Cartridge port IDE IF design finished (project CATA)

Petari · 09-09-2010, 14:13:56

After long time it is now capable for reliable work on ST, STE machines, with CF cards, IDE hard disks and even CD ROM drives (but it will need driver too) .

Some + details here : http://atari.8bitchip.info/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_Pi9gSJdYo

If interested for, please post here or send e-mail. Need to know amount of interested people before starting production.

Shredder11 · 09-09-2010, 22:29:38

The speed is awesome!

Anemos · 13-09-2010, 00:53:15

Very interest! Atari HD via cartridge port?

can be using with all HD drivers ,or has special drivers
is bootable also ect..?
how GB CF support?
no extra power needed ?
tell more..

Petari · 13-09-2010, 11:26:07

Quote from: Anemos on 13-09-2010, 00:53:15
Very interest! Atari HD via cartridge port?
can be using with all HD drivers ,or has special drivers
is bootable also ect..?
how GB CF support?
no extra power needed ?
tell more..

Idea is not new. Paskud was the first cartridge port IDE IF for Atari ST.
On site is some info, but I will write here, maybe in more understandable way :

Forget other HD drivers - only with special driver for it - there is no standard/specs for using cartridge port for mass storage, it is even not intended for writing data out, only for reading in.

Paskud has own driver SW, partitioner etc. too , just to add.

It is bootable in little different way than regular hard disks (ACSI/IDE) - autoboot is solved via SW in cartridge ROMs. It executes before regular disk booting, even before floppy boot. On all TOS versions. So, no need for TOS 2.06 when using IDE ( Benefit #1 )

No capacity limit - driver can handle disks up to 2048 GB (it is partition table limit in fact).
So, any CF, even 32-64 GB will work, if you have money to buy it

No need for extra power supply, as cartridge port gets power from ST (Benefit #2 )

Benefit #3 : speed - much faster than Paskud, especially by write. See pic on site.
In combination with Kobold 2 it is killer !

See on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D2aWwxpk6U

Anemos · 13-09-2010, 20:59:56

If understand.. it works like a large cartridge hardware emulator that you can intervene and change the files via CF.
It remains interesting, but the not writable directly by Atari, is not good...
at last..i think all your work,s is very good and benefit for Atari and users.

Petari · 14-09-2010, 13:43:40

Quote from: Anemos on 13-09-2010, 20:59:56
If understand.. it works like a large cartridge hardware emulator that you can intervene and change the files via CF.
It remains interesting, but the not writable directly by Atari, is not good...
at last..i think all your work,s is very good and benefit for Atari and users.

It is not cartridge emulator. It is full IDE compliant (supporting all IDE features) adapter/interface.
I just mentioned that cartridge port is not intended for writes - but it means not that writing is impossible. I made long time ago EPROM programmer for cart. port. And writing is a must by such device, isn't ? Usually, writing is slower than reading, but in case of CATA it is very fast.
".. but the not writable directly by Atari, is not good..." don't know why you talk about not writeable directly. Better is to say that Atari designed cart. port without writing support. Actually, CATA writes very directly via cart port, and it explains high speed.
Because of easier usage (to avoid opening machine, solderings) there is demand to use cart port for diverse adapters, so CaTA is just one among many, who solved it. Examples: USB/serial port for cartridge. Digitizer , some audio stuff ...
More info: usually, writing out is solved by using address lines as data. There is even some article on WEB, where it is explained in details. Fact that Atari did not support writing via cart. port means not that it is unreliable or whatever. And we know that many times third party developers surpassed original manufacturer. Remember ICD ?

P.S. I start new topic here, where will write some principles of mass storage, interfaces used for ..

Anemos · 15-09-2010, 22:53:58

ok, nice! we wait to see some photos of your new project,lot of people wait for some new, HD for Atari!

Petari · 17-09-2010, 19:38:40

Photos will be when PCB is manufactured. Then can assemble and shot. Prototype is not nice.

Something bothered me already when made first test version: writing is much faster than read. I knew that same principle as by writing is not possible by reading without some changes in Atari ST(E). This days I thinkered about. The solution is in fact pretty simple, and costs almost nothing.
Need to cut 1 line in machine and solder 2 wires there, and lead them out. Those 2 wire ends connect to special connector on CATA and that's all plus work/material. If not using CATA must shortcut that 2 wire ends, of course - can be solved automatically with proper connector.

I plan this as option. So, only speed fanatics may go on with. For others it will work well, without opening machine. In driver config file will be set to use or not the extra reading speed.

This is reading speed via driver. Direct access speed should be around 2400 KB/sec. But so far no support in speed test program for it.

jvas · 18-09-2010, 14:28:01

Very impressive

Thorsten Günther · 12-12-2010, 11:18:36

Any data yet on projected prices and date of availability?

Depending on the price tag, I will order some CATAs, and I guess there's many more buyers if it becomes available - you might ask on atari-home.de forum, e.g..

Thorsten

Shredder11 · 12-12-2010, 12:33:23

Yep I am interested in the interface too, although not sure yet how many I would like/afford.

Petari · 13-12-2010, 15:06:42

Working on it ... I will put all infos here when will know concrete details ...

Thorsten Günther · 13-12-2010, 20:28:54

Thanks!

Hope it will be soon, this thing is even sexier than the UltraSatan because it needs no PSU (I hope you'll be going for a CF version).

Will you produce it yourself or ask some of the hardware producers in Eastern Europe (e.g. Lotharek or MiKro) to do the dirty (and tedious) work?

Any chance that CATA will get a case?

Regards,

Thorsten

johnz · 29-12-2010, 11:51:14

hello

a very interesting ide interface. if one day you product the item for sell i will be interested in buying one for my falcon.

Petari · 29-12-2010, 13:31:07

Quote from: johnz on 29-12-2010, 11:51:14
a very interesting ide interface. if one day you product the item for sell i will be interested in buying one for my falcon.

Unfortunately it works not really good on Falcon - because of different bus timings. Only read is good, writing not.
Not to mention that you have already IDE IF with Falcon, so need only some cable and IDE-CF adapter to work with Compact Flash.

Cartridge port IDE IF design finished (project CATA)

Thorsten Günther

Thorsten Günther