A few questions about the GVP Impact A500 HD8+ Series II

[Blatboy]

This is a great thread with a lot of awesome info.

And Huxley_D I'm jealous!  

[Huxley_D]

This is a great thread with a lot of awesome info.

And Huxley_D I'm jealous!  

Hahaha - don't be too jealous, my GVP is still being flaky. I can't yet tell if it's just the (notoriously failure-prone) Quantum drive or the GVP itself, but it frequently fails to be recognized by the system without being repeatedly disconnected / reconnected to the side of the A500. Something definitely fishy going on here...

H.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Hahaha - don't be too jealous, my GVP is still being flaky. I can't yet tell if it's just the (notoriously failure-prone) Quantum drive or the GVP itself, but it frequently fails to be recognized by the system without being repeatedly disconnected / reconnected to the side of the A500. Something definitely fishy going on here...

H.

A good cleaning of that edge connector might help, but I would replace that drive asap, and avoid putting repetitious strain on the connector.  I know it's designed to be connected/disconnected, but you know, 30-year-old hardware and all...  

[Huxley_D]

A good cleaning of that edge connector might help, but I would replace that drive asap, and avoid putting repetitious strain on the connector.  I know it's designed to be connected/disconnected, but you know, 30-year-old hardware and all...  

Totally agree, 100%. I've got some other SCSI drives (both internal and external) buried in my storage locker, but I'm a little nervous about replacing one 20+ year old drive for another 20+ year old drive. I think you mentioned one (rare, expensive) SCSI-to-CF adapter earlier - are there any others I should be looking for, possibly ones that won't require an organ sale to procure?

Alternately, I think I'll be buying one of the "kipper" adapters soon anyway, which might make it a moot point...

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

I think you mentioned one (rare, expensive) SCSI-to-CF adapter earlier - are there any others I should be looking for, possibly ones that won't require an organ sale to procure?

Alternately, I think I'll be buying one of the "kipper" adapters soon anyway, which might make it a moot point...

The best ones IMHO are the ones Mechy used to sell, but I own two so might be a little biased.    Do a search on ebay for "AztecMonster", they're around a hundred bucks and I think there's some threads on here about folks using them in the past.

Here's one where someone specifically mentions using it in the GVP:  http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?18378-CF-SCSI-adapter-CF-AztecMonster

I prefer CF but there's also the SCSI2SD project, I believe a few places have these for sale:  http://www.codesrc.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=SCSI2SD

Kipper's stuff is great, also.  Again, it's just personal preference for SCSI in my retro machines.  

[Blatboy]

FYI they just got a new shipment of the SCSI2HD boards a couple days ago, and are available again.  I just ordered 2 of them.

http://imall.itead.cc/scsi2sd.html

[AmigaBruno]

It seems like I should forget about attempting to add a SCSI drive to my GVP hard drive unit then. I could plug it in, but it wouldn't work. I have no idea how to set it up.

Meanwhile, it seems here's another, easier solution for my A1200 http://www.vesalia.de/e_amigaslimcddrive.htm . It seems like I just plug it in, then it works. Can it really be that simple? They're closed until Septmber 1, though.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

It seems like I should forget about attempting to add a SCSI drive to my GVP hard drive unit then. I could plug it in, but it wouldn't work. I have no idea how to set it up.

Meanwhile, it seems here's another, easier solution for my A1200 http://www.vesalia.de/e_amigaslimcddrive.htm . It seems like I just plug it in, then it works. Can it really be that simple? They're closed until Septmber 1, though.

You'll still need to set up the software and drivers.

Man!  Stop this nonsense about "I have no idea how to set it up".  I've seen you post comments like that before and I am really getting sick of seeing them.  None of us had a flipping clue what we were doing at one point.  We all sat down, pulled out an instruction manual, read a little bit, researched, Googled, and asked questions when we got stuck.  No one is going to hand you the answer on a silver platter, unless you get lucky enough to find a really bored, experienced Amigan in your area.  But it's not that hard!  It's not rocket science!  And if you would just read and research the forums you'd find all the information you need to get a CD drive working with your A500.

