Options to re-use an IDE DVD drive on my 1200

[superfrog76]

Folks,

I've removed the second DVD-RW that I had in my pc, to put a Blue Ray writer.

Now I thought that I could use it for the Amiga 1200, but I am quite rusty on the tech on the cd side....

I recall that there was a PCMCIA interface, but you would need the case too, and it was SCSI if I recall correctly, while my drive is EIDE

I am not sure if the 1200 can hold multi IDE channels on the internal IDE connector; I have already a CF card on it, so I can't plug anything on it.

I know that is quite useless to have a DVD (btw I just want to use it to read dvd and cd, not to burn them), when I can just use a PCMCIA card reader and put all the contents of the cd that I own, on CF card, but I was wondering if there was a quick and easy way, to use that extra drive.

Thanks!

[som99]

You could use a 44-pin IDE cable with a extra connector and use the DVD drive as slave drive and put the jumper on the CF adapter to master and then use a 40 to 44-pin cable to connect the DVD drive

This 44-pin cable will work, ebay is full of 40 to 44 pins adapters.
http://www.vesalia.de/e_252525%5B7661%5D.htm

[superfrog76]

I see, so the IDE channel in the 1200 is able to support 2 devices?

BTW is worth to buy an enclosure for the DVD drive? Or should I simply leave it as is, and grab the power to operate it from the floppy 5V line?

[amiman99]

You may need something like this 44 to 40 pin IDE cable  http://www.ebay.com/itm/44-pin-to-44-40-pin-IDE-Laptop-to-3-5-HDD-Cable-3-Connectors-/221222622023?pt=US_Drive_Cables_dapters&hash=item3381e55347

The cable is not exactly right length, but you get the idea.

Also, if the drive is power hungry, like some high speed CDROM drives, you may have problems booting with CDROM disc in drive.

I did that and it worked only if you boot A1200 w/o CD disk, or use external power supply.

You may also need IDEFix software as your CD driver.

[agami]

The A1200 IDE header does support two devices (master + slave). It's unbuffered and can be a bit picky with the devices you put on there.

I had a towered A1200 with a more powerful PSU and ran a 3.5" IDE drive and a 5.25" CD-RW drive, and all I needed was the 44-pin to 40-pin with two 40-pin connectors.

Keep the cable as short as you can.

Now I'm running a wedge A1200 with a 2.5" IDE drive and a laptop (slim) DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive all with the standard large A500/A1200 PSU brick. The problem with laptop components is that they do not have a master/slave jumper so it's a bit of trial & error to get the right combination of models working on the single header. I am running IDE-Fix 2-channel IDE add-on. IDE-Fix came with a CDFS of some sort, but OS3.9 also has a CDFS.

There is a DVD-ROM capable CDFS you can get from Aminet to read DVD-ROMs.

[utri007]

I have noticed that there is a diffrence between mobo revisions. 1d4 is OK with 40cm cable when 2b requires short as possible cable

[psxphill]

The problem with laptop components is that they do not have a master/slave jumper so it's a bit of trial & error to get the right combination of models working on the single header.

Even within drive models you can find that the drives are configured differently for each laptop. I think they might all have standardised on being configured for master now and they use it on a separate channel. Using a 4 way splitter will then be useful, you lose access to the alternate status register but people are used to that now.
 
I'd be tempted to get one of these
 
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1052
 
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=42&products_id=194

[superfrog76]

Thanks a lot guys.

I was hoping that they would sell something like a slim laptop PCMCIA drive, but it seems that it is not the case Altho I want to use my spare internal DVD-RW drive, so the problem should not be a problem after all (it has jumpers)

Altho, from what I understand, my internal drive may not even work correctly.

I've made myself a cable, using a generic 40 to 44 cable, and powering the miggy from an external ATX PSU, so I have plenty of power.

Now I need the software; I may use the 3.9 drivers? I remember the name IDEFix, but I  am a bit rusty; I will have to refresh my memory

So the cable length may affect things? I didn't know that.

[danbeaver]

Using an EIDE'99 buffered interface I've never had issues with cable length up to 40 cm. I use the IDEFix software and an externalized mATX PSU. It looks odd without an enclosure for the DVD-RW, but you can find one online for $15 USD or so.  I have a couple I put SCSI CDROMs in.

[amiman99]

If you are good with your hand, you can do this:
http://eab.abime.net/hardware-mods/48042-my-take-a1200-slim-cdrom-mod.html

This is the way I did it few years back.

[utri007]

Here is my cd-rom mod



I needed to test 4 dvd drives, before I found suitable/working drive.

[superfrog76]

So I went for the cable that has the 3 connectors...found a cheap 44 to 40 cable, and just crimped on top of it another 44 pin connector, close to the other 44 pin connector, so the CF card stays in the caddy area.

The slim mod seems nice, but I am concerned about air circulation....Between all the stuff that I have in the miggy, I am worried that the excessive heat may cause the caps to just explode (it happened with my first 500); I may try it if I can find a spare 1200 case; it takes a big cut for the tray, and I would like to not kill the case.

I will see what happens, once I get the correct drivers. BTW what is the best format to burn dvd or cd to read them on the Amiga? Tried ISO format, but the verify failed with both the DVD and CD, so I doubt that they will work in the amiga (winUAE don't see them).

[danbeaver]

The format for burning is Dependant on whether you have a pure data CD or one with mixed music tracks and data (likev the OS3.9 CD); the latter type will not work in iso format and needs bin/cue or uif, etc.

[superfrog76]

The format for burning is Dependant on whether you have a pure data CD or one with mixed music tracks and data (likev the OS3.9 CD); the latter type will not work in iso format and needs bin/cue or uif, etc.

I see; I am planning to just make some disks with the utilities and mod files that I care to use more often on the amiga; so it would be a pure data cd.

Tried ISO with TAO but no luck; but I suspect that is the drive that is not working at all (I have idefix trial and the install just hang. When I reboot, I can discover the cd in the ATAPi list but nothing happens when I put any disk in it, included audio disks...I guess I did something wrong)