IDE CF Adapter Testing

[Cube Central]

I have been testing several different IDE/CF Adapters, and I've made the following (and attached) table:

I have a cable on order that will allow me to add a cable to the direct-plug-in adapters to see if that makes a difference.

All the testing was done using a variation on my "Media Mayhem" BASIC program (now version 8 - see previous post).

If anyone would like the most recent version, I will upload it.

If someone with more electronical sense would like to suggest a filter or something for the IDE connector I would be happy to test it, that's all I can think that it might be.

RC2014 (Using Ed Brindley's IDE Adapter)							ZiNC80 SBC1
Card	Bus Power	External Power	Cable Length	Test Config			Bus Power	External Power	Cable Length	Test Config
S1	N/C¹	OK	20 & 60 cm	Single/Master‡			OK	OK†	20 cm	Single
S2	N/C¹	OK	20 & 60 cm	Single/Slave‡			OK	OK†	20 cm	Single
M1	N/C¹	OK	N/A direct	Single			Fail*	Fail*	N/A direct	Single
Q1	N/C¹	Testing	N/A direct	Single			Fail*	Fail*	N/A direct	Single
G1	OK³	N/A²	N/A direct	Single			Not tested as no 44 pin interface exists
							* Simply cannot reliably run direct plug-in IDE adapters
¹	Pin 20 removed or not connected
²	No connector exists for External Power
³	Pin 20 N/C but powered as 44 pin device
†	Initially possible issue, but upon retest OK
‡	adapters on one 60cm cable together as Master/Slave
S1	40 pin	StarTech.com 40/44 Pin IDE to Compact Flash SSD Adapter (IDE2CF) #1								http://a.co/egZHGrp
S2	40 pin	StarTech.com 40/44 Pin IDE to Compact Flash SSD Adapter (IDE2CF) #2								http://a.co/egZHGrp
M1	40 pin	Monoprice 102105 IDE to Compact Flash CF Adapter Direct Insertion [B1] (102105)								http://a.co/0M41J7m
Q1	40 pin	QNINE CF Card to 3.5" IDE Female Adapter, Compact Flash Memory Disk to 40 Pin 3.5 Inch …								http://a.co/4ftoIwc
G1	44 pin	GAOLX 2.5" IDE 44pin/2.0mm to CF Adapter , Laptop 2.5" hard disk Support Ultra DMA-33								http://a.co/7nNdCle

[Cube Central]

Sorry, where it states "Testing" in the table, should be updated to "OK" as I've finished the testing with no issues.

[Cube Central]

For the sake of completeness, please find the attached "Media Mayhem v.8" basic program.  My apologies for the additional post.

This is the program that was run on both the RC2014 and the ZiNC80 SBC1 to test the IDE/CF adapters.

If anyone has questions or would like assistance getting it running, please don't hesitate to ask.

Warning:  You should image your CF card before running the program as it writes a bunch of test files to any configured partition.

    -Randal   (at CubeCentral)

[Steve Cousins]

Hi Randal

That's really great work. Worrying results though.

I have two direct connection adapters similar to the monoprice one you linked to. Neither is exactly the same as your link, but they are very similar.

Which BASIC are you using?

I assume you do not have Spencer's Compact Flash module. This module directly connects the Compact Flash card to the processor bus in a similar way to the LiNC80, so should make a good comparison.

Steve

[CubeCentral]

Hi Steve, I do have the RC2014 CF Module, but wanted to provide a way of seeing if the IDE/CF adapters were testing good or not.

Using the IDE Module from Ed was a good way of using an IDE Bus that would work similarly to the one on the ZiNC80 SBC1.

 

I am using BASIC-85 Rev. 5.29 on both systems having tested that using BASIC-80 Rev. 5.21 made no difference.

 

If you have time, I sure would appreciate you testing both of your “direct connection” adapters using the BASIC program “MM8.BAS” that I attached previously. 

 

Cheers!

 

                -Randal   (at CubeCentral)

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[Stephan van Radecke]

nearly the same results here.

I'm using an adapter with direct connection, a bit different one:

https://www.ebay.de/itm/Compact-Flash-CF-to-3-5-Female-40-Pin-IDE-Bootable-Adapter-Converter-Card-New/272289078012?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

The system freezes.

