Conference hydra::amiga_v1

    Helloooo,
    
    Anyone out there ....?
    
    Patrick

    Patrick,
    
    I just spoke with them, and I suggested that I get an RD-53 to them to
    see if it will work?
    
    Where are you based? They are in Guildford, anyone leave near there who
    could get an rd53 to them?
    
    Greg (in Leeds)

    Hello,
    
    I am interested too, please let me know about the RD53, could you also
    post here the complete address ?
    
    Thanks,
    
    Patrick Cannaert@BRO
         

    The RD-53 is a ST-506 Disk drive! ;^)
    
    What address do you want?
    
    If it's the Com 201 guy's, ring 'em and ask 'em.
    
    Greg

Hiya !

I'm just about to buy an RD53 from a colleague and I've talked to the Amiga
dealers here in Sweden about interface cards.
They told me about this COM201 card and it seems like a good buy to me, but...

Being used to PC:s (it's a shame, doc..:) I was wondering about the
SCSI solution I read about in some other note in this conference.

The question is, should I go for the COM201 or should I opt for a SCSI inteface+
adapter option ?

Suggestions anyone ?

Regards Niklas...

Please ?	

Anyone ?

Suddenly I'm in a great black void of nothingness...

Oh, BTW does anyone know of the transfer rate compared to other brands. 
The dealar told me the max rate is 450 KB/sec. Is that acceptable or will I
notice a difference compared to average PC harddisk ?

Rrgds

Niklas/

    I have no idea what a COM201 controller is or who makes it.
    
    The main advantage to the SCSI card is that you can hook more than
    just two devices to it, and they don't have to be disk drives.
    
    It depends on how much you want to pay - a RD53 & controller would
    probably be the cheapest, but has limited expansion capabilities.
    
    One thing to beware of when you consider speed - the non-DMA devices
    have great benchmark speeds, but you may notice when they grab the
    CPU to transfer data.
    
    Dave

    The price of this has now dropped to an amazing 49.95 UK pounds, which
    is pretty cheap by anyone's reckoning!
    
    
    Greg

    Well, has anyone taken this up yet?
    
    I have a bare RD53 under my desk but no power supply, etc. and I am
    chasing around trying to find a cased version.  Before I lay out any
    money, either to DEC or Cumana, I'd like to know that there is a pretty
    good chance of getting this to work.
    
    Anyone tried it, or is it a case of suck it and see!!
    
    Gerry.
    
                 

    Gerry,
    
    I'm one step ahead I've baught a PC power supply and still waiting for
    a "friend" to do the wiring for the CheapHD project but if this was to
    work I think that i'll just give up on the cheap HD and go for the COM
    
    Patrick

    Check out the latest Amazing Computing tech journal, there is an
    article for putting together a SCSI controller complete with driver
    software on disquette.
    
    Jean
    

    Jean,
    
    The RD53 needs to use ST controller I think ?
    
    Back to COM 201. 
    Is there a way to put 1MEG of mem instead of 1/2MEG ?
    
    Cheers, Patrick

    Euuu...
    
    I still think the best bet for a 500 or a 1000 is the ADide kit
    (controller + shuffle board + cables) and an IDE drive from DEC
    (employee purchase).  The 500 may need a beefier power supply but the
    1000's is quite sufficient.
    
    Jean
    

    What is the employee purchase price(s) on the ide drives.
    
    I've seen the connor 80meg drive for about $280 or so.

    Well, I've taken the plunge and ordered a Cumana COM 201 Controller, it
    should be here next week.  I have an assorted collection of RD52's and
    53's, but no power supplies to drive them.  If anyone knows of any DEC
    options which supply +5 and +12 volts DC at approx 50W, let me know.
    
    I'll keep you posted as to how the 201 works out.
    
    Gerry
    

    Gerry,
    
    I don't know of any, but yes i'm really interested to find out how the
    COm 201 works. Do you know if it works with the 500 PLus ?
    
    Cheers, Patrick

    
    I don't recall off the top of my head what the DEC EPP price is for
    IDE drives, except that they are a LOT higher than the going street
    price that you are apt to see in the Computer Shopper. I'd say for
    US$550, you can get a 200meg IDE drive on the street or an 80-100 meg
    from EPP...
    
    

    According to EPP listings on VTX:
    
    	 20MB IDE $345
    	 40MB IDE $417
    	120MB IDE $571
    
    A quick scan of ads in PC Magazine:
    
    	 42MB IDE $180
    	104MB IDE $310-$350
    	210MB IDE $550-$650
    

    I have happened across an old, unloved RD54, complete with case, PSU
    etc. Upon checking with Cumana, sadly it won't work with their
    controller as it has 15 heads... what I'm wondering now is whether I
    can replace the RD54 drive with an RD53 (8 heads so OK). I believe the
    actual drive unit is "plug-compatible", so let's go for it.
    
    If anyone knows anything which I don't, but should, please shout!!!
    Otherwise I'll post the results here.
    
