MyIDE Interface Part 2

First of all let me say Happy Holidays to everyone in Atariland.

Last month I had just received my Atari 8-bit IDE interface kit from Mr Atari (Sijmen Schouten) and hadn't installed it yet.

Here's what you get in the kit version.

• PCB with chips on board.
• 3.5 inch floppy disk with software and drivers.
• 5.25 inch floppy disks with a master disk and a driver disk.
• Internal cable and ribbon cable for internal installation.
• Several sets of written instructions covering:
• How to make the XE cart to install the PCB into.
• How to install the PCB inside the Atari 8-bit.
• Manual on how to set up your hard drive using this interface and drivers.
• Manual on how to use the software provided.

This past weekend I gathered everything I needed and went to work. In order to use this kit, I went down to the local used computer parts store and for $10.00 I got a used external hard drive case, a 200 MB IDE drive and IDE cable.

Next I connected the IDE cable to the drive and the MyIDE interface card. I decided to do the external install for now. You should follow the instructions and build your interface into an empty XE cartridge before you start (I didn't for this review).

At this point I pulled out the four documents that came with the kit. My only criticism of this whole kit is that I had to read through all four documents, to see which one I needed first. It might have been nice to mark in big letters on the cover "Installation Manual" or something. Don't get me wrong; they are very detailed written instructions and explanations on the whole IDE protocol process. Sijmen has put together a very professional kit that is well worth the $40 US or 40 Euro.

Your next step after hooking up all the hardware is to put the disk marked "Driver disk" in the floppy drive and boot up. At the Ready prompt you will run the Scandisk program. The on-screen commands and the manual will guide you through this.

Once you have completed scanning the drive, you will run the Fdisk program from the same floppy disk. This program has several features listed in the on-screen menu. You can use item 4 to create partitions following the example in the manual.

After setting up your hard drive, use item 3 to review the partition settings to make sure you have the drive set up the way you expected. Make sure you save the changes before you exit.

Next change floppy disks, putting the Master disk side B, for external interface and reboot the computer off the floppy. There are instructions on how to boot from the hard drive, but it takes a little work to set it up. Once the computer boots up it stops at a prompt to "Press select" to boot. At this point I put my DOS disk in and pressed Select. The floppy loaded and went into BASIC. I typed DOS and went to my DOS menu.

From the DOS menu I tried copying a few programs into different partitions, which show up as drive numbers in DOS. When the hard drive is activated a small green LED lights on the interface card, and the background on the computer screen flickers multi colors. The system worked very well and seemed fast.

Next I pressed each drive number to see the files flash onto the screen very quickly. There are more features that can be used with this interface once you get it installed and set up. I tried loading a game from the hard drive and it loaded very quickly and played well.

In closing I'd like to say I do highly recommend this to anyone who has an Atari 8-bit system and wants to add a low cost hard drive to it. A novice may want to seek the help of someone with a little hardware experience before trying this.

Please go to Sijmen's web site listed below for more details on this product.

Now all I need to do is add that new USB interface for the 8-bit Atari that I saw on the web!

del@myatari.co.uk

MyAtari magazine - Feature #6, December 2002