NanoPEB for sale?

[MaDDuck]

Is this site legit?

http://www.stargames.be/shop/accessoires/4085-compactflash-drive-rs-232-nanoped.html

 

It looks like they are in stock.

 

Has anybody delt with them before?

Edited May 31, 2016 by MaDDuck

[+arcadeshopper]

They were the European distributor for those.. they have some stock, have heard mixed reviews of what people have gotten from them.. some working some not..

 

Greg

[+Schmitzi]

.

I have bought 4 or 5 nanos there, one was "defective", and he offered me anything I wanted.

So far no problem on that. In this case I changed the CF-reader (have some spares), and it runs

So for me there was no reason to give it back or whatever.

 

(This was the third time for me solving a NanoPEB-problem by changing the CF-reader-Modul (~ 7 Euros)

 

But I am really wondering where he gets the Nanos from

Maybe there is live on planet Nano, though ? hint hint

[+chicgamer]

I just ordered a CF7+ from them yesterday. They contacted me after submitting my order to let me know that their site isn't set up for American purchases. I was charged an extra 20 Euros for shipping. So, your total will be 99 Euros, if you order from there.

 

They ship quickly. I got notice this morning that my package is on the way.

[PeBo]

An online retailer is only as good as it's return policy, and this site seems to have it covered...

 

Tranlated, their return policy is pretty standard and reads:

 

"Items must be returned in their original packaging, unopened and in perfect condition, accompanied by all accessories and any documents/invoices attached to a completed RTS form. We do not accept returns of items with missing components or that have been spoiled, damaged or soiled.

 

You are responsible for return shipping cost. Also, the original shipping costs will not be refunded. A €5 restocking charge will apply to items for which shipping was free.

 

To make a return, you must send a meesage through the forms available in the "Contact Us" section of the site. Within a few days you will receive a return waybill which must be attached to the returned product. Without this waybill returns cannot be processed. No postage due shipments will be accepted."

 

So bottom line, if a purchase doesn't work, you lose your shipping costs, and also have to pay for shipping on the RTS.

 

Sounds mighty Caveat Emptor to me.

[Asmusr]

I have purchased 2 nanos and 1 CF7 from them. One was lost in the mail and I got a replacement without any additional cost. All 3 still work but none of them has very good soldering work.

[dphirschler]

All 3 still work but none of them has very good soldering work.

Have you gone and re-flowed the solder on any of them or do you wait for a failure before considering doing that?

 

Darryl

[+save2600]

Had 2 CF7+'s... both had "quick" soldering jobs done, the one with a crooked connector was the one that didn't die!

 

Hardly had a chance to use the one that died before it went. Tried reflowing the joints to no avail. When the creator was around, got it exchanged no problem though, so that was good. Sold my other unit before it too went bad and that was after he discontinued the things.

 

Good luck!

[+Schmitzi]

Have you gone and re-flowed the solder on any of them or do you wait for a failure before considering doing that?

 

Darryl

 

for me, if failure appears, I take the next one. My only chance

[+chicgamer]

Ugh. This thread doesn't make me feel great about my purchase.

 

Maybe they did a really good job putting mine together . . .

[MaDDuck]

Ouch...

 

I'll hold off getting one for now.

[+arcadeshopper]

Ugh. This thread doesn't make me feel great about my purchase.

 

Maybe they did a really good job putting mine together . . .

 

I have owned 3, a v1, a v2 and a f18 model.. they all worked as advertised without incident . The only exception that the f18 model is required for proper function with an f18a since it initializes too fast for it..

I just sold one of them to someone at the fest west and hopefully it works great for them.

 

Greg

[dphirschler]

I am happy with mine. I got the nanoPEB F18A model.

 

Darryl

[+chicgamer]

 

I have owned 3, a v1, a v2 and a f18 model.. they all worked as advertised without incident . The only exception that the f18 model is required for proper function with an f18a since it initializes too fast for it..

I just sold one of them to someone at the fest west and hopefully it works great for them.

 

Greg

 

Okay, cool. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

 

For those considering ordering from Star Games, I'll report back on the one I get.

[Airshack]

Great! nanoPEBs are available again?! I was all ready to order a Lotharek drive to solve the PC-TI issue and allow for a modern storage system. My PEB is without RS-232 so I'd be leaning towards the nanoPEB solution had I not read about the quality issues. Yikes! Tough call... what do you guys think. Lotharek vs nanoPEB?

