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CFFA 3000 question
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Rommel Junta
Oct 6, 2013, 10:26:35 PM10/6/13
to
Hi folks,
I recently recieved my first ever CFFA3000 card from the creator. I have
read the manual, but have not yet installed the card into my A2GS. I have a
few questions, and would appreciate some guidance.
1. currently my A2GS has a hi-speed scsi card in slot 7 coupled to an
external hard drive. I use this hard drive to boot up in GS/OS and have
data stored in its many partitions. Upon reading CFFA300 manual it says to
install in slot 7. I would like to read any opinion on whether i should
still keep and use my hard drive as before or use the CFFA3000 to boot, run
programs, and as a storage media? Is the scsi and harddrive now a dinosaur?
2. What is the best method of formatting a 512mb CF and a 1 GB usb stick? I
have a windows PC should i format them on the pc or can the cffa3000 format
these?
3. just want a confirmation on the CFFA 3000. Can i put all my physical 300
5.25 floppy (dos 3.3 and prodos) programs onto a usb stick and have them
bootup/run without any problems on the CFFA3000 card?
4. Does anybody know of any pre-assembled images that have GS/OS, and other
programs that i can get from a website?
Thanks in advance.
I recently recieved my first ever CFFA3000 card from the creator. I have
read the manual, but have not yet installed the card into my A2GS. I have a
few questions, and would appreciate some guidance.
1. currently my A2GS has a hi-speed scsi card in slot 7 coupled to an
external hard drive. I use this hard drive to boot up in GS/OS and have
data stored in its many partitions. Upon reading CFFA300 manual it says to
install in slot 7. I would like to read any opinion on whether i should
still keep and use my hard drive as before or use the CFFA3000 to boot, run
programs, and as a storage media? Is the scsi and harddrive now a dinosaur?
2. What is the best method of formatting a 512mb CF and a 1 GB usb stick? I
have a windows PC should i format them on the pc or can the cffa3000 format
these?
3. just want a confirmation on the CFFA 3000. Can i put all my physical 300
5.25 floppy (dos 3.3 and prodos) programs onto a usb stick and have them
bootup/run without any problems on the CFFA3000 card?
4. Does anybody know of any pre-assembled images that have GS/OS, and other
programs that i can get from a website?
Thanks in advance.
Antoine Vignau
Oct 6, 2013, 11:15:04 PM10/6/13
to
1. If you want to still boot from your HDD, put the CFFA card in another slot.
See some benchmark results of USB vs CF vs SCSI HDD at http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/products/apple2gs/benchmarked.html
2. Yes, format on the PC.
3. Apart from some weird programs, others can be run with no problems from the CFFA.
4. Go to Alex Lee's main page at http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ and scroll to the bottom of the page.
Antoine
See some benchmark results of USB vs CF vs SCSI HDD at http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/products/apple2gs/benchmarked.html
2. Yes, format on the PC.
3. Apart from some weird programs, others can be run with no problems from the CFFA.
4. Go to Alex Lee's main page at http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ and scroll to the bottom of the page.
Antoine
Cyril Thibout
Oct 7, 2013, 6:29:18 AM10/7/13
to
Thanks Antoine
Does it mean a good USB stick is faster than a CF card for the CFFA please?
has the CF card some advantages over the usb stick aside from the speed ?
thanks
cyril
Does it mean a good USB stick is faster than a CF card for the CFFA please?
has the CF card some advantages over the usb stick aside from the speed ?
thanks
cyril
Antoine Vignau
Oct 7, 2013, 6:33:40 AM10/7/13
to
A branded USB stick or CF will make no difference with the latest version of the firmware. They did an excellent job in read enhancement.
Writing will be really faster with a powerful stick or CF card, otherwise you will suffer a lot.
I would recommend a USB stick plus a male/female cable, that will ease transfer from/to the Apple machine.
Antoine
Writing will be really faster with a powerful stick or CF card, otherwise you will suffer a lot.
I would recommend a USB stick plus a male/female cable, that will ease transfer from/to the Apple machine.
Antoine
Rommel Junta
Oct 11, 2013, 6:25:06 AM10/11/13
to
Another question. So I have installed the card in slot 7 (took out the SCSI
& hd from the computer for the time being), and have started playing around
with the card, overall im quite impressed with it. The question I have is
with the CF card. While I have the USB stick through an extension cable,
the CF card is a hassle to take out/in from the computer to install/delete
images. Just thinking out loud here but is it possible to use the usb port
and with the usb extension attach one of those multi card reader units so
that I can attach both the usb stick and CF card outside of the computer?
Is there a program within apple ii or even a program for the cffa3000 that I
can rename the disk image created by the card? Instead of seeing
DISK001.dsk is there a way I can modify the name before it saves the disk
image?
thanks for any help on this.
