MEtalGuy66

It diesnt matter tha the data is inverted, unless you plan to swap the drive with another device eg. Blackbox or PC.. The blackbox has a DIP switch setting for that, and the PC. heh. Well.. The MIO is not a good solution for doing that..

The acard doesnt need any instructions. everything is marked on the pcb. SCSI ID 0 is fine.. IDE drive has to be jumpered as single/master.. On the acard, you want both termination and terminator power on. As far as the MIO config, you are setting PARTITIONS.. Not drives.. so these are absoloute sector numbers.. eg. 1 - 65536, 65537 - 131073, etc. The most you can do per partition is 65536 sectors.. If that's SDX DD512 then its a 32meg partition. any other DOS, its a 16meg partition (256 byte sectors).. Once youve configged the MIO and saved the config to the hardisk, just boot the DOS (from floppy or other SIO connected means) and format the configged drives using normal DOS format routines.. With modern LBA drives, you dont ever want to do a "low level format" so you can shitcan all the "MIO format programs".. None of that old crap applies anymore with the newer firmware.. In the SDX format program, you simply use "build directory structure".. If you want to make the drive bootable, use the appropriate dos command to write dos to it.. Its really that simple..

Hmm. Just looked and it appears that R110, Q8, and Y2 are all missing... So.. Maybe my memory is just shit..

Wow. I never had those instructions and I never removed any of that stuff and the VBXE worked just fine.

sio2usb is a german made device that lets you plug usb sticks into your atari. What you are referring to is the USB version of SIO2PC..

Could you burn that on a DVDROm and mail it to me?

What Neo-Rio said is EXACTLY right. I've often described that technique on here myself over the years. I would add the following: The key to avoiding delamination on crappy boards is reducing the heat and application time required in the desoldering process. The less heat you have to apply and the less time you have to apply it, the less the cheap board gets baked and the less likely a pad or trace is to come "unglued". A) On every chip pin pad EXCEPT Power and Ground pins (the ones with thick traces or ground planes connected to the pads), TURN DOWN THE HEAT as much as possible. 550F is risking delamination on crappier boards. When youve done all the non-power/ground pins, turn the heat up an additional 50-100 degrees F, and do the power and ground pins as quickly as possible. B) Alwayse use plenty of liquid flux applied to the solder joints before applying heat too. IF you use a quality flux, the heat requirements (and time of applying heat) goes down. You see some people suggesting to apply new solder to the joints to make them suck out easier. These people misunderstand. The actual problem here is that the solder has become oxidized with age and therefor is resistant to fast heat transfer. What is actually needed is flux. In cases where the surface of the solder is extremely oxidized from age/environment, you may LIGHTLY scrub the surface of the joints with a tiny soft brass brush, and then apply liquid flux, then heat/desolder...

Using a VCR should work. I did that before I A/V modded my 5200.

130XE + RAPIDUS + HIAS/MEGA-HZ 1MEG SRAM + STEREO POKEY + VBXE + IDE Plus 2.0, working perfectly. Have not experienced any of the issues that have been reported with installations involving the Ultimate 1meg or SIde. I am installing Ultimate 1meg into Dmitry's 800XL along with Rapidus. We'll see how that pans out..

Find some new-old-stock pre-1995 made, name-brand (Eg. Verbatim, Maxell, etc.) 1.44meg HD floppies.. See if you don't notice a huge improvement in quality over the newer cheaper ones...

