"New Drives" for MIO

[+bf2k+]

Sure.. Sounds great.. But to be honest, Im not touching any more projects until after Ramadaan (which starts thursday or friday, depending on the visibility of the moon). It's a month long.. So, you can go ahead and ship it, and Ill let you know when I get it, but it wont get touched till Ramadaan is over..

 

I wait a few weeks until your holiday is nearly over. Have fun.

[+warerat]

I have mounted the ST118273LC in a SUN HD enclosure of the same type as Warerat used.

 

Out of curiosity, are the two green Auto Term LEDs lit on the back on the enclosure?

[+Larry]

I have mounted the ST118273LC in a SUN HD enclosure of the same type as Warerat used.

 

Out of curiosity, are the two green Auto Term LEDs lit on the back on the enclosure?

 

No, but since I don't have the term mod in this MIO and the drive can't furnish term power, I didn't expect it to. When I used tested the ST31055N, I used a straight 50-pin cable to the MIO, so they were not lighted then, either. When I try the MIO with term power, presumably the LED's will both illuminate. Do these results agree with what you would expect?

Thanks,

Larry

[MEtalGuy66]

I have mounted the ST118273LC in a SUN HD enclosure of the same type as Warerat used.

 

Out of curiosity, are the two green Auto Term LEDs lit on the back on the enclosure?

 

No, but since I don't have the term mod in this MIO and the drive can't furnish term power, I didn't expect it to. When I used tested the ST31055N, I used a straight 50-pin cable to the MIO, so they were not lighted then, either. When I try the MIO with term power, presumably the LED's will both illuminate. Do these results agree with what you would expect?

Thanks,

Larry

 

No.. I'd expect the two LEDs to alternate on & off in a 50% duty cycle, due to the parity-termination reflux phenomenon.. I checked this with Carmel, and he concurs..

[+bf2k+]

...parity-termination reflux phenomenon...

 

My doctor told me I have that...

[MEtalGuy66]

I just shipped Larry's MIO back to him today... He should have it by Monday or Tuesday...

[+Larry]

I have my MIO (original ICD model) now with the Warerat's term power mod in it, and just as both Ken and he said, having the termination makes a significant improvement in the R/W speeds. Looks to be close to 50% faster than without termination.

 

SpartaDos X 4.22

 

(256 Bytes/Sec. no term power)

Write 10147

Read 14074

Ave. 12111

 

(256 Bytes/Sec. with term power)

Write 15161

Read 21938

Ave. 18549

 

MyDos 4.50

(256 Bytes/Sec. no term power)

Write 9648

Read 12387

Ave. 11018

 

(256 Bytes/Sec. with term power)

Write 14074

Read 17530

Ave. 15802

 

Comparing to Warerat's numbers on the last page of the "New MIO Production Run" these numbers are just slightly slower than his -- certainly looks to be within the realm of system-to-system variation.

 

I have other drives that need to be retested, but certainly this mod made a big difference. And BTW, both term LED's are lighted on the Sun enclosure with the mod. But no sign yet of reflux...

 

-Larry

Edited August 26, 2009 by Larry

[+bf2k+]

I have other drives that need to be retested, but certainly this mod made a big difference. And BTW, both term LED's are lighted on the Sun enclosure with the mod. But no sign yet of reflux...

 

I brought it with me to the beach.

[+Larry]

First the good news: I won a *new* ST31055N. Pristine, ultra quiet, runs *very cool*. Now the bad news: unlike BF2K+'s drive, my new ST31055N is not compatible with the MIO. It *almost* works -- oh, so very close, but no cigar. So this looks like a firmware difference issue. Hence, here are two questions:

 

1) BK2K+, what is the firmware of your ST31055N? I'm thinking that somewhere along the way, you mentioned "023" but I can't find that. Mine is "033."

 

2) I'm pretty sure that using a PC, Seagate firmware can be changed. Has anyone done this? This might be a way to get more drives working, although there certainly is no shortage of good working drives.

 

-Larry.

[+bf2k+]

First the good news: I won a *new* ST31055N. Pristine, ultra quiet, runs *very cool*. Now the bad news: unlike BF2K+'s drive, my new ST31055N is not compatible with the MIO. It *almost* works -- oh, so very close, but no cigar. So this looks like a firmware difference issue. Hence, here are two questions:

 

1) BK2K+, what is the firmware of your ST31055N? I'm thinking that somewhere along the way, you mentioned "023" but I can't find that. Mine is "033."

