User avatar
opcode77

Posted Wed Mar 03, 2021 3:32 pm

Anyone have any luck configuring the Microbotics Stardrive with the SCSI2SD device? I have it connected with a 4GB card set to 2GB. I am using a custom drive setup but it is talking about low and high cylinders and blocks. Not sure how to translate that. I could calculate the blocks curious if anyone has already done all of this work. Here are my settings for the SCSI2SD:
scsi2sd2.png
scsi2sd1.png

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Wed Mar 03, 2021 3:51 pm

I tried to go down that route once a few years ago and failed. Determining the SD Card's geometry was where things always seemed to unravel. I would hook the SCSI2SD card up to my Amiga 2000 and set it up there. It saw it just fine. I could even jot some of what it believed it to be, based on HD tools.

But when I would move the card back over to the A1K, the best I could ever do was boot it once before things would spool out of control and trash the card. You have to put it in your mountlist and the various data points have to be correct. Otherwise I don't think the StarDrive will ever really see it or understand it.

I do know someone has been looking into contemplating a re-write of the StarDrive driver (which was coded to work with 20MB hard drives) so it could be used with bigger hard drives, but not the SCIS2SD specifically.

But yeah, for now I just use the Zip Drive because that puzzle was solved, and it works quite well. Would be super cool to use a SCSI2SD card with the StarDrive, though.

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Wed Mar 03, 2021 3:57 pm

Per site member @Crispy, for the mount-list on the Amiga side. "I would just take an existing mount list for the StarDrive, and change the heads, blocks per track, and lowcyl, highcyl values."

Thus, have you tried:

#DH0:

heads: 1
blocks-per-track 64
low cylinder 0
high cylinder 65535

That works out to exactly 2GB.


Something like that. And it would have to be "assigned" in the startup sequence as well. There's some manual work to be done since there's no device installer that's relevant. And the StarDrive.device would need to be put in the proper location, too.

User avatar
Crispy
Sunhillow

Posted Wed Mar 03, 2021 5:26 pm

I'll chime in with something that you can try. Insert the following mountlist entry into your DEVS:MountList file.

Code: Select all

DH0:
    Device = StarDrive.device
    Flags = 0x3030
    StackSize = 4096
    Interleave = 0
    Buffers = 30
    BufMemType = 1
    Priority = 10
    Mount = 1

    FileSystem = L:FastFileSystem
    DOSType = 0x444f5301
    GlobVec = -1
    Reserved = 2

    Unit = 1
    LowCyl = 2 ; HighCyl = 65533
    Surfaces = 1
    BlocksPerTrack = 64
    PreAlloc = 0
#

Then mount the drive.

Code: Select all

mount DH0:

Now you can format the drive, and see if it works.

Code: Select all

format drive DH0: name SdDisk ffs quick

User avatar
opcode77

Posted Fri Mar 05, 2021 9:32 am

Thanks for the responses! I took the info and was able to mount it and it is now formatting. It wouldn't let me use the ffs or the quick. It seems to be formatting now and the light on the SCSI2SD device is blinking. It is going to take forever. I will try to get it booting and using it. I will report back.

User avatar
Crispy
Sunhillow

Posted Fri Mar 05, 2021 11:39 am

OK, that may be a problem. The fast filesystem is specified in the mountlist, and if you format the drive for the old file system, then it probably won't be recognized as a valid disk. Also, I believe the old filesystem has a limit of 50 MB, so that's another issue.

Which version of AmigaOS are you running? It sounds like it's a version earlier than 1.3 since the format command doesn't recognize the ffs and quick options. If this is the case then you will probably want to move to 1.3. With older versions of AmigaOS you will be limited to the first 50 MB of your nice big SD card.

If you run into trouble, then you can try this mountlist instead. It will give you a 40 MB partition that uses the old filesystem.

Code: Select all

DH0:
    Device = StarDrive.device
    Flags = 0x3030
    Interleave = 0
    Reserved = 2
    Buffers = 30
    BufMemType = 1
    Mount = 1

    Unit = 1
    LowCyl = 0 ; HighCyl = 1279
    Surfaces = 1
    BlocksPerTrack = 64
    PreAlloc = 0
#

User avatar
opcode77

Posted Mon May 17, 2021 8:25 am

I was able to figure out the sd card's geometry that the scsi2sd was presenting. I had to do some fiddling with stuff to get a wb 1.3 disk to see the StarDrive so I could properly format it for the 2gb. I then tweaked your wb1.3 zip boot disk to mount the StarDrive with the scsi2sd. It all works. I am now working on a kickstart disk that will pass booting wb to the StarDrive without the need for a wb disk to do it. I am spoiled to the Parceiro so I can't take the 2 disk swap and the long boot time. I will post more information as I make progess. My ultimate goal is to have a dd image of a plain wb1.3 install on an sd that you can image to another sd card, plug into a scsi2sd and an adf of a kickstart disk that will boot it. With the Parceiro, it has made the StarDrive obsolete for me, but I like trying to figure all of this out.

So at this point, I can boot kickstart, boot a modified 1.3 workbench, and it passes over to the StarDrive using the scsi2sd card. I can remove the wb floppy and use the system normally. The info shows that it has the space.

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Mon May 17, 2021 9:17 am

The one advantage the StarDrive still has (beyond SCSI2SD being ultimately faster under the right conditions) is the pass-through. So if you want to attach additional devices, you can add a Zip, CD-ROM, more Starboards - whatever.

I've not had any luck with the Parciero working in conjunction with my Starboard2. It will work, however, with other period-correct SCSI solutions. The Starboard is a bit of a diva it seems.

But they both have their pros and cons, no doubt. And yes - the Parceiro is simply kick ass, and doesn't require a Starboard to work - which is massive.

I should have something fun to show around this in the next week or so.

P.S.
I have my StarDrive currently working with a 1GB SanDisk.





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