NEW IDE Controller & TOS 2.06 board (with extras)

[alanh]

Hi all,

I've been working on a little project that's an IDE controller & TOS 2.06 upgrade for the STFM & STE. So, I wondered if there's any interest in it.

Basically it has the following features.....

* IDE Controller with two ports, one primary which is Atari compatible and bootable. The second is compatible, but not bootable. Therefore providing 4 IDE devices.
* TOS 2.06 address decoder, with external pins for ROM's (or ROM upgrade board)
* Primary & Secondary ports are switchable.
Consider this, you boot from your primary drive, but it becomes corrupt. You flick a switch to your backup drive on the second port, and now it becomes the primary port and kazam your back in business.
* Possibility to stack the board, therefore offering upto 8 IDE devices (still testing this one)
* HDDriver support for both primary & secondary ports. (Already talked to Uwe about supporting, and he's currently giving me some beta versions for test).
* Possibility to go into the STE - currently with adapter - shown. Later it's possible to switch out the 68000 DIP socket for this directly. (Just tested with STE motherboard I got from Chandler )
* Finally, it's all done with Logic chips. A challenge I set myself to fiddle with stuff . Therefore easily solderable for those who have the skills, and no programmable chips are involved, obviously if it's just the bare board.

Currently the two 40 pin IDE connectors are vertical. I'm considering mounting the primary (the one closest to the edge of the board) at 90 degrees, so the CF card would be horizontal in the shots.

The photos show where I'm at and these are prototypes so there's been some slight modifications to these boards.

Feel free to send comments

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[Shredder11]

[wongck]

ditto.
Always good to see some new hardware coming around.
Good luck !!

it's hard enough to get 1 IDE on the ST class computer, now you can put 4 IDE on this board !!!
That's amazing !
So am I right to say existing version of HDDriver will only get 2 IDE devices??

[alanh]

Yes, the current version of HDDriver 8.45 only supports the first port, i.e. 2 devices.

[Dal]

Wow. A really well developed idea. If the price point beats an UltraSatan (which I'm guessing it will), then I think you have a lot of interest.

[alexh]

Nice work. I imagine that an STe cut down version (which wouldn't need the 2.06 board) would be even cheaper?

I hope that you manage to bring this to the masses.

[alanh]

TOS isn't on the IDE board. It's seperate. The pictures above don't show it very well, but it's underneath the IDE adapter.

But there are STE's that have 1.62 soldered to the board, so it's possible to do 1.62/2.06 switching if you did install a 2.06 board.

But yes, if 2.06 is already installed, then you obviously don't need another one.

Remember folks, TOS 2.x isn't required for IDE support, just IDE boot.

And finally, I'm aiming for a cheap as possible board, but with the option for people to solder themselves. Except for the socket adapter for the STE, where I'd probably get that professionally done.

[simonsunnyboy]

Will this fit into a standard 1040 case with closed lid? I'd be interested in a plug and play STE version

[alanh]

I was just composing something about this. It could be made to.

So I'd be interested in your opinion of the orientation of the board, given the board is currently about 85mm x 75mm.

The STE version could also come with a 68000 DIL socket for other upgrades for people with rehoused STE's, but I want to know from people with cased STE's on their preference of orientation given the above size of the board.

Do you have a suggestion ?

[simonsunnyboy]

Space in 1040 cases is very very tight. It shouldn't exceed size and form factor of the Mario Beecroft design (Which is sadly not sold anymore).

[alanh]

I don't have one, anyone know the size of that ?

[Shredder11]

I've always wondered what model or maker did my internal IDE interface inside one of my 4160 STE machines. Any ideas Alan? All I know is that it works really well and is very fast indeed.

[DarkLord]

Umm...

http://gem.win.co.nz/mb/atarihw/

http://gem.win.co.nz/mb/atarihw/ide.html

[alanh]

[quote="Shredder11"]I've always wondered what model or maker did my internal IDE interface inside one of my 4160 STE machines. Any ideas Alan? All I know is that it works really well and is very fast indeed.

Thanks for those pics Shredder11 !

I can certainly fit the board in the STE but it will probably be slightly bigger than that one. I'll try and show some pics of what I'm thinking......

[kristjanga]

I have a special kind of STE it is a icelandic version and it has a icelandic version of TOS 2.05
so I ask "can TOS 2.05 handle a ide boot?"

[Guest]

i think the decoded address counter will run as
so you can mount any lingo 2.x or multiple lingos on the same chips ...
same thing as pperas posels flash tos
pity nobody seems sees how sideways ram works using a redundant address cycle
or you can overload a simm and load from it in real time...

nice project like it lots!!!


if you add 4MB Dram simm you can even shuffle tos versions by changing the dram org...
and using 1MB system blocks setting the bounds... as needed in directives first

[simonsunnyboy]

Please note than an STE version won't need the TOS 2.06 decoder. Any STE can mount TOS 2.06 directly on board. IIRC only a jumper has to be changed if slightly different EEPROMs are used.

[rabindranath72]

Please note than an STE version won't need the TOS 2.06 decoder. Any STE can mount TOS 2.06 directly on board. IIRC only a jumper has to be changed if slightly different EEPROMs are used.

My STE had 40pin sockets, but 28pin 1.62 ROMs were fit. I found a pair of 40pin TOS 2.06 ROMS which fit without changing the jumper, but there were also other 40pin ROMS which requires the jumper.

[spiny]

looking good I am certainly interested

[alanh]

Please note than an STE version won't need the TOS 2.06 decoder. Any STE can mount TOS 2.06 directly on board. IIRC only a jumper has to be changed if slightly different EEPROMs are used.

It's not always a jumper, certainly on my board it has resistors soldered directly into the pads. Additionally, my TOS 1.62 chips are soldered to the board too. So it's not a straight forward swap for those without skills.

And regardless, the decoder is a small part of the logic that can be disabled.

[rabindranath72]

Please note than an STE version won't need the TOS 2.06 decoder. Any STE can mount TOS 2.06 directly on board. IIRC only a jumper has to be changed if slightly different EEPROMs are used.

It's not always a jumper, certainly on my board it has resistors soldered directly into the pads. Additionally, my TOS 1.62 chips are soldered to the board too. So it's not a straight forward swap for those without skills.

And regardless, the decoder is a small part of the logic that can be disabled.

Ah yes, mine too has resistors for jumpers; I don't think there are any Ataris with actual plastic jumpers.

[calimero]

also don't miss ppera's internal, advanced IDE, with TOS upgrade, opt. TOS v. switch.

http://atari.8bitchip.info/advide.php

[rian_ata]

Oh man, definately interested

[alexh]

It's not always a jumper, certainly on my board it has resistors soldered directly into the pads.

Yeah, they were not resistors but zero ohm links but sometimes called jumpers. Every STe I've had has required these zero ohm links removed and a jumper header soldered on for the type of EPROMs I had lying around.

[DarkLord]

I don't think there are any Atari's with actual plastic jumpers.

Not related to this thread at all, but actually some do. The STacy has some, for example:

STacy_jumpers.jpeg

Just sayin'...