[Omega-TI]

Great! nanoPEBs are available again?! I was all ready to order a Lotharek drive to solve the PC-TI issue and allow for a modern storage system. My PEB is without RS-232 so I'd be leaning towards the nanoPEB solution had I not read about the quality issues. Yikes! Tough call... what do you guys think. Lotharek vs nanoPEB?

 

Well, since you ask, IMHO, I'd say unequivocally the Lotharek HxC.

 

You already have the TI-PEB, why waste it? The Nano PEB's, have a history of flakiness and failures and even when working perfectly, are not 100% compatible... and by design limit your future growth and expansion potential.

 

If you truly think you'll never want to expand or take advantage of certain software, then the Nano will probably suffice.

[MaDDuck]

 

Well, since you ask, IMHO, I'd say unequivocally the Lotharek HxC.

 

You already have the TI-PEB, why waste it? The Nano PEB's, have a history of flakiness and failures and even when working perfectly, are not 100% compatible... and by design limit your future growth and expansion potential.

 

If you truly think you'll never want to expand or take advantage of certain software, then the Nano will probably suffice.

 

 

For me, Ω, I just want to geek out to some games and have the memory expansion needed to run newer home-brews. With the F18A (can we call it the Hornet board?) I will have the best picture possible and be able capture screenshots and video running it through my XOBXONE. I gave away my PEB years ago and I'm getting to the point where I almost regret it, but my god that thing was a monster but made a great monitor stand.

[PeBo]

Ugh. This thread doesn't make me feel great about my purchase.

 

Maybe they did a really good job putting mine together . . .

 

the nanoPEBs had a reputation for less than stellar build quality, but don't let that (or this thread) sway your decision.

 

I've had mine (2 of them) for a couple years now, and have never had a single problem with them. I've encountered a couple problems (literally a couple (2)) that I've related to the non-standard disk size/format, but there's no proof that the error is not with me instead of the device.

 

And there sure is a lot to be said on being able to put the entire Plato learning series library on a single 512MB CF card. I will opt for a Lotharek later this year for the sheer advantage of being able to move stuff back and forth between floppies and an SD, but if it were not for the nanoPEB not allowing simultaneous with the PEB (especially with the AMS cards now being available), I'd be happy with it for many years to come (of course having a spare allows me to relax a bit in regards to something going wrong)

 

If you don't want to invest in a PEB right away, (shipping can break the bank if it's not from a local source) the nanoPEB is a great stop-gap solution regardless of the build quality.

 

Buy one....you'll likely be thrilled with the purchase until a replacement comes along. I know I have been!

[iKarith]

For those who don't have (nor really want) a PEB, I don't see that there's really an alternative to the CF7+ or nanoPEB on the horizon at the moment. If someone writes a DSR for it, we could interface just about anything really, but I don't know of anybody working on that just now. The clever solution with the SD card and the AVR for the cart port looks sweet, but my understanding is that one will always want a cartridge-based memory device and a storage device of some sort. And the options there are cassette or facsimile, something involving a PEB, and the CF7+/nanoPEB.

 

I guess there are disk drive sidecars, but those look to be mostly unobtanium?

[+Ksarul]

I've seen the TI-branded Disk Controller sidecars show up on eBay pretty regularly, so they are relatively easy to obtain (they show up about four or five times a year and usually sell for $50-$75, so the prices are reasonable too). One note: these controllers are SSSD and can control up to three drives.

 

The other sidecar options are more difficult. The CorComp 9900 is the easiest of the sidecars to find, but one with the disk controller in it rarely goes for under $250. Bonus is that that version also has an RS-232 and 32K in it. These show up several times each year.

 

The Myarc MPES-50 and the Atronic CPS-99 are pretty much unobtainium. Both are good devices, but there are too few of them out there to have them show up that often. A couple of us here have the MPES-50s and a few others have CPS-99s, but you don't see one of either of these for sale in any given year--you might have to wait two or three years to see just one (and that's one total, not one of each type).

[RickyDean]

I've seen the TI-branded Disk Controller sidecars show up on eBay pretty regularly, so they are relatively easy to obtain (they show up about four or five times a year and usually sell for $50-$75, so the prices are reasonable too). One note: these controllers are SSSD and can control up to three drives.

