the usb stack. You can do this on the deneb though.

Mech

[nicholas]

***

[stevee617]

It has started: Elbox removed spider.device from their webpages
http://www.elbox.com/downloads_mediator.html
So it can only be obtained on the Spider CD when you buy the "Spider" USB card...

I went googling and found it and
it works great with the card i got from mech

[Bamiga2002]

Seems to be back on Elbox's website, in the MM_CD_UP2.1 archive.

[J-Golden]

Seems to be back on Elbox's website, in the MM_CD_UP2.1 archive.

It says it is in the archive but it is not.  I went through the whole thing twice and there is no spider.device anywhere to be found.

I don't understand why Elbox decided to single out the USB component of their Mediator board.  Every other PCI card for it is freely available from a third party.  

On top of all this, the past licencing issues of Poseidon, the "Kill Workbench" code to keep out other USB cards, etc. etc. etc.  seems to be such a waste of money and time and only drive their reputation into the ground.

Can you imagine what people would think of Elbox now if they had just released drivers for generic USB cards instead?  I'm sure they would be held in a MUCH higher regard, close to that of Individual Computers or E3b.

This whole thing is just being dragged on and on.  C'mon Elbox, let it go, for everyone's sake...

[slaapliedje]

The most messed up thing about that?  If you pay attention to the dates on the 2.1 update, the only driver that was updated is the spider.device!!

And that's the one that's missing?

It claims it should be in Devs:USBHardware.  Which is funny, since that folder is missing, but the USBHardware.info is still there...

So the MM_CD_UP2.1.lha is absolutely useless now.

slaapliedje

[mechy]

MORE USB CARDS UP FOR SALE: $20 shipped in the USA,$25 Overseas.

I have made up 18 more of these usb cards that works with spider.device 3.21. if anyone wants one PM me.

going cheap!

@slaapliedje Yes they just edited the archive,changed the installer so it now does not install the spider.device and its not included of course.. so ridiculous.:crazy:


mech

[Heiroglyph]

If that doesn't show their true colors, I don't know what does.