    -Rog
    

    I don't know what is going on in the US but here in Canada a 52Mb
    Quantum IDE (PC4XR-BD) is $255 Canadian.  I checked Computer Shopper
    and the "street price" was about US $190 + exchange = $ 210 + shipping
    ($25) = $235 which has to be paid in one shot versus 255/26 = $10 per
    paycheck or $5 per week!
    
    Jean
    

    Hello,
    
    I've phoned Cumana and bad news for Amiga500Plus owners their
    controller doesn't work and there are no plans for a Plus version !
    
    Well I guess I'll have to wait for my friend's help....
     
    Cheers, Patrick 

Hello all,

         I took the plunge and got one before xmas (just), the instal
was a piece of cake. RD53 in a little exp box with two ribbon cables
direct from the RD out of the box onto the COM-201. I only had the 
1ft ribbon cables so very tight, you need the 3/4ft ones (soon).

Cables
17-00282-0x    1,2,3,4
17-00286-0x    1.2.3.4

You get an instal disk and docs with this and another exp cover for
cable routing and hole for dip switch (on/off) Its the same as the old one
with slots.

The software instal was easy to follow and I have 3 partitions on the
disk. the memory is semi-fast ram configured (I have 1/2M chip standard box).

You need a boot floppy (part of the instal)in df0: which is no big 
deal really as it justs has a quick look at the boot blocks a goes to
the RD. About 10-15secs boot time (with standard start-seq + virus checker).

I have not done any speed checks yet so I'll post them later.

         25 QUID FOR AN INTERFACE/CONTROLLER IS GOOD VALUE IN MY BOOK.
                     plus 25 for 1/2M with clock = 50?? or 49.999

ps: the VT241 works great to...thanks go to the noters for all your info.

                               steve

    steve,
    
    glad to see it works, for 50 quid this is a massive bargain, specially
    if you have any 'used' rd's lying around!
    
    :^)
    
    Greg

    
    Just curious, for us US folks, how much would "50 quid" be?
    

    
    	At the current rate at 1.78 that works out to be $89
    
    	Steve G
    

Hi all,

I have an Amiga A500 with the 1.5 Meg upgrade in the trapdoor.

Would it be possible to fit the Cumana COM 201 in as well, or will I need to go
for an internal card HD controller ?

I realise that  �49.95 is a mega-bargain for an ST controller, but I don't fancy
having to sacrifice my 1.5 Meg upgrade to achieve it.

It it won't fit, do you know if Cumana do internal controllers, and what the 
price is likely to be ?.

Thanks in advance.

	Jim

    Jim,
    
    I guess there is no way that this controller will work with your
    1.5MB's. You have 2 options really! 
    
    1. Sell your 1.5mb trap door expansion and buy the Com 201, with some
    REAL fast ram on the side of your Ami. The Supra with 1mb memory is
    around 100 pounds.
    
    2. Buy an external HD controller. The cheapest SCSI one I found was
    129.99. I don't think there is a cheap extrernal ST 506 controller for
    the Amiga 500.
    
    

    I've just got my COM 201... and am on the horns of a dilemma. I have an
    RD54, complete in case, and a "bare" RD53. While I accept that there's
    no way I can use the capacity ('cos 14 heads) of the RD54 with this
    controller, can you set these things up so they just use 8 of the
    heads, and so effectively have an RD53? This will stop me having to
    bugger about changing the RD54 engine for an RD53 one which may not be
    sound.
    
    Cheers
    Roger
     

    Hello,
    
    Is there a way to modify the Com 201 to work with the 500Plus ?
    (cut one bit and ....)
    
    Cheers, Patrick
    

    If one does get a hold of the bare RD53 drive, I imagine that the next
    step is to provide a suitable housing for it with a power supply. How
    difficult is this? Does it require a cooling fan? How have people done
    it?
    
    Also, is there a commercially available power supply that can be used?
    
    What about the ribbon cables...are they standard and readily available?
    
    How about someone knocking up a quick "Installation Guide"?
    
    Steven
    

re reply 4730.27, to my note 4730.26,
 
Could you give me some more information on that external SCSI controller you 
mentioned for �129.99, as I would be interested in pursuing this further

eg. Supplier, phone no. any other details.

thanks in advance,

	Jim

I went through the problem of finding a housing and power supply recently -
but not for an RD53.

The best I could find were complete boxes (fan, PS and box) for either 2
3 1/2" drives or 1 5" (full-height) drive.

Rather than doing that, I bought an AT mini-tower case. This has mounting and
power for 3 3 1/2" devices, either 1 5" full-height or 2 5" half-height,
including faceplate cutouts for all but one of the 3 1/2" devices. This
cost me $100 at Fry's.

I've ordered a CD-ROM drive to go in the box, and the cost savings on
being able to order an internal drive covers the cost of the box, and I've
got room for a tape drive and 3 3 1/2" HDs, or maybe a SCSI high-density
floppy or two.

I'd recommend looking into such boxes.

	<mike

> Rather than doing that, I bought an AT mini-tower case. This has mounting and
> power for 3 3 1/2" devices, either 1 5" full-height or 2 5" half-height,
> including faceplate cutouts for all but one of the 3 1/2" devices. This
> cost me $100 at Fry's.

