Using Iomega Zip drive with A500 Plus

[Ral-Clan]

I don't mean to be blunt, but if you are just figuring out things like how to light up an LED as your first potential breadboard project, and can't yet identify the names of electronic components or the symbols for a dimmer switch on a circuit diagram, then the idea of assembling a DIY IDE or SCSI interface for your Amiga in the near future is pretty much unrealistic at this stage.

Again - I don't mean to sound harsh - but I think any other assessment would be doing you a dis-service.  I do commend you for learning electronics, but it will take months or years for you to get to the stage you can assemble a complicated digital circuit like a hard drive controller.

As for the ZIP drive solution for your Amiga - yes, it's possible. But if you are going to try and find a SCSI or IDE solution to drive the ZIP drive, then you might as well be using hard drives or CF cards on that SCSI controller instead.

I have heard about the parallel port solution for ZIP drives, but I'm sure it won't be pleasant (i.e. slow).

ZIP drives, in their own right, were always semi reliable it seemed (google ZIP DRIVE and CLICK OF DEATH together).

Really, your best solution for mass storage on that Amiga500, is probably the clockport interface and a USB Subway card.

I know it's expensive, but it's much more reliable in the long run.

There is a cheap way for you to get a SCSI controller for the A500.  You would need to pick up a cheap Zorro II SCSI controller card for an A2000 (A2091 or something) and attach it to the side port of the A500 with a "slingshot" connector or gender converter connector.  The A2000 card will then hang off the side of your A500 and look fairly ugly (it will also be exposed and need to be supported with some DIY arrangement), but then, with a cheap SCSI hard drive from eBay you could have a SCSI hard drive setup for less than $50.

(see halfway down this page for picture)
http://paulq.org/amiga/a500tribute.html

Oh, you would also need to power the hard drive.  An external SCSI enclosure or spare PC power supply might work for that.  Again, pretty ugly solution but it would work.

The absolute cheapest way would be to pick up a cheap 486 or pentium I laptop from somewhere (don't pay more than $30) and use it via a parallel port cable or null modem cable to act as a file server for your A500.  I'm thinking of something like Amiga Explorer or the old Siamese system.  Essentially, the laptop would be like an external hard drive for your A500.

[ChaosLord]

The absolute cheapest way would be to pick up a cheap 486 or pentium I laptop from somewhere (don't pay more than $30) and use it via a parallel port cable or null modem cable to act as a file server for your A500.  I'm thinking of something like Amiga Explorer or the old Siamese system.  Essentially, the laptop would be like an external hard drive for your A500.

Heheheh that is what I did!  (And I think he can score something much better than a 486!)

In 2004 Fry's was selling complete brand new PC's for $99.00 on National Capitalism day.  They had 2 PS/2 ports, 4 USB ports, a VGA port and PAR port but I used the Ethernet port instead because Ethernet is massively faster than PAR and my A1200T has a PCI Ethernet card in it that I got for free (they typically sold for $5.00 back then).  It came with a 40GB hard drive, mouse, keyboard and a complete garbage set of speakers.

So I bought the PC and an Ethernet cable and networked them together so my pc could be the file slave of my mighty A1200T. MUAHAHAHA!  
I have been buying CHEAP-O hard drives for the PC ever since.  Using a stack of 2TB drives nowadays.  My ethernet card is a crappy 10 Mbit one so can't do more than 1000K / second max.  I forgot to upgrade to Ethernet 100 Mbit.  Silly me.

But in any case, if you are going to store your media across a parallel port anyway then you may as well use a cheap PC.  I am sure you can buy a junk PC with a 40GB hard drive in it for really cheap.   My 40 GB pc was $99.00 brand new (it came with a 1500 Mhz cpu and all the ports listed above).  I still use that computer right now.  $99.00 in 2004 should mean like FREE in 2013.

If u do a parnet to pc solution you should end up with 37GB or more of storage space for your Amiga.  + u can add more hard drives to the pc.  Like just throw a 2TB drive in there when you get the $$$.

Like the other poster said, only pay $30.00 or less for such a PC solution.  You will get tired of the slow speed after a while.  A 7.15909Mhz 68000 can only drive the PAR port at a certain speed.