 

2) I'm pretty sure that using a PC, Seagate firmware can be changed. Has anyone done this? This might be a way to get more drives working, although there certainly is no shortage of good working drives.

 

-Larry.

 

ST31055N fw: 0532

 

When you say it almost works, how is it failing?

[+Larry]

 

ST31055N fw: 0532

 

When you say it almost works, how is it failing?

 

Thanks!

 

At the MIO config menu, it gives 512 for the block size 100% of the time (unlike some drives that give varying or weird numbers of zero or 65536 or such for the blk sze). My first inkling that something was amiss was a failure while saving the config data on about the 4th or 5th save. When I go to MyDos and try to format the drive. It pauses a bit, then gives error 163.

 

If I apply no termination to the drive, it almost works (as above). If I apply term power, then it fails instantly, 100% of the time -- gives a blk sze of 200K+ (IIRC). (???)

 

-Larry

[+bf2k+]

ST31055N fw: 0532

 

When you say it almost works, how is it failing?

 

Thanks!

 

At the MIO config menu, it gives 512 for the block size 100% of the time (unlike some drives that give varying or weird numbers of zero or 65536 or such for the blk sze).

 

BLKSZ doesn't change to 256 when you hit the spacebar?

[+Larry]

BLKSZ doesn't change to 256 when you hit the spacebar?

 

No, but then I didn't try to get it to. I'm thinking that 512 is the correct block size, and all my other working drives show 512. The modified firmware pads the other 256 bytes, so the MIO is dealing with 512 byte block size, isn't it?

 

-Larry

[+bf2k+]

BLKSZ doesn't change to 256 when you hit the spacebar?

 

No, but then I didn't try to get it to. I'm thinking that 512 is the correct block size, and all my other working drives show 512. The modified firmware pads the other 256 bytes, so the MIO is dealing with 512 byte block size, isn't it?

 

-Larry

 

No, you need to set that value to whatever the DOS is looking for. What firmware are you running? I run 1.4.0 which is newer than 1.4b2. IIRC, I don't think you can set the BLKSZ with 1.4b2.

 

If BLKSZ is 512, that's probably why it's bombing. Earlier versions (like 1.4b2) didn't allow you to set that BLKSZ. When I boot my drive with SD 3.2g, it will only see drives that the MIO sets at 256b - the 512b are unreadable by SD3.2 (and probably ALL known A8 DOSes) and you cartainly cannot boot from or format them. If I boot with SDX 4.42, it will see both the 256b and 512b drives.

[+Larry]

I'm running 1.4B3, and last I remember, Warerat said that 1.40 wasn't released yet. Perhaps I missed that? But IIRC, he also said that the math/config number displays were better in 1.40, but that its disk operations were the same as the 1.4B3. I'll check into this, but as I mentioned, my newer 80-pin drives show the Blksz: 512 (with 1.4B3).

-Larry

 

BLKSZ doesn't change to 256 when you hit the spacebar?

 

No, but then I didn't try to get it to. I'm thinking that 512 is the correct block size, and all my other working drives show 512. The modified firmware pads the other 256 bytes, so the MIO is dealing with 512 byte block size, isn't it?

 

-Larry

 

No, you need to set that value to whatever the DOS is looking for. What firmware are you running? I run 1.4.0 which is newer than 1.4b2. IIRC, I don't think you can set the BLKSZ with 1.4b2.

 

If BLKSZ is 512, that's probably why it's bombing. Earlier versions (like 1.4b2) didn't allow you to set that BLKSZ. When I boot my drive with SD 3.2g, it will only see drives that the MIO sets at 256b - the 512b are unreadable by SD3.2 (and probably ALL known A8 DOSes) and you cartainly cannot boot from or format them. If I boot with SDX 4.42, it will see both the 256b and 512b drives.

[+bf2k+]

I'm running 1.4B3, and last I remember, Warerat said that 1.40 wasn't released yet. Perhaps I missed that? But IIRC, he also said that the math/config number displays were better in 1.40, but that its disk operations were the same as the 1.4B3. I'll check into this, but as I mentioned, my newer 80-pin drives show the Blksz: 512 (with 1.4B3).

 

 

With 1.4b3, you can't change the 512 BLKSZ to 256 using the spacebar. You need to change your BLKSZ to 256 using MyDos or SD3.x. Check your PM.