What is Fry's?  Do boxes of this sort include a fan?

I have a box with one rd53 and an Adaptec, but I am interested in driving a
second rd53 off the adaptec, which requires more space and possibly more
power than I have.

	Paul

    I was hit by the dreaded lurgi last week and got nothing done but on
    Monday, I was able to get into the office and pick up the RD53 and a
    power supply.  Cumana had sent through the COM 201 Module 2 days after
    ordering it, so I was all set.
    
    I removed my existing half-meg upgrade module and installed the COM 201
    Module into the trapdoor slot.  I had swopped the standard 6" RD53
    interface cables for longer ones, 12" is the longest I could find but
    at least it got the drive clear of the Amiga case.  The power supply
    came out of a dead MicroVAX 2000 and sits beside the drive.  I booted
    up the Amiga using the Cumana-supplied disk, entered the drive type
    from the table in the back of the Cumana installation guide, clicked
    on the defaults in the requesters that appeared and partitioned the
    drive as I thought best.  The Cumana software did everything else - it
    build a boot floppy as the hard drive is not self-booting, it copied
    over the workbench and extras disks, wrote a startup-sequence to disk -
    in fact it does everything but make you a cup of coffee while you wait
    for it to finish.
    
    I ended up with a 68Mb hard disk and partitioned it as follows:-
    		DH0:  5 Meg for Workbench to boot up
    		DH1: 20 Meg for "serious" programs
    		DH2: 15 Meg for Games
    		DH3: 15 Meg for Music
    		DH4: 10 Meg for the hell of it
    		DH5:  3 Meg for copying floppies, unpacking, etc
    
    I then put the boot floppy in DF0 and reset the Amiga.  It read the
    floppy, the RD53 whirred a bit and the workbench came up in about 10-12
    seconds.  There were 9 disk icons displayed - DH0 to DH5, DF0 and 1,
    and RAM - it should be a while now before I run out of space.
    
    Now does anyone want to buy a half-meg upgrade?  And has anyone worked
    out a cheap way to add more memory?
    
    Gerry
    

    Check out "discarded" DECserver boxes for a drive enclosure,  there is
    enough room to mount two 5�" drives and a power supply.
    
    Jean
    

Fry's is a local electronics supermarket - systems, boxes, components, snacks,
A/V gear, and sodas. Any "computer superstore" (e.g., CompUSA in the sunbelt)
should have a selection of PC-style boxes.

The box I bought had a fan. I'm not sure if getting one without a fan is
possible, but I wasn't worried about it.

	<mike

    Another recommendation - I got mine working with an RD53 last night. I
    agree with everything Gerry said. It couldn't be easier - I have never
    had any exposure to any sort of hard disk in my life, but had
    absolutely no problems. Well, maybe one - there are some little jumpers
    inside the RD which have to be set right to configure the drive as No 0
    - in my case I didn't know this, and it had been set as No 3 - took me
    ages to figure out why the Amiga couldn't see it at all.
    
    I think someone was moaning about the short cables - these are VERY
    easy to make up yourself - all you need is the four connectors (don't
    try and reuse the ones on your existing cables) and suitable lengths of
    ribbon cable. Ten minutes.
    
    -Contented of Bristol
      

    Can I have the phone number of Cumana so I can order the COM201 for a
    friend today.
    
    Cheers, Patrick

    Patrick,
    
    It's in the note, early on!

    Dear Contented of Bristol
    
    Where did you get the connectors and ribbon cables?  I agree that even
    the 12" cables are too short and I would like much longer ones to get
    the drive off my desk if possible, maybe about 5ft.  The only source I
    can find is RS and they are selling the cable in 30 Metre lengths, a
    bit toooooooooo long for me.
    
    Alternatively, can you supply longer cables - at a price of course?
    
    Confused of Belfast
    

    re .39
    
    I must be getting blind went throught all the notes again and still 
    can't see it !
    
    Cheers, Patrick

    The phone number is in .0 which is a note you created PAtrick!!
    
    
    
    Greg

    I managed to pick up an old computer (Future computer - FX30) free of
    charge at the weekend. The reason I took it was that it contains a Hard
    drive with associated PSU + Fan. The computer seem's to run some sort
    of CP/M type system and I intend ripping out the CPU, etc and using the
    unit to house my external floppy and the HD on conjunction with the 
    COM 201 controller. I was wondering if the drive would be compatable
    with this controller as I'm not sure if it's ST506 (what does this
    mean anyway ??). 
    
    As far as I can establish the drive has only a 4mb capacity but it's 
    better that nothing and would do until I picked up a better drive.
    
						George.
    

    Greg,
    
    Welll it just shows how much I try to help others....
    
    Patrick

    
    I've created a new note # 210 (pity I could'nt get # 201 as it would
    have made it easy to remember...) in the new AMIGA_V2 conference to
    continue the discussion of the COM 201 controller.
    
    Please post any futher notes in the new conference.