You could get one free if you had a lot of friends you could ask.
Check Craig's List
Check Freecycle  Ppl throw away old PC's all the time.  They are too slow to play "modern" games on so ppl just toss them in the garbage.
Go to the local churches and post up a "HELP I NEED UR OLD JUNK PC CALL ME AT 123-456-7890 THANX!"  This method might take a few weeks for someone to notice the note you posted though.  My brother got an old junky laptop free that way.  It prob has only a 10GB drive in it tho and Windoze 98 probably.  He tried to give it to me but I didn't want it.  I will ask him if he still has it , if it is broken, if it has a par port.  I think he threw it away when he moved.  If he still has it and it has a PAR port I will mail it to u if u r in USA, else maybe.

[Israeli]

I used the ZIP 250 drive with SCSI and the Squirrel SCSI interface with my A1200 for many years. It is very fast and works very well.

I highly recommend a ZIP drive with SCSI.

[danbeaver]

I highly recommend an A500 side-port SCSI connected to Mech's SCSI card reader where you can store files on a CF, SD, or other removable card. That would be a $200 long term solid state solution.

[ChaosLord]

I highly recommend an A500 side-port SCSI connected to anything.  An old 4GB SCSI hard drive or whatever you want to connect it to, zip, cf, sd, etc.

The A500 side port SCSI is what we all used back in the olden days.

[Ral-Clan]

I highly recommend an A500 side-port SCSI connected to Mech's SCSI card reader where you can store files on a CF, SD, or other removable card. That would be a $200 long term solid state solution.

The point is, though, that the original poster said he cannot find / afford a sidecar SCSI expansion.

And not to highjack this thread, but to ask a relevant question; I have a sidecar expansion for my A500 and am considering buying Mech's card reader.....but how did you fit it in there?

Did you have to leave the top of the casing off your sidecar?

[Israeli]

Let the donkey do the donkey work!

[Israeli]

Just, donkeys chew a lot of grass, so watch your power bill!

[AmigaBruno]

I don't mean to be blunt, but if you are just figuring out things like how to light up an LED as your first potential breadboard project, and can't yet identify the names of electronic components or the symbols for a dimmer switch on a circuit diagram, then the idea of assembling a DIY IDE or SCSI interface for your Amiga in the near future is pretty much unrealistic at this stage.

Again - I don't mean to sound harsh - but I think any other assessment would be doing you a dis-service.  I do commend you for learning electronics, but it will take months or years for you to get to the stage you can assemble a complicated digital circuit like a hard drive controller.

As for the ZIP drive solution for your Amiga - yes, it's possible. But if you are going to try and find a SCSI or IDE solution to drive the ZIP drive, then you might as well be using hard drives or CF cards on that SCSI controller instead.

I have heard about the parallel port solution for ZIP drives, but I'm sure it won't be pleasant (i.e. slow).

ZIP drives, in their own right, were always semi reliable it seemed (google ZIP DRIVE and CLICK OF DEATH together).

Really, your best solution for mass storage on that Amiga500, is probably the clockport interface and a USB Subway card.

I know it's expensive, but it's much more reliable in the long run.

There is a cheap way for you to get a SCSI controller for the A500.  You would need to pick up a cheap Zorro II SCSI controller card for an A2000 (A2091 or something) and attach it to the side port of the A500 with a "slingshot" connector or gender converter connector.  The A2000 card will then hang off the side of your A500 and look fairly ugly (it will also be exposed and need to be supported with some DIY arrangement), but then, with a cheap SCSI hard drive from eBay you could have a SCSI hard drive setup for less than $50.

(see halfway down this page for picture)
http://paulq.org/amiga/a500tribute.html

Oh, you would also need to power the hard drive.  An external SCSI enclosure or spare PC power supply might work for that.  Again, pretty ugly solution but it would work.

The absolute cheapest way would be to pick up a cheap 486 or pentium I laptop from somewhere (don't pay more than $30) and use it via a parallel port cable or null modem cable to act as a file server for your A500.  I'm thinking of something like Amiga Explorer or the old Siamese system.  Essentially, the laptop would be like an external hard drive for your A500.