2 runs:

B>mbasic MM8.BAS

BASIC-80 Rev. 5.21

[CP/M Version]

Copyright 1977-1981 (C) by Microsoft

Created: 28-Jul-81

29752 Bytes free

Random number seed (-32768 to 32767)? 999

AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTtUuVvWwXxYyZz

Configured for 8 drive letters A: to H:

W>H:QW1.MMM   V<H:QW1.MMM   C>A:QW1.MMM   V<A:QW1.MMM    .246094  20259 

W>H:PV2.MMM   V<H:PV2.MMM   C>A:PV2.MMM   V<A:PV2.MMM    .738281  20259 

W>E:YZ3.MMM   V<E:YZ3.MMM   C>G:YZ3.MMM   V<G:YZ3.MMM    1.47656  20259 

W>C:WV4.MMM   V<C:WV4.MMM   C>A:WV4.MMM   V<A:WV4.MMM    2.46094  20259 

W>E:FZ5.MMM   V<E:FZ5.MMM   C>B:FZ5.MMM   V<B:FZ5.MMM    3.69141  20259 

W>H:WZ6.MMM   V<H:WZ6.MMM.^C

Break in 720

Ok

run

Random number seed (-32768 to 32767)? 999

AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTtUuVvWwXxYyZz

Configured for 8 drive letters A: to H:

W>H:QW1.MMM   V<H:QW1.MMM   C>A:QW1.MMM   V<A:QW1.MMM    .246094  20259 

W>H:PV2.MMM   V<H:PV2.MMM   C>A:PV2.MMM   V<A:PV2.MMM    .738281  20259 

W>E:YZ3.MMM   V<E:YZ3.MMM   C>G:YZ3.MMM   V<G:YZ3.MMM    1.47656  20259 

W>C:WV4.MMM   V<C:WV4.MMM   C>A:WV4.MMM   V<A:WV4.MMM    2.46094  20259 

W>E:FZ5.MMM   V<E:FZ5.MMM   C>B:FZ5.MMM   V<B:FZ5.MMM    3.69141  20259 

W>H:WZ6.MMM   V<H:WZ6.MMM   C>F:WZ6.MMM   V<F:WZ6.MMM    5.16797  20259 

W>B:BX7.MMM   V<B:BX7.MMM   C>D:BX7.MMM   V<D:BX7.MMM    6.89063  20259 

W>E:LB8.MMM   V<E:LB8.MMM   C>F:LB8.MMM   V<F:LB8.MMM    8.85938  20259 

W>E:VH9.MMM   V<E:VH9.MMM   C>G:VH9.MMM   V<G:VH9.MMM    11.0742  20259 

W>D:JF10.MMM  V<D:JF10.MMM  C>F:JF10.MMM  V<F:JF10.MMM.^C

Break in 1060

Ok

[Jon Langseth]

B>mbasic mm8.bas

BASIC-80 Rev. 5.21

[CP/M Version]

Copyright 1977-1981 (C) by Microsoft

Created: 28-Jul-81

29752 Bytes free

Random number seed (-32768 to 32767)? 2000

AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTtUuVvWwXxYyZz

Configured for 15 drive letters A: to O:

W>D:TM1.MMM   V<D:TM1.MMM   C>E:TM1.MMM   V<E:TM1.MMM    .246094  20238

[... snip ...]

W>D:YW39.MMM  V<D:YW39.MMM  C>B:YW39.MMM  V<B:YW39.MMM   191.953  20236 

W>C:CL40.MMM  V<C:CL40.MMM  C>G:CL40.MMM  V<G:CL40.MMM   201.797  20236 

W>O:QC41.MMM  V<O:QC41.MMM  C>I:QC41.MMM  V<I:QC41.MMM   211.887  20236 

... and still going strong.

But, that is with the recommended StarTech adapter, not a direct attach one.

As I don't have one of those, maybe Steve who has one that behaves nicely can help us?

[Jon Langseth]

Since I posted in this thread last time, Steve did run tests with his direct attach CF adapter, and got the same kind of errors that was reported by the other two reporters. Also Randal (at CubeCentral) did a thorough test of the effect power supplies has on system stability, results posted in the thread Power Supply and Noise Testing.

