New (and last ?) inbound

[HigashiJun]

Ok, the XT CF mini is ready and flashed:

1.JPG

Now I have to find an 8 bit compatible CF card...

[rubber_jonnie]

@rubber_jonnie

Indeed, the Tandy has space for three "Tandy plus" expansions.

The RAM & DMA board is a "plus" expansion, but the VGA card and the XT Cf mini are not.

Each plus expansion lays in front of its respective slot cover, but if you fit a standard ISA card you will always have the second slot unpopulated whatever you do (unless you remove the RAM & DMA card).

Since I want to keep the DMA, there is no other alternative. I can install a PICOmem instead of the VGA card, so the PICOmem will occupy the third slot, and the VGA card in the last connector but I will then have to cut the top lid to let the VGA connector out.

And as you suggest, I can try to fit the PICOmem without a bracket (that is what I wanted to do), but I'm not sure if the protruding SD card will not collide with the vertical plastic of the top lid.

I'll get some photos with a ruler so you can see the size, it may help.

[rubber_jonnie]

Ok, the XT CF mini is ready and flashed:


1.JPG


Now I have to find an 8 bit compatible CF card...

Looking good.

My XT-IDE card locks up the Amstrad if I try to boot from it, trying to boot from A: doesn't work either and it's not seeing my CF cards...

[HigashiJun]

I'll get some photos with a ruler so you can see the size, it may help.

Thank you very much !

[HigashiJun]

Looking good.

My XT-IDE card locks up the Amstrad if I try to boot from it, trying to boot from A: doesn't work either and it's not seeing my CF cards...

Thanks.

Is your XT CF correctly flashed, and with the right BIOS ?

[rubber_jonnie]

Looking good.

My XT-IDE card locks up the Amstrad if I try to boot from it, trying to boot from A: doesn't work either and it's not seeing my CF cards...

Thanks.

Is your XT CF correctly flashed, and with the right BIOS ?

I believe so, and it does show up at boot, it just hangs. I can make selections (A,C, F6 & F8) so the machine isn't frozen per-se, but it doesn't seem to see the CF card.

See below for PicoMEM images:

IMG20250405103213.jpg

IMG20250405103315.jpg

Hope they help, shout if you need anything else. I'm not trying to convince you to spend more money, but even looking at it as briefly as I have, it outperforms the XT-IDE in many ways.

[HigashiJun]

@rubber_jonnie

Is your CF card 8 bit compatible ?

Thanks for the pictures, they helped me a lot.

As expected, I would have to install the PICOmem in the last ISA connector (where my XT CF is fitted now) but the SD card will pop out (= have to cut out the top lid).

The PICOmem is unfortunately too wide to fit in the lower connector...

[rubber_jonnie]

@rubber_jonnie

Is your CF card 8 bit compatible ?

Thanks for the pictures, they helped me a lot.

As expected, I would have to install the PICOmem in the last ISA connector (where my XT CF is fitted now) but the SD card will pop out (= have to cut out the top lid).

The PICOmem is unfortunately too wide to fit in the lower connector...

Glad to hear the pics helped :)

Such a shame, perhaps in the future there may be a smaller footprint version that you could use.

As for the XT-IDE I have tried various card sizes from 512MB up to 1GB and it's always stuck at the same place. Given the PicoMEM lets me effortlessly create up to 4 drives of 4GB in seconds, it was the winner.

I will try the XT-IDE again though as I want it to work now I've built it.

[HigashiJun]

Such a shame, perhaps in the future there may be a smaller footprint version that you could use.

There is a low profile version, but the SD card is placed the same way.

:(

[rubber_jonnie]

Such a shame, perhaps in the future there may be a smaller footprint version that you could use.

There is a low profile version, but the SD card is placed the same way.

:(

Damn...