So, I can't possibly build that interface. Will a lead available from Amigakit or Vesalia make it compatible? If so which one?

I said that I don't think I can afford a SCSI controller. I certainly haven't found one for less than $50. I also said that I couldn't afford the Subway USB.

I've put in a bid on an Iomega Zip 100Mb parallel drive. I hope this won't be a waste of money. I think I should regularly back up my files anyway.

Please give me more information about the Slingshot or gender converter. I don't think that Slingshots are available anymore, but I don't think know if the Amiga A500/A500 Plus side expansion slot is unique either.

The Amiga has made it possible for me to continue doing computer graphics, which makes me happy. Windoze software stopped me from doing this, because it doesn't work in much the same way and I thought all I needed to do was persevere, but then I gradually stopped. Linux graphics software isn't really any better, not even GrafX2.

[ChaosLord]

@AmigaBruno

I hope someone will sell you a super cheap A1200 so that you can Dpaint to the max in 256 colors.  I luv Dpaint.  And I loved it even more when I got an AGA machine.

What sorts of things exactly do you pixel in Dpaint?

Do u do static gfx or do u like to do animations?

[Ral-Clan]

So, I can't possibly build that interface. Will a lead available from Amigakit or Vesalia make it compatible? If so which one?

Compatible with what?  The Zip drive?  No.

I said that I don't think I can afford a SCSI controller. I certainly haven't found one for less than $50. I also said that I couldn't afford the Subway USB.

Old, crappy SCSI controller cards for the A2000 often sell for less than $50.  Look for an A2091 with old ROMs (6.6 or earlier).  I just sold an A2091 on eBay that had the latest ROMs and all the latest revision chips and it only sold for $35US.

I've put in a bid on an Iomega Zip 100Mb parallel drive. I hope this won't be a waste of money.

It's likely to be a waste of money if you buy it and don't have a way to connect it to your Amiga.  Perhaps a better plan would be to find a way / device / method you will know will work for sure first and then buy the drive that goes with that.

Please give me more information about the Slingshot or gender converter. I don't think that Slingshots are available anymore, but I don't think know if the Amiga A500/A500 Plus side expansion slot is unique either.

I don't own one so can't tell you more.  Google is your friend.
These are generally cheap devices as they are fairly passive straight-through connectors with minimal components.  In fact, there may be a plan to build on on Aminet (I believe I saw one years ago).  It's a basic device so you could probably build one even with limited electrical knowledge.

http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?t=18897
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=48080
http://www.google.ca/search?q=amiga+500+zorro+connector&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

The Amiga has made it possible for me to continue doing computer graphics, which makes me happy. Windoze software stopped me from doing this, because it doesn't work in much the same way and I thought all I needed to do was persevere, but then I gradually stopped. Linux graphics software isn't really any better, not even GrafX2.

You do know about WinUAE for Windows, don't you?  You can run all your Amiga software in that.  DeluxePaint runs very well.  It's nice to own a real Amiga, but with the amount of grief you seem to be going through, you might want to look into this alternative.

[AmigaBruno]

@AmigaBruno

I hope someone will sell you a super cheap A1200 so that you can Dpaint to the max in 256 colors.  I luv Dpaint.  And I loved it even more when I got an AGA machine.

What sorts of things exactly do you pixel in Dpaint?

Do u do static gfx or do u like to do animations?

I'm not looking to replace my A500 Plus with an A1200, but would keep both of them. The A500 Plus is quite different to the A1200. I don't think that 100% of software that will run on an A500 Plus will run on an A1200, no matter what you do. I wonder if one possible storage solution would be to connect my A500 Plus to an A1200 with a CF card installed on it, then save data from the A500 Plus to the A1200 CF card. I'm not sure that would work, though. At the moment, I've found 2 Amiga A1200s (not on eBay) at prices I can afford, although I haven't got the money at the moment. I'm worried that by the time I have the money they'll be sold. I've also met someone with a group that repairs things who told me he may sell me one of his three A1200s, but he hasn't contacted me.

