New SASI/SCSI <-> Compact Flash Adaptors from Japan

[NFG]

Well this is interesting:

http://akiba-pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/wakiba/retro/20140922_666703.html

A new CF -> SASI/SCSI adaptor, for 13,800円.

[RetroRepair]

Looks like they are all sold out 

[eidis]

Hi RetroRepair !

入荷は10月中旬頃の予定。 - Stock is scheduled for mid-October.

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

[BlueBMW]

That seems to be about the same price as the Aztec Monster boards from Artmix.  Any reason why this one might be better?  Worse?

[costa]

This one is actually going to be the one of most expensive.
Now we have four options to put massive storage on our X68K, by order of price:

• SCSI2SD - Seems to work only with SCSI machines
• AztecMonster - Known to work with both SCSI and SASI
• CLPC-CFSxSI100 *this new one
• A-Card - I have no ideia how good it is, and if it will work with SASI

That is my feeling about the price. I have three AztecMonster and two SCSI2SD (on the way)... I personally don't have plans to get one of these new ones.

[eidis]

Hi BlueBMW !

The most significant difference is that this adapter supports SASI and SCSI natively, so it can be used without SxSI on SASI machines. However, it is not clear what is the largest supported partition size by SASI. Please see the attached picture. The DIP-switch settings, which are right below the CF slot reveal quite a lot.

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

[RetroRepair]

Well since my machine is SASI I will be ordering one of these so long as they ship outside Japan!

It's a shame the ESRA project never got finished though, would have been a much nicer solution, especially for those of us with ATX PSUs and no internal space.

[eidis]

 Hi Retrorepair !

The largest SASI image file which can be created with XM6 is 40Mb. This could be the maximum size for physical media in native SASI mode as-well.

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

[RetroRepair]

You can have lots of partitions though, right? Shouldn't be too much of an issue.

[lydux]

SxSI isn't just a plug...

SCSI is a specification based on the SASI one. They describe both : a commands set that has to be transfert on an electrical interface. Commands are software side, while the transmission interface is hardware. In fact, the major hardware difference between both is the missing data parity signal in SASI...

The reason why XM6 handle SASI up to 40MB hard drives is because of the earlier SASI software commands set, which is limited to 40MB ! XM6 fully emulate SASI... even limiting itself generating hard drive images compliant to SASI commands set.
And as commands are totally software side, that's means SASI can absolutly handle SCSI commands set specifications. Even SCSI-2 or SCSI-3 !

Modern fast ultra wide multiple-gigabytes and high RPM SCSI devices still follow these specifications, and so, our SASI controller should be able to handle them. As long as the device support Single-Ended chain without data parity control... And the software device driver supports additional SCSI-2/3 commands set...

The partition sizes is on an much higher software level and is up to the operation system !

The problem with our X68000 SASI is first of all the controller, which is really simple one and does not implement some automatic hardware control on the SCSI chain. For example, SCSI specification describes a minimum delay before accessing a device again after transferring a commands to it. The X68000 SASI controller does not implement this idle time. So, it has to be implemented by the software device driver, and unfortunately, we lack of a good one actually !

It's a shame the ESRA project never got finished though, would have been a much nicer solution, especially for those of us with ATX PSUs and no internal space.

I understand your frustration, and I'm sorry about that. The fact is, ERSA does work actually and is incredibly fast compared to actual X68K SCSI solutions. But I'm not satisfied with it as is. PATA interface consumes too much pins on the controller, and I would like to implement much more than just a mass storage access : RAM addition, ethernet and FPU at least. A better Nereid in fact... Also, I realize that having ultra fast mass storage on this now considers "slow computer" is just ridiculous !

However, I'm not giving up ! I have another plan in mind... 

[eidis]

 Hi Lydux !

I think I know what you have in mind. This could potentially start a whole new section in the forum Best of luck and keep up the good work !

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

[RetroRepair]

I understand your frustration, and I'm sorry about that. The fact is, ERSA does work actually and is incredibly fast compared to actual X68K SCSI solutions. But I'm not satisfied with it as is. PATA interface consumes too much pins on the controller, and I would like to implement much more than just a mass storage access : RAM addition, ethernet and FPU at least. A better Nereid in fact... Also, I realize that having ultra fast mass storage on this now considers "slow computer" is just ridiculous !

However, I'm not giving up ! I have another plan in mind... 

It does work? Excellent, would you release the needed files to make one? I understand you would like to make an all-in-one card and that would be amazing but some of us just have the computer and not much else. It's one of the main reasons I don't seem to hold on to these machines, it's just too much of a pain and too messy to get up and running.

Very keen to hear what your new project is though 

[H68k]

It would appear the Classic PC Rescue Committee is behind this new upcoming SCSI/SASI compact flash adaptor board, they already have a number of odd's n end's adaptors for other old Japanese computers. They don't ship outside of Japan. so you'll have to use whatever your middle man service of choice is to get a hold of one.


Pffffft... Who cares about having fast storage?? A new combined RAM and Ethernet expansion board that is actually available AND cheaper than a Nereid would be f..king fantastic!

[RetroRepair]

This one is actually going to be the one of most expensive.
Now we have four options to put massive storage on our X68K, by order of price:

• SCSI2SD - Seems to work only with SCSI machines
• AztecMonster - Known to work with both SCSI and SASI
• CLPC-CFSxSI100 *this new one
• A-Card - I have no ideia how good it is, and if it will work with SASI

That is my feeling about the price. I have three AztecMonster and two SCSI2SD (on the way)... I personally don't have plans to get one of these new ones.

Does the SCSI2SD really only work on SCSI machines? Because I just bought one as the wiki didn't mention that 

[neko68k]

It's open source. If it doesn't work, it can be made to work. It supports enough options as-is that I bet you could get it to work anyway...

[RetroRepair]

I've already spoken to Michael and he's a pretty helpful guy so I imagine I can get it working with a bit of help. Being open source I bet it wouldn't be hard to get it working with SASI natively