SIO2IDE Bootable?

[pixelmischief]

Can the media attached to an SIO2IDE be used to boot an Atari 8-Bit, respecting the 16MB partition limit?

[flashjazzcat]

Yes, if it's the device I'm thinking of, although the peripheral takes some seconds to initialise and needs to be powered on before the Atari is booted. There was a modification which actually held the A8 in a reset state until the SIO2IDE became ready, but I gave up on the whole thing in 2010 or so when more sophisticated solutions came onto the market.

 

[pixelmischief]

Awesome!  I can live with "on first".  Did it back in the day with SCSI on Sun Workstations, so it's kinds built-in to the brain. 😃

[pixelmischief]

Just to clarify, I don't mean from an image on the media.  I mean a partition on the media itself.

[flashjazzcat]

1 minute ago, pixelmischief said:

Just to clarify, I don't mean from an image on the media.  I mean a partition on the media itself.

I wasn't aware it was possible to partition SIO2IDE media at all. As I remember it, the IDE device is a host for disk images (although it was a long time ago).

[pixelmischief]

Hmmmm.  How about IDE+2?  I have that one, as well.  If I remember right, that does direct media access, no?

[flashjazzcat]

9 minutes ago, pixelmischief said:

How about IDE+2?  I have that one, as well.  If I remember right, that does direct media access, no?

Yes. IDE Plus 2.0 is a PBI host adapter which supports partitioning of the IDE media, and booting of the machine from said partitions.

 

[+Larry]

I had to think a bit about SIO2IDE; then I remembered it.  I do remember that someone was going to make a few here in the U.S., and that fell through. Perhaps the SIO2SD killed it. (?) 

 

I found a few references on Google, including a somewhat blurry YouTube Video.  Did anyone here use one of these devices very extensively?  What were your thoughts about it -- good, buggy, etc.? 

[flashjazzcat]

37 minutes ago, Larry said:

Did anyone here use one of these devices very extensively?  What were your thoughts about it -- good, buggy, etc.? 

It worked, but the aforementioned power-up issue and fiddly volume mounting was enough to put me off. It's less convenient than SIO2SD and does nothing which SIO2SD cannot do, to the best of my memory. I sold mine.

 

[Jacques]

I was using SIO2IDE in the past before SIO2SD era. First with real 2.5" HDD, later on with CF via IDE-CF adapter in the SF-354 case, which now is occupied in SIO2SD (pictures).
Indeed I can remember SIO2IDE was booting up first detecting HDD for few seconds, plus with real HDD it needs a while to reach it's revs, too, so there was a bit of delay.
For me it was not an issue though, as I'm using QMEG, so I could boot-up anytime I want, after waiting these 3 seconds or so.
Also the Atari power supply needs to produce sufficient current for real HDD, I needed 1.5A brick, 1A didn't make it start.

But all in all it was absolutely trouble-free device, offering similiar D1-D8 emulation functionality as SIO2SD, including it's ultraspeed (3x SIO) compatibility.

But SIO2SD is newer device (though not new anymore) and more convenient to use these days, unless someone likes to connect real HDD.

 

 

Edited August 15, 2020 by Jacques

[+Larry]

That CA-2001 is a nice looking drive!  Indus clone?

-Larry

[Jacques]

Not really a clone, rather the newer model from same LDW company. Indus GT was first and sold mainly in US, then LDW Super 2000 in middle Europe (mainly Poland) , and CA-2001 followed as XE-like facelifting, I'd say, and the last of the family. Apparently LDW/CA were planning to introduce 2-headed CA-2002, but it didn't happen

Edited August 15, 2020 by Jacques