Actually, previous to the mid-late 90s, 1.44meg floppies were ALOT more reliable. Some time around 1996-1998ish, manufacturers started making boith the drives and the floppies ALOT SHITTIER.. I guess the thinking was that a) hardisks had come down on price and become standard on all machines, negating the possibility of anyone using floppies as a PRIMARY means of storage.. b) Optical drives had pretty much taken over as original installation media.. c) There were a wide range of archival/backup media types available that made alot more sense in that role than floppies because the scale (size in bytes) of everything had increased. You can see what i'm talking about if you take apart a 3.5" 1.44meg floppy from the latge 80s/early 90s and compare it with one from the late 90s - on. The plastic cases are flimsier. The dacron "felt" no longer protects the entire surface of the disk, just a small piece (god knows what the thinking was here, other than utter cheapness).. The drives were reduced to absolute junk, all plastic moving parts, no internal "adjustments".. It is true that the DD stuff tends to be more reliable over time than the HD stuff.. However, of all of my HD disks (1.44meg 3.5" and 1.2meg 5.25") from the 80s and early 90s, I have seen a very small percentage of failures. 1.44meg Floppies that I have bought NEW and tried to use in the last 18 years or so have had a VERY HIGH rate of failure after VARY LOW useage time, relative to the pre-cheapness-era ones.. Anywayze.. As usual.. All of this stuff has already been totally beaten into the ground on previous discussion threads on this forum. Do a search and you can read ALOT more specific info regarding what I mentioned above and alot more..

Mine is a 4 port. S/N: 0202662 SV-472

Oh god I give up. You fuckers are arguing points that aren't counter or complimentary to anything Ive said and I refuse to get derailed far enough to comment on any of it.. Anyone who read far enough to benefit from my "oppinions" has long given up at this point..

Josch: No. You are the confused person. Everything I stated regarding Side/MyIDE is the truth.. Perhaps my preference not to use them is what you are referring to as "opinion". I do own both of them.. In fact, several versions of both- and have been very well aware of exactly what both were and the particulars of using them, since they were first conceived and made public. There is only one truth about the technical nature of these devices and what they are.. Please tell me what I stated above regarding these devices is not true. Niether one is a standalone PBI device.. Niether one has a full 16bit implementation of IDE.. Both rely on "customization" of the OS, SDX based "drivers" loaded, (or in case of the side/U1meg "PBI" ass-rig, an entire tape-worm-like rig of ribbon cables and PCBs added to the inside of the machine it's being used with) to even work. These are all facts.. Truth.. Not Oppinion.. My Oppinion is that people should not waste their money on hermaphrodite, non-standard devices when better options are available.. Yes, that is my opinion.. But the Truth of what a SIDE/2 or MyIDE/2 is in relation to a real PBI connected device that employs a more robust implementation of IDE.. That is not Oppinion.. It's plain truth..

There is only one truth.. The further your "opinion" is from it, the further you are in error.. Yep, I've installed quite a few Ultimate 1megs. I'm well aware of exactly what it is and does. Doesn't change my opinion of SIDE or MyIDE.

If you can get by with "good clean" composite video, this little screen is peddled by various home security/surveillance sites on the web. http://www.security4thehome.com/accessories/docooler-8-inch-tft-lcd-color-video-monitor-screen-vga-bnc-av-input-with-remote-controller-for-pc-cctv-home-security-stand-rotating-screen/

Dude. Yur taking this the wrong way.. YOU are the one who got offensive.. The bottom line is this. IDE Plus is a REAL PBI mass storage device that conforms to the Atari PBI standard, works with any standard XL/XE OS that supports PBI without the need for an SDX based "driver" loaded like SIDE and MYIDE.. IDE Plus is a full 16-bit IDE interface, unlike SIDE and MyIDE which use the absolute crappiest mode of communication that a CF card can possibly be ass-wired up to. YOU are the one who insists on the delusion that the 1200XL is the best machine. True, many people prefer the 1200XL (or 800) keyboard to the other XL machines and certainly the XE series.. But, in truth, electronically, the 1200XL is an "early evolution" of what the platform evolved into. If you are insisting on using that motherboard, fine.. But just like you have to hack it to get modern/compatable OS ROM, MMU, Internal BASIC, etc.. You also have to hack it to get the PBI which is the correct and best solution for local bused hardware expansions such as fast mass storage devices. Yes, there ARE other "lesser alternatives" (maybe that's a nicer term than "half-assed").. But, that is what they are.. Just like a modem that connects through the joystick port will never be as good as one that connects through a proper RS232 interface.. The XEP80 will never be as good as a local-bussed 80 column display adapter.. Etc. etc.. I am a person who uses very blunt language. I don't "sugar coat" or mince words.. Its not intended to offend.. Its just meant to relay the truth with appropriate emphasis, in as few words as possible.. And that's my fault, I guess..

