exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

Hi everyone, I have (I think) everything I need to hook up but I'm cautious before I just start plugging things up..

I have this ribbon


I have a fairly nondescript 52X CDROM (not DVD at all)

the card came with an 8gb CF card adapter as the master and I'm imagining the CDROM would be the slave device.

I'm also though interested in knowing if I can use a SCSI card with it? I'd really like to have SCSI external devices like zip drive / CDROM (so I can put this in the cd rom slot)


I'm starting with IDE for now since it's a less costly option but SCSI is something i'd like to have at some point and just want to be sure it wouldn't be a DOA situation.. I just want to be able to use zip for moving files back and forth between other systems I have that also have zip drives.. pc / mac..

I have the card extender and risers.. but i'm wondering maybe i need to go straight into the CPU slot as I've heard people talk about voltage problems with IDE ribbon lengths and such.. Just want to do it right the first time..

Thanks!
Caleb

I've never tried this and i have no idea if it will work. I would think it might not if you have an unbuffered TF536.

I was told by the seller that this is a buffered version.

Cool let us know how you get on.

Hoping I'm not the first one to try this. Would think many people would like to do this, but I'm going to give it a try regardless. Should be safe, but it may be another week or two as I'm waiting for a replacement floppy, fat Agnus, and Denise scan doubler to get to me before i fully assemble and close this up..

Also is there any way in the TF536 design to support HDD light? I'm hearing no, but surprised this wouldn't be something included as it's pretty useful to see when HDD activity is going on.

On a scale of 1-10 regarding TF536 installation into the CPU socket how difficult would you say it is? I have the card option already that I bought at the same time as the TF card, but I've heard that the added card cuts into voltage that would make it into the IDE chain preventing data to travel.. so I'm weighing if I should just go right to the socket and insure a stronger connection with power.

Thanks!

part12studios wrote: 25 Oct 2021 19:59 Hoping I'm not the first one to try this. Would think many people would like to do this, but I'm going to give it a try regardless. Should be safe, but it may be another week or two as I'm waiting for a replacement floppy, fat Agnus, and Denise scan doubler to get to me before i fully assemble and close this up..

I dont even own a CDROM drive. Removable media and me dont get along thesedays. Its goteks and CF cards.

Also is there any way in the TF536 design to support HDD light? I'm hearing no, but surprised this wouldn't be something included as it's pretty useful to see when HDD activity is going on.

No this isnt on the TF536.

On a scale of 1-10 regarding TF536 installation into the CPU socket how difficult would you say it is? I have the card option already that I bought at the same time as the TF card, but I've heard that the added card cuts into voltage that would make it into the IDE chain preventing data to travel.. so I'm weighing if I should just go right to the socket and insure a stronger connection with power.

Thanks!

I never tried this sorry. If what you have works i'd stick with it.

Yea part of the CDROM push is the video toaster software comes on an ISO.. and I'm not sure how else I could access the software without it being on a CD. I've had an Amiga for years but by no means a power amiga OS user these days. I figure having a CD ROM would just be nice anyway for various other amiga iso images out there.. even burning disks possibly..

As for what works and sticking to it, I haven't installed it yet. I did seat it into the card but I'm waiting on various parts to arrive in the mail before i can assemble it to boot up everything. My point is to do it once and never touch it again.. just wanted to see if anyone has first hand experience with it before I become a test subject. I'll report back how it goes.

Yea CF would be OK, except being inside the A2000 makes it tough to get too. I'm not sure i'd want to do something hack-ish and having a longer IDE ribbon hanging out the back of the system.. but i guess that's one way to get around it

I did order a parallel / SD card reader that's also in the mail. That most likely will be a fine workaround as well, but I'm still fond of SCSI and would enjoy having it available.. as I own various external zip, HDD and CDROMs from back in the day I'd like to be able to hook up to it.

Just a quick note, it has been reported that some CF cards don't play nice with Slave devices, so don't give up if at first attempt you can't get it to work. I know some people have been able to use the CD-ROM as a slave, even on the TF330, so it should be doable.

Thanks for the insight / encouragement. I have a few accessories coming before i can really close this baby up and test IDE.

Alternatively, I've heard mixed signals about zorro SCSI cards working with TF536. Is this true? I like the idea of IDE as drives are faster, more common and cheaper to come by, but SCSI would be ultimately preferred for zip / external HDD / CDROMs..

part12studios wrote: 26 Oct 2021 10:45 Thanks for the insight / encouragement. I have a few accessories coming before i can really close this baby up and test IDE.

Alternatively, I've heard mixed signals about zorro SCSI cards working with TF536. Is this true? I like the idea of IDE as drives are faster, more common and cheaper to come by, but SCSI would be ultimately preferred for zip / external HDD / CDROMs..

You cannot DMA into the TF536 fastram (because its 32bits wide and above the address range available to the 68000 socket). But otherwise SCSI drives will work with the TF536 (68000 bus arb works thanks to our Atari friends). So long as you somehow mark the ram usable by the scsi drive as 24Bit DMA it will work.

I have tested the GVP with with TF534 and TF536 and it works. Other have got the A2091 working fine. Its a software/config issue when it doesnt work.