David Schmidt
Oct 11, 2013, 7:56:15 AM10/11/13
to
On 10/11/2013 6:25 AM, Rommel Junta wrote:
> [...] Just thinking out loud here but is it possible to use the usb port
load new firmware that way. But it works as storage:
http://dreher.net/forum1/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=504
http://dreher.net/forum1/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=457&p=1086#p1086
> Is there a program within apple ii or even a program for the cffa3000 that I
> can rename the disk image created by the card? Instead of seeing
> DISK001.dsk is there a way I can modify the name before it saves the disk
> image?
No, there's nothing like that currently. You'll see this come up as a
feature request quite a bit:
http://dreher.net/forum1/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=508#p1343
> [...] Just thinking out loud here but is it possible to use the usb port
> and with the usb extension attach one of those multi card reader units so
> that I can attach both the usb stick and CF card outside of the computer?
Yes. The CF becomes USB to the CFFA3000 in that situation, so you can't
> that I can attach both the usb stick and CF card outside of the computer?
load new firmware that way. But it works as storage:
http://dreher.net/forum1/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=504
http://dreher.net/forum1/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=457&p=1086#p1086
> Is there a program within apple ii or even a program for the cffa3000 that I
> can rename the disk image created by the card? Instead of seeing
> DISK001.dsk is there a way I can modify the name before it saves the disk
> image?
feature request quite a bit:
http://dreher.net/forum1/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=508#p1343
Rommel Junta
Oct 12, 2013, 9:39:52 AM10/12/13
to
Hi David thanks for the response and links very helpful. So went and
purchased an all in one card reader with additional USB ports but
unfortunely when I plug it into the extension cable the cffa is prompted
with "cannot read USB" and does not change to ready when either plugging the
cf card or the stick. Is the cffa particular with certain brand or non
complex multi card readers?
Another question how does the cffa handle programs that have 2 or more
images to run? Can I just insert all involved images to assignment and will
the cffa know to run/access the additional images or do I have to go into
the menu and manually run the additional image when the program asks for it?
Thanks
purchased an all in one card reader with additional USB ports but
unfortunely when I plug it into the extension cable the cffa is prompted
with "cannot read USB" and does not change to ready when either plugging the
cf card or the stick. Is the cffa particular with certain brand or non
complex multi card readers?
Another question how does the cffa handle programs that have 2 or more
images to run? Can I just insert all involved images to assignment and will
the cffa know to run/access the additional images or do I have to go into
the menu and manually run the additional image when the program asks for it?
Thanks
David Schmidt
Oct 12, 2013, 11:31:42 AM10/12/13
to
On 10/12/2013 9:39 AM, Rommel Junta wrote:
> Hi David thanks for the response and links very helpful. So went and
> purchased an all in one card reader with additional USB ports but
> unfortunely when I plug it into the extension cable the cffa is prompted
> with "cannot read USB" and does not change to ready when either plugging the
> cf card or the stick. Is the cffa particular with certain brand or non
> complex multi card readers?
Importantly, the multi-card reader can't be a _hub_. Sounds like that's
> Hi David thanks for the response and links very helpful. So went and
> purchased an all in one card reader with additional USB ports but
> unfortunely when I plug it into the extension cable the cffa is prompted
> with "cannot read USB" and does not change to ready when either plugging the
> cf card or the stick. Is the cffa particular with certain brand or non
> complex multi card readers?
what you have. I should have clarified - you can't make the CFFA3000
have more than one USB port at once. You can extend the port it has,
and you can plug a device of your choosing into it - but the CFFA3000
can only deal with one device at the end of whatever you plug in.
> Another question how does the cffa handle programs that have 2 or more
> images to run? Can I just insert all involved images to assignment and will
> the cffa know to run/access the additional images or do I have to go into
> the menu and manually run the additional image when the program asks for it?
drives, what you do is stack up the images in the drive config. The way
you switch among different images on the fly is either to get back into
the config menus (really only possible on-the-fly during a game with a
GS using the CDA menu) and select a new image to be active, or to use
the remote disk switch (an optional purchase from Rich).
Sean Fahey
Oct 15, 2013, 11:03:49 AM10/15/13
to
Rommel Junta
Oct 16, 2013, 6:50:33 AM10/16/13
to
Hi Sean,
Thanks for the links. After reading David Schmidt's reply, if I want the cf
to appear as a disk II only it really has to be in the cf slot and not
connected to the usb cable. Although I did go ahead and purchase the
correct multi card reader as suggested by david and use that to copy and try
out programs on the cf before putting it back into the cf slot for boot
purposes.
Thanks for the links. After reading David Schmidt's reply, if I want the cf
to appear as a disk II only it really has to be in the cf slot and not
connected to the usb cable. Although I did go ahead and purchase the
correct multi card reader as suggested by david and use that to copy and try
out programs on the cf before putting it back into the cf slot for boot
purposes.
David Schmidt
Oct 16, 2013, 8:26:43 AM10/16/13
to
On 10/16/2013 6:50 AM, Rommel Junta wrote:
> [...] After reading David Schmidt's reply, if I want the cf
in either the native CF slot, the native USB slot, or a CF card plugged
into a multi-card reader plugged into the USB slot. There's a fair bit
of discussion of all the options in the user's manual (I know, who reads
those?) but there's no restriction on where the images need to live.