Instead of just throwing up your hands and saying "I can't do it", at least TRY.  

/rant mode off

[AmigaBruno]

Well, I thought someone would suggest something.

AFAIK, all I do is plug it this device with the IDE cable containing three plugs. Before doing that, I think I should install BetterWB on my new CF card, because it has program icons representing CD ROMs. After installing BetterWB, then plugging in the CD ROM drive, if my A1200 doesn't recognise it, then I'm %&$#?@!%&$#?@!%&$#?@!%&$#?@!ed! Unless people advise me what to do next, that is.

Hopefully, I'll find a German book about carrying out seemingly impossible upgrades to the A1200, then after following the instructions in it, I'll send a copy to Oldsmobile_Mike!

[mechy]

You'll still need to set up the software and drivers.

Man!  Stop this nonsense about "I have no idea how to set it up".  I've seen you post comments like that before and I am really getting sick of seeing them.  None of us had a flipping clue what we were doing at one point.  We all sat down, pulled out an instruction manual, read a little bit, researched, Googled, and asked questions when we got stuck.  No one is going to hand you the answer on a silver platter, unless you get lucky enough to find a really bored, experienced Amigan in your area.  But it's not that hard!  It's not rocket science!  And if you would just read and research the forums you'd find all the information you need to get a CD drive working with your A500.

Instead of just throwing up your hands and saying "I can't do it", at least TRY.  

/rant mode off

I second that, what is with people these days. You have a brain, use it. If you need someone to walk you through things or need help setting it up ask and someone will try their best to help you. We are in the information age besides, nearly anything can be found on youtube or google.  Anyone can learn this stuff.

[mechy]

Totally agree, 100%. I've got some other SCSI drives (both internal and external) buried in my storage locker, but I'm a little nervous about replacing one 20+ year old drive for another 20+ year old drive. I think you mentioned one (rare, expensive) SCSI-to-CF adapter earlier - are there any others I should be looking for, possibly ones that won't require an organ sale to procure?

Alternately, I think I'll be buying one of the "kipper" adapters soon anyway, which might make it a moot point...

another option is to get a acard 7720U scsi to ide bridge and use a cf to ide adapter, allows a cf inside. its a great solution.

[gertsy]

FYI they just got a new shipment of the SCSI2HD boards a couple days ago, and are available again.  I just ordered 2 of them.

http://imall.itead.cc/scsi2sd.html

How do those things go? Work okay with 4GB SD?

BTW a word of caution on the Aztec Monster units. I could only get mine to work at 2GB. Which is better than nothing but not worth the price tag.

[Kernel]

Digging up old thread... sorry  Asked in FB Commodore Amiga group also but figured I would ask here as well as it's easier searching google if it's someplace like here

Is anyone with this drive *NOT* using the U-Shaped FCC RF shield that comes with the unit?  I'm picking one of these up on ebay and it doesn't come with the shield so wanted to ensure I could safely operate it without this shield.  I'm assuming so, but always better to be safe than sorry.

Thanks!

[motrucker]

Digging up old thread... sorry  Asked in FB Commodore Amiga group also but figured I would ask here as well as it's easier searching google if it's someplace like here

Is anyone with this drive *NOT* using the U-Shaped FCC RF shield that comes with the unit?  I'm picking one of these up on ebay and it doesn't come with the shield so wanted to ensure I could safely operate it without this shield.  I'm assuming so, but always better to be safe than sorry.

Thanks!

I used to use one of these units with my first A500, and never used that "U" shaped "shield". Never had any issues with anything.

[Kernel]

Thanks for the quick reply - appreciate the info.

[smerf]

Hi,
Had a gvp card for my old Amiga 2000, when I tried to get it working I had to change a line from SCSI to gvp.SCSI I believe it was in the HD setup. Can not totally remember for it has been about 5 years or more since I played with SCSI drives.