[+warerat]

Final release firmware v1.4.0 with original ICD menu. Next revision needs a hardware mod to allow access to unused ROM space (the MIO normally comes equipped with a 16K 27128, but only the top 8K is used) because this ROM is FULL.

 

Minor changes from 1.4b3:

- Arithmetic routines fixed to allow displaying >65535KB (assumes we can create partitions that big one day)

- Holding down HELP + RESET does coldboot, just like Black Box

- SIO "beep" can be turned on/off for HD access

 

Hope it's useful...

mio140.rom.zip

Edited November 29, 2009 by warerat

[+Larry]

Cool! Especially the coldstart feature.

 

-Larry

 

Final release firmware v1.4.0 with original ICD menu. Next revision needs a hardware mod to allow access to unused ROM space (the MIO normally comes equipped with a 16K 27128, but only the top 8K is used) because this ROM is FULL.

 

Minor changes from 1.4b3:

- Arithmetic routines fixed to allow displaying >65535MB (assumes we can create partitions that big one day)

- Holding down HELP + RESET does coldboot, just like Black Box

- SIO "beep" can be turned on/off for HD access

 

Hope it's useful...

[+bf2k+]

I'll get that one burned and plugged in this afternoon.

[venom4728a]

I just ordered an mio from mg66, and I have been following the posts here in regards to the drives, adapters and the active terminations. Can anyone say if the items below will work well together on the mio, and will i need to modifiy the MIO to supply power for the active termination?

 

1)SEAGATE ST118273LC 18GB SCSI HARD DRIVE

 

2)ADP-9012

Used to convert NARROW and/or WIDE SCA 80-pin drives (-NC or -WC) to a "normal" 50-pin NARROW bus, breaking out the 50-pin SCSI I/O, drive ID headers, and power plug. With 18-line onboard ACTIVE termination to terminate the narrow bus, and 9-line passive termination to terminate the upper nine lines ("HIGH 9") of a WIDE SCA drive. Has termination able/disable feature. 1 1/2" Form Factor.

 

 

Thanks in Advance.

 

Venom4728a

[+bf2k+]

 

1)SEAGATE ST118273LC 18GB SCSI HARD DRIVE

 

 

Ask Warerat about this drive. I think he has gotten this one to work. I have one but was never able to get it to work. But I did not modify any of my MIOs for it either.

[MEtalGuy66]

I just ordered an mio from mg66, and I have been following the posts here in regards to the drives, adapters and the active terminations. Can anyone say if the items below will work well together on the mio, and will i need to modifiy the MIO to supply power for the active termination?

 

 

That certainly looks like it SHOULD work.. Alot of this has been "hit or miss" though, to be honest.. Warerat has said that he has had better luck with the Seagate branded drives than the ones that say IBM or some other vendor. Probably due to slight firmware differences..

 

That looks like a fairly full-featured little adaptor board. I would think it is capable of supplying term power, itself.

[+warerat]

*IF* you can find one, I'm using an I-O Data ISDC21-E SCSI-to-IDE adapter on the MIO. No parity required. Seems to work with a couple of IDE drives I tried (540MB all the way to 80GB). RWTEST.COM speeds are comparable to the native SCSI.

 

Disclaimer: I have substituted four IC's on the MIO board with 74F-series logic. Your mileage may vary.

[MEtalGuy66]

Thanks to Slor (James), I have confirmed that the ACARD AEC-7720U SCSI-IDE bridge works well with the MIO using the latest firmware.

 

I tried it with several IDE hardisks, as well as with a Transcend 128meg flash module. This thing is really nice because it has jumpers to enable termination, as well as terminator bus power. (Set both to ON).. This thing is really fast. If you want a "no fuss" soultion, that offers the best possible performance (as well as an extremely wide range of compatability with cheap/common IDE devices), this appears to be the way to go.

[spookt]

Thanks to Slor (James), I have confirmed that the ACARD AEC-7720U SCSI-IDE bridge works well with the MIO using the latest firmware.

 

I tried it with several IDE hardisks, as well as with a Transcend 128meg flash module. This thing is really nice because it has jumpers to enable termination, as well as terminator bus power. (Set both to ON).. This thing is really fast. If you want a "no fuss" soultion, that offers the best possible performance (as well as an extremely wide range of compatability with cheap/common IDE devices), this appears to be the way to go.

 

Looks very interesting. Especially since I have a stack of IDE drives which are probably too small for modern PCs (40 - 80Gb range) which would be ideal for A8 use. Thanks for the tip.