New (and last ?) inbound

[HigashiJun]

Ok, the XT CF mini is ready and flashed:

1.JPG (314.92 KiB) Viewed 749 times

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 (216.53 KiB) Viewed 743 times

IMG20250405103315.jpg (220.14 KiB) Viewed 743 times

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...