Broad, simplified conclusions: Selecting the correct power supply has a big impact on system stability, and some IDE-CF adapters also cause stability issues.

[Stephan van Radecke]

Hi,

now I have the Startech adapter too.

First I tried to power it up via Pin 20, set the 2 jumpers, but 'Compact flash not present', no CP/M.

After that I powered up the adapter "external" via the power clamp.

Now it's running, let's see how long :-)

But, I noticed that the LEDs on the adapter are shining very (very very) bright in comparison to the try via Pin20.

Is it possible that the adapter gets less power via Pin20?

[CubeCentral]

Hello Stephan,

 

You may want to check that Pin 20 exists on your StarTech adapter, mine are missing the pin on the Adapter so I am unable to power it from the SBC1.

You should also have the jumper set for 5V operation, if memory serves you only need to change the one jumper to set external power, the rest should be left at default.

I’m not sure about the LED brightness, it seems that boards from China really really like to have their LEDs very bright, so I’m not sure – you could use a Multimeter to check the voltages, just be careful not to short a neighboring pin.

Keep us informed!  Cheers!

 

    -Randal  (at CubeCentral)

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[Jon Langseth]

Indeed, as I mentioned somewhere earlier, I've had a mix of adapters with and without the Pin20 present. It is perfectly doable to solder in a pin there if it is missing...

And yes, my LED's have been horribly bright, so much so that I have removed them on one, and replaced the resistors on another. The fact that they lit up can be simply back-powering via the databus...

On Thursday, June 7, 2018 at 7:57:48 PM UTC+2, Cube Central wrote:

Hello Stephan,

 

You may want to check that Pin 20 exists on your StarTech adapter, mine are missing the pin on the Adapter so I am unable to power it from the SBC1.

You should also have the jumper set for 5V operation, if memory serves you only need to change the one jumper to set external power, the rest should be left at default.

I’m not sure about the LED brightness, it seems that boards from China really really like to have their LEDs very bright, so I’m not sure – you could use a Multimeter to check the voltages, just be careful not to short a neighboring pin.

Keep us informed!  Cheers!

 

    -Randal  (at CubeCentral)

 

 

From: lin...@googlegroups.com [mailto:linc80@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Stephan van Radecke
Sent: Thursday, June 7, 2018 10:12
To: LiNC80 <lin...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [linc80] Re: IDE CF Adapter Testing

 

Hi,

 

now I have the Startech adapter too.

 

First I tried to power it up via Pin 20, set the 2 jumpers, but 'Compact flash not present', no CP/M.

After that I powered up the adapter "external" via the power clamp.

Now it's running, let's see how long :-)

 

But, I noticed that the LEDs on the adapter are shining very (very very) bright in comparison to the try via Pin20.

Is it possible that the adapter gets less power via Pin20?

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[Stephan van Radecke]

ok, I found the 'heroes'  from Startech left Pin 20 out.

a few results

JP1 is on the adapter to switch between external and Pin20 power (the lowest of the 3 JPs, close to the LEDs)

JP2 - default 1-2

JP3 - default 1-2

P7 is on LiNC80

1) P7 = off, JP1 = 1-2 

external power from clamp

adapter LED very bright (red=1.971V, yellow=2,007V)

LiNC80 IDE LED = off

CP/M running, but MODCHK4 stopping somewhere in the night without error, only prompt to 'B:'

2) P7 = off, JP1 = 1-2

no external power from clamp

adapter LED = on (red=1.834V, yellow=1.897V)

LiNC80 IDE LED = glimming

'Compact flash not present'

3) P7 = on, JP1 = 1-2

no external power from clamp

adapter LED = on (red=1.834V, yellow=1.897V)

LiNC80 IDE LED = glimming

'Compact flash not present'

4) P7 = on, JP1 = 2-3

no external power from clamp

adapter LED = on (red=1.834V, yellow=1.897V)

LiNC80 IDE LED = glimming

'Compact flash not present'

5) P7 = off, JP1 = 2-3

no external power from clamp

adapter LED = on (red=1.834V, yellow=1.897V)

LiNC80 IDE LED = glimming

'Compact flash not present'

6) P7 = off, JP1 = 2-3

external power from clamp

adapter LED = on (red=1.834V, yellow=1.897V)

LiNC80 IDE LED = glimming

'Compact flash not present'