Trying to wrap my head around the X68000

[slk486]

Hi guys. Looking to finally get one of my holy grails and have an opportunity for a good deal on an Expert model, but I'm unclear on a couple of things.

What I think I know:
It comes with a compact flash installation from a compact, but it would seem I need to figure out a way to connect the scsi adapter to the internal sasi? There are two expansion bays and one solution would be to put a scsi module into one?
I need a 2mb upgrade to actually run games with it, which can be done either internally or with an expansion module?
If I want a midi module (which I do) that ram upgrade would have to be internal, if I put a scsi module in the other one?

Am I on the right track?

Cheers

[RobIvy64]

Keep in mind, you only have 2 expansion ports. To properly use a CF setup, you need 4 MB of RAM *minimum* which will consume one port.

I think there is a way to get around the SASI limitation, but I am not 100% certain. You may need a SCSI capable machine.

MIDI board + 4MB RAM or more (expansion card needed for this) = your X68000 has no more expansion slots available!

[slk486]

Right, but from reading around, I was under the impression there's an internal way of expanding the memory - without using an expansion bay?

[RobIvy64]

There is, but only to 2MB total. Enough for games, but not enough for CF

[slk486]

Ok. If the Expert has 2MB built in, then that's not of much use

I suppose a beefy ram expansion, a midi module, and original games is the way to go for starters, then. If an XVI comes a long at some point I'll jump on that one. Gotta start somewhere, and they don't seem to pop up very often.

[RobIvy64]

If it has 2MB built in, you'll be able to play 95% of the original games on floppy disk!

[slk486]

According to Wikipedia, it does, but I should probably ask the seller

[eidis]

 Hi Slk486 !

I have some news which will hopefully make you happy and clear any doubts and misunderstandings.

1) About SASI and SCSI:

Quote from Wikipedia: "SASI is a fully compliant subset of SCSI-1 so that many, if not all, of the then-existing SASI controllers were SCSI-1 compatible."

Link to the full article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scsi

This means that you absolutely don't need a SCSI I/O expansion card because every SASI port is electronically compatible with SCSI-1. The main difference is in the software which drives them and in the cable at X68000 side.

Pinouts for X68000 SASI and SCSI cables:
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:hard_drive_on_sasi_machine#chapter_2_connecting_the_hardware

Long time ago a brave coder who calls himself Hero Soft made SxSI. It is a IOCS driver which allows us to use SCSI-1 compatible hard drives and devices on SASI bus. It installs a bootloader into X68000's SRAM which allows booting from HDD.

2) Experts (CZ-602C , CZ-612C) by default have 2MB ram

Link to Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X68000

3) At present 155 games in the latest V3 image can be run on a stock 2MB equipped machine and only 15 require more than 2MB of RAM. 4MB makes using X68000 more pleasant but is not required unless you want to play Daimakaimura and Strider from HDD.

4) You could ask BlueBMW for an expertise on Midi boards. I think that he has the most experience with them.

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

[slk486]

^ That is very good news!

In the meantime it seems I struck gold, because the seller just told me this unit actually comes with a scsi module and a midi module installed, so either way I'm set. I feel a bit lucky right now

My problem would then be to actually get the SxSI driver installed, when I find a ram expansion to replace the scsi module.

Thank you very much for your help - both of you

[eidis]

 Hi Slk486 !

You will need to write the MasterDisk.xfd to a 5.25" HD floppy in order to install the loader to SRAM. Prepare a Win98/2k machine with 5.25" 1.2MB floppy drive in advance.

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

P.S. As I mentioned in the earlier post, you can play almost all games from CF which are in the V3 image on a 2MB equipped system. So in your case additional ram will be an accessory not a necessity.

[slk486]

Yes, so I suppose the RAM upgrade can wait. I do have a Win98 machine I use for older PC games, but no floppy drive. It would probably be a good idea to get one.

[BlueBMW]

The expert has 2mb built in and doesnt have an internal ram expansion port.  The earlier original and ace models had 1mb stock and had an internal connector for an additional 1mb module.   One caveat with running a CF on the sasi machine... Make sure the sram battery is fresh otherwise youll lose the configuration each time the system is unplugged.  Then youll have to relaod the sxsi driver every time from floppy.  Otherwise a 2mb expert with the eidis V3 image will give you plenty of pleasure!

Regarding midi...  Just plug the midi card into one of the IO slots and connect it via a midi cable to one of the compatible modules.  Typically games have an option to select what sound to use.  Games like dracula configure it on boot.  Ideally if you can get a CM-64 and SC-55 module youll be set.  CM-64s can be a bit harder to find but they are worth it!

[slk486]

Thanks. Where can I get the eidis V3 image? I'm adding a CM-32D to my CM-32L, to effectively make it a CM-64

[Fratzengeballer]

Saw the thread on amibay, was thinking of buying one myself. Congrats for buying it, this system really rocks. My x64k is in the post, aswell. Hope it will arrive in good shape.