SxSI-SCSI HDD Image v3.02

[incrediblehark]

+1 for using Exbios as well for the built in SxSI support - it also fixes the ram limits and allows for a full 12mb installed on these older machines.

[LowDefAl]

and I believe they both auto detect the ram installed so you don't even need to use Switch.x

As well as showing you useful information about what is attached like a PC BIOS would display at boot.

[aotta]

There's no exbios for old x68k, and i don't think anyone is working on it, but i like the concept, even if i use SRAM config since years, with no issue, as Sharp engineers planned 40 years ago.
Yes, i see from dos only 10mb ram of my 12, but what's the difference?

[LowDefAl]

There's no exbios for old x68k

IPL 1.6 supports all models.However I don't own anything older than an expert to test its driver on.

[aotta]

There's no exbios for old x68k

IPL 1.6 supports all models.However I don't own anything older than an expert to test its driver on.

The link you posted return an error 404

[X-Col]

IPL 1.6 supports all models.However I don't own anything older than an expert to test its driver on.

I use IPL 1.6 in my ACE HD and I still have to install the SxSI drivers in SRAM to boot from HD

[aotta]

IPL 1.6 supports all models.However I don't own anything older than an expert to test its driver on.

I use IPL 1.6 in my ACE HD and I still have to install the SxSI drivers in SRAM to boot from HD

Thank you @X-Col for confirming, so i think i'll pass in burning new roms with IPç 1.6 on my X68Ks...

[HIggy]

I did burn some IPL roms for my Expert 2 when I had the issue with writing to the SRAM (it did not help and I replaced the chips in the end).

I think there is a Github or something explaining a bit about building the IPL roms with options, but I just did a basic thing and didn't try to add a SxSI driver etc.

From memory the X68000 ROM has quite a bit of diagnostic serial stuff in it, so could remove that and insert the SxSI driver in the space.

What we really need is the holy grail of someone who can communicate in English/Japanese and knows the X68000+code/programming.

My wife's cousin is Japanese and teaches English, but she doesn't have an interest in retro computers, apart from occasionally buying some hardware for an old geek or 'Otaku' as she called me

[X-Col]

There was an old thread on this very subject

https://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=5503.msg37656#msg37656

Alas nothing came of it

[neko68k]

I messed with it for a while. The SxSI driver needs a lot done to get it to be happy running from ROM IIRC. More or less half of the ROM is the kernel debugger and ROM Human so there's a good bit of space in there.

The other thing I've considered is making new "SCSI" cards that just use an microsd plugged into it but there'd need to be some other value added to make it worthwhile for non-PRO users. Like it'd need expansion RAM and/or MIDI or something so it doesn't eat up a valuable slot just for that. The other catch is that I'd need to write a SCSI ROM to go with it since the OS expects such a thing to exist and have actual code in it for interacting with the new hardware. Basically the driver is in the SCSI I/O slot cards ROM and oh lord am I lazy.

New year, I have time. I hate to make commitments since I'll probably never do it but I personally like some variation of option B here.

[kamiboy]

I have long wondered why no one has made an expansion slot drive before as expansion slot midi, memory and midi+memory cards have already been made by other. Unfortunately most of those projects are now dead, with the original creators no longer selling their creations.

If those projects had been made open source after being abandoned then at least two third of the ultimate expansion slot card would already be made. I imagine the SCSI one is the hardest project to undertake of the three.

I have an original SCSI expansion card that came bundled with one of my units. I tried briefly to connect BlueSCSI to it and see whether a SASI machine would just boot off of it without anything in SRAM, but no dice. I guess I am missing something. The BlueSCSI LED's were lit up, so I think it has TERM power, unlike the SASI connector on the machine itself, but I guess there must be more to getting it to work. I believe I managed to boot an external SCSI MO drive from it years back, but I don't remember how.

In any regard, I would ideally want a midi card in my machine as well, and I believe I also have a FPU and memory expansion card well, which means I dont have room for all three in one machine, and I'll have to prioritise, so combo cards sure are convenient in that regard.

Anyhow, I wonder if some drivers could just be "borrowed" from such an official SCSI card, it must have the code you describe somewhere in ROM. I know people are puzzlingly super nervous about stealing 40 year old abandoned code for some reason, personally, I would just nick it. Chances of anyone from Sharp giving one trouble for it is basically zero. It's tinfoil hat territory to worry about it in my opinion.

Of course I don't know anything about the process of making an external SCSI card, perhaps it would be easier to start from fresh rather than try to reverse engineer an existing card, and accompanying code.

In any regard, I get the impression that memory expansions are easier to implement than midi expansions, there have certainly been more of one than the other, so it would be more realistic to marry 10MB memory to a potential SCSI-SD project than midi.

On the other hand, there are already existing Pi based midi module implementations, so in a dream scenario one could have the ultimate expansion card combining SCSI-SD HDD, with 10mb memory and built in midi card and midi module in one. With that much functionality the card could take up all two slots as the only other thing I can imagine people would want is a math co-processor expansion card in their machines.

The only outputs from the card would be the SD card slot, an audio out for midi, and perhaps a switch to choose between LA or GS midi emulation.

I wonder if a Pi could take care of both SCSI to SD and midi emulation in tandem....