The stuff I've done in Deluxe Paint recently is some figures of superheroes copied from art books and just one original piece of artwork of a stained glass window. This was a copy of a chalk type pastel painting originally done on black paper. Someone at a meeting said "You didn't draw that with the MOUSE, did you?!" and I replied that I did. I haven't done any animations on this Amiga, especially because some of the examples supplied won't run. I just get an error message that there's not enough RAM to animate. This is a standard A500 Plus with 1Mb RAM, which is all chip RAM. I wonder if Deluxe Paint III expects there to be some fast RAM.

[AmigaBruno]

Compatible with what?  The Zip drive?  No.



Old, crappy SCSI controller cards for the A2000 often sell for less than $50.  Look for an A2091 with old ROMs (6.6 or earlier).  I just sold an A2091 on eBay that had the latest ROMs and all the latest revision chips and it only sold for $35US.



It's likely to be a waste of money if you buy it and don't have a way to connect it to your Amiga.  Perhaps a better plan would be to find a way / device / method you will know will work for sure first and then buy the drive that goes with that.



I don't own one so can't tell you more.  Google is your friend.
These are generally cheap devices as they are fairly passive straight-through connectors with minimal components.  In fact, there may be a plan to build on on Aminet (I believe I saw one years ago).  It's a basic device so you could probably build one even with limited electrical knowledge.

http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?t=18897
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=48080
http://www.google.ca/search?q=amiga+500+zorro+connector&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a



You do know about WinUAE for Windows, don't you?  You can run all your Amiga software in that.  DeluxePaint runs very well.  It's nice to own a real Amiga, but with the amount of grief you seem to be going through, you might want to look into this alternative.

I could only find A2091 ROMs for the SCSI controller. I'll stop bidding on the Zip drive, in that case.

So far, I've only bought one Amiga related thing I couldn't use, which was a VGA adapter.

I don't really want to use WinUAE for Windows. I've got a copy which came with hardly anything at all, on a DVD full of emulators. It's not just nice to own a real Amiga. One thing is an Amiga, while the emulator isn't and I may not even be able to get rid of the Microsoft style Windows or the window borders, which will remind me all the time that it's not an Amiga! Apart from this, I'll be distracted by other programs, especially web browsers, but with the Amiga A500 Plus I can just sit there are do some artwork with no distractions from the Internet.

[Zac67]

With adequate time at hand I'd go for a towerized Zorro-II-controller-slingshot solution: decent performance, boot option, expandability, possibly some fast RAM. Fitting a drive - any drive - into the A500 case is tricky yet possible. Alternatively, replace the 500+ with a 2000 (saving you the hassle of towerizing and building a slingshot) or a 1200 (saving the hazzle of just about everything but getting an IDE HDD and adding quite a few niceties).

Apart from the controller and a DIY slingshot you can get smallish SCSI/IDE drives (<2 GB) for free. Parallel options will be slow, not bootable, lower capacity (ZIP) or energy hogs (parnetted PC as file server) - albeit a bit cheaper and less time-consuming.

... and if you decide to stick with the 500+ do get a 1 MB chip RAM expansion card - the best thing about the 500+ is the easy way to get 2 MB chip.

[danbeaver]

OK, you read a lot of opinions.  

There are lots of people out there who can advise you.  

So state how much you can spend, and exactly what your needs are.  

If they don't match reality, someone will let you know.

PS, I use http://lilliput.amiga-projects.net/Indie.htm for independent hardware projects, and yes, Tom (Tomthul) is still producing products.

[tone007]

I'll add one more opinion, since I don't see it clearly stated anywhere here:

Forget about ZIP drives, they were fairly crappy when they were new and by now I wouldn't imagine them to be worth the trouble.

Wait around for a sidecar SCSI expansion for the A500, I've had no less than 3 or 4 pass through my ownership in the past 3 years. I've had pretty good luck with the SupraDrive XPs. They do seem to be getting a bit harder to find, but short of obtaining something like an IDE68K device, they're probably the easiest way to go (and can often also add some fastram for you.) I'll assume you're not in the US, otherwise I could probably offer a SupraDrive with 8MB RAM at a reasonable cost.  Shipping and customs kind of mess that all up, though.