Both my 1200XLs have 130XE motherboards.. Your 1200XL is an inferior pig by comparisson.. and garbage like MyIDE and SIDE are truly Lipstick on that pig...

Its unreasonable to expect a pbi device on a machine that had no provisions for them in which case, yes you have to settle for half assed solutions.

Get an IDE plus 2.0 if you want a real PBI mass storage device. SIDE and MyIDE are junky half-assed wanna-be solutions by comparison. SIO2SD is an excellent SIO-connected general/mass storage device, and a viable replacement for the venerable floppy disk subsystem.

Awesome looking mag. Total respect to the amount of work it took to do that.

Smoke pot and drink lots of water..

Flashjazzcat: The CPU socket and pin header to connect to the motherboard CPU socket are two separate layouts on Rapidus. Dmitry: Contact Simius or Drac030. They can point you in the right direction to get an IDE plus 2.0.

Also, I read your compliment to Lotharek about being receptive to suggestions for product improvement. In that spirit: I just installed a Rapidus in an 800XL.. The Rapidus overhangs the POKEY and PIA. Without having the POKEY and PIA soldered directly to the PCB, its almost impossible to get Rapidus to sit low enough for the top case half/keyboard to fit back on without interference. If you look at the Rapidus Board, by far the most offensively HIGH component on top is the 6502C once its plugged into the socket on top of the RAPIDUS.. The socket used on the Rapidus board is a normal profile machined socket. My suggestion: use millmax 115-43-640-41-003000 instead. This is an "ultra low profile" machined socket and it's installed height is over .040" lower than a standard machined socket. If you really want to help the 800XL people, in addition to using the "ultra low profile" socket on the top of Rapidus, you could include 3 additional "ultra low profile" sockets with the Rapidus, for those who have the ability to replace the CPU, POKEY, and PIA sockets on the motherboard. Mouser has these sockets for $2.67US each if you buy at least 100 of them. http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Mill-Max/115-43-640-41-003000

Yeah. Well, in my experience, all these modern 3.3v and 1.8v devices are about 100 times (no exaggeration) more succeptable to power-rail noise/variation than the old 5v NMOS/CMOS stuff. If you're using a little dinky "wall-wart", you should probably look at the 5v circuit on a scope, not just a voltmeter.. You need ample current capacity to avoid voltage drops during heavy load situations but you also need adequate rectification and noise filtering when coming from AC, and a lot of the "wall wart" PSUs are intended for devices that have their OWN internal secondary regulators and noise reduction circuits. If I was you, I'd try an old (known good) PC/AT PSU. This problem is very prevalent in the retro-upgrade market these days. A tiny regulator and a few caps on the power input of one of these upgrade boards can only do so much. You give it input voltage that can fluctuate by half a volt or more under load going in, and it can only "smooth out" so much.. Two examples I can think of are the Indivision ECS display enhancer/flicker-fixer for the Amiga 500/2000, and the Uthernet II Ethernet card for the Apple II. Both of these devices need a ROCK SOLID, noise-free 5v supply rail with relatively low noise, or they flake all to hell and back. Both devices work fine in a stock unexpanded machine, but put them in a machine full of cards/upgrades, and they flake out.. When all the other expansions/upgrades are working fine.. The makers of these devices have gone nuts with various "fixes" involving additional decoupling/dampning caps, etc.. None of which worked for me.. The solution: fix/upgrade the 5v supply to provide more current capacity and less noise if possible.