 

The other sidecar options are more difficult. The CorComp 9900 is the easiest of the sidecars to find, but one with the disk controller in it rarely goes for under $250. Bonus is that that version also has an RS-232 and 32K in it. These show up several times each year.

 

The Myarc MPES-50 and the Atronic CPS-99 are pretty much unobtainium. Both are good devices, but there are too few of them out there to have them show up that often. A couple of us here have the MPES-50s and a few others have CPS-99s, but you don't see one of either of these for sale in any given year--you might have to wait two or three years to see just one (and that's one total, not one of each type).

Is it possible to make the TI sidecar disk controller, see 80 track drives, like the mod for the PEB card? I have a sidecar or two.

[+Ksarul]

I've never seen it done, but that doesn't mean it isn't possible. You'd have to dig into the DSR to see where it puts the value for tracks per side.

[+chicgamer]

I received my CF7+ today. Now, I just need to learn how to use it.

 

I used TI99DIR to copy some disks to my CF card. I put it in the CF7+ and mounted a disk. And then I had no idea how to actually run a disk. I tried to use other commands like CATALOG (following what someone did in a video on YouTube), and I got nothing.

 

Is there a detailed idiot's guide around, because when it comes to using the CF7+, apparently I am one?

[+Schmitzi]

Hi,

 

I do it this way: First and once only, on a NEW CF-Card only, I do a DOS/FAT-Format,

and then I use TI99DIR to initialize the card for the TI-Format.

Later, NEVER format it if Windows asks for it, only because you klicked the drive-letter accidentially i.e. in the Win-Eplorer

 

Then I use this small DOS-tools CF2DSK.exe and DSK2CF.exe to copy my V9T9-DSKs to the CF-Card

but TI99DIR should be OK for this job too, of course. (and there is my additionally Batch for that)

 

Normally, there is (or should be) the CF-Manager (CFMGR) as Volume #1 on the CF-Card,

if coming with a new NanoPEB or CF7+. (and nothing from the above is to do)

 

If ready with Volume#1/CFMGR, just go to Basic first, and enter CALL MOUNT(1,1), and the reboot the TI to Extended Basic.

The CFMGR should be loaded via LOAD on this "Disk", and here you have something to play around, to test,

watching the copied volumes on the card a.s.o......

(OR: To start the CF-Manager go to Editor/Assembler, Option 5, DSK1.CFMGR)

 

Does this work, at least ?

 

------

 

Here some files you may need:

CF7_plus-rev3.0.pdf

nanoPEB-SIO_V1-rev1.0-04.Aug.2010-UserMan.pdf

CF2K-v2.4.pdf

CF2K_v24.zip

CF2-COPY-Batch-105N3-FULL.zip

vol1-NANO-CFMGR-180KB.dsk

[PeBo]

I received my CF7+ today. Now, I just need to learn how to use it.

 

I used TI99DIR to copy some disks to my CF card. I put it in the CF7+ and mounted a disk. And then I had no idea how to actually run a disk. I tried to use other commands like CATALOG (following what someone did in a video on YouTube), and I got nothing.

 

Is there a detailed idiot's guide around, because when it comes to using the CF7+, apparently I am one?

 

Once you've followed schmitzi's excellent guide (would have taken me 200 lines to say the same), you might find the attached documents handy (in MS word format). a 256 MB CF will hold 312 volumes, and unlike the HxC, there's no read out to help you know what's where. I created these two files to solve that...the first, "CF7 Volumes Index" lists every volume in numeric sequence including contents and status. The second "CF7 Contents Index" is an alphabetical listing of individual programs, the volume on which they appear, and instructions on how to load them (ea3/ea5/xbload/etc). If you update these files as you load the CF, it takes mere seconds extra to create these detailed guides (of course you'll want to delete my entries which I have included as examples)

 

One (important) final thing to take note of...

 

You mount your DSK's using the CALL MOUNT (x,y) command where x is the DSK# and y is the volume you're mounting...

 

BUT...

 

When you use the CALL UNMOUNT (x) command (where x is the DSK#) anything you have saved in volume x is is remounted. In other words Volumes 1, 2 and 3 are default contents of DSK 1, 2 and 3. Unless you have mounted a different volume into a DSK, whatever is in Volume 1, 2 or 3 will be on DSK1 DSK2 and DSK3.

 

Clear as mud?

CF7 Indexes.zip