The only real restriction is that firmware updates must be located in
the root directory of a CF card plugged into the CF slot... nothing to
do with images as we're discussing here.
> [...] After reading David Schmidt's reply, if I want the cf
> to appear as a disk II only it really has to be in the cf slot and not
> connected to the usb cable.
Hmmm, I never meant to imply that. You can have Disk II images hosted
> connected to the usb cable.
in either the native CF slot, the native USB slot, or a CF card plugged
into a multi-card reader plugged into the USB slot. There's a fair bit
of discussion of all the options in the user's manual (I know, who reads
those?) but there's no restriction on where the images need to live.
The only real restriction is that firmware updates must be located in
the root directory of a CF card plugged into the CF slot... nothing to
do with images as we're discussing here.
Sean Fahey
Oct 16, 2013, 10:05:09 AM10/16/13
to
On Wednesday, October 16, 2013 7:26:43 AM UTC-5, schmidtd wrote:
> The only real restriction is that firmware updates must be located in
> the root directory of a CF card plugged into the CF slot... nothing to
> do with images as we're discussing here.
That's about the only gripe I have with the CFFA3K - the firmware updates have to be on the least accessible media (CF). Fortunately, the firmware as-is, is solid and it's not like it's getting updated every few days so I don't stress over it too much.
> The only real restriction is that firmware updates must be located in
> the root directory of a CF card plugged into the CF slot... nothing to
> do with images as we're discussing here.
Personally, I put HD images on the CF, save the USB drive for floppies and such.
Jeff Blakeney
Oct 17, 2013, 7:20:41 AM10/17/13
to
On 16/10/2013 10:05 AM, Sean Fahey wrote:
> That's about the only gripe I have with the CFFA3K - the firmware updates have to be on the least accessible media (CF). Fortunately, the firmware as-is, is solid and it's not like it's getting updated every few days so I don't stress over it too much.
>
> Personally, I put HD images on the CF, save the USB drive for floppies and such.
That's why my CFFA3000s don't have the latest firmware yet. I've never
> That's about the only gripe I have with the CFFA3K - the firmware updates have to be on the least accessible media (CF). Fortunately, the firmware as-is, is solid and it's not like it's getting updated every few days so I don't stress over it too much.
>
> Personally, I put HD images on the CF, save the USB drive for floppies and such.
owned a CompactFlash card but I'm keeping an eye open for one.
Unfortunately the smallest ones I've found new around here start at 4 GB
which is a little overkill seeing as I'll almost certainly only use the
CF card to update the firmware.
I have all my disk images on a USB stick that I can easily swap back and
forth between my real IIgs and my emulators.
Antoine Vignau
Oct 17, 2013, 4:06:29 PM10/17/13
to
The latest version of the firmware brings read speed enhancements to the beast...
av
av
Jesse
Oct 17, 2013, 4:09:56 PM10/17/13
to
Antoine Vignau wrote:
> The latest version of the firmware brings read speed enhancements to the beast...
> av
Curious if you've benchmarked and compared the firmwares, Antoine?
> The latest version of the firmware brings read speed enhancements to the beast...
> av
Bill Garber
Oct 17, 2013, 10:54:37 PM10/17/13
to
> On 16/10/2013 10:05 AM, Sean Fahey wrote:
>> That's about the only gripe I have with the CFFA3K - the firmware updates
>> have to be on the least accessible media (CF). Fortunately, the firmware
>> as-is, is solid and it's not like it's getting updated every few days so
>> I don't stress over it too much.
>> Personally, I put HD images on the CF, save the USB drive for floppies
>> and such.
>
> That's why my CFFA3000s don't have the latest firmware yet. I've never
> owned a CompactFlash card but I'm keeping an eye open for one.
> Unfortunately the smallest ones I've found new around here start at 4 GB
> which is a little overkill seeing as I'll almost certainly only use the CF
> card to update the firmware.
they arrived I opened one, wrote the two firmware files to it and
put it in the card, which had the firmware erased accidently, put
on Switch 8, and fired up the machine, an Apple //e Platinum, and
in about a minute or so I had version 3.1 running. Needless to say,
I saved that card just for updates to the CFFA3000's. The others
will be used as ProDOS Smartport drives.
> I have all my disk images on a USB stick that I can easily swap back and
> forth between my real IIgs and my emulators.
be for me, being I rarely use 140K floppies anyway. Maybe it
will in the future. We'll have to see what I find laying around.
Bill Garber
http://www.sepa-electronics.com
Antoine Vignau
Oct 18, 2013, 1:24:50 AM10/18/13
to
Yes, I did.
open the google spreadsheet available at http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/products/apple2gs/benchmarked.html
antoine
open the google spreadsheet available at http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/products/apple2gs/benchmarked.html
antoine
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