Atari Falcon SD-IDE

The Falcon August continues!

After establishing the basics of file transfer between Falcon and Linux, I wanted to replace the physical hard disk with a IDE-compatible SD card reader. There was one CF-IDE adapter lying around but my CF cards were exactly those "nameless" brand cards people always warn about so I avoided using that.

I ordered a IDE/SD card reader "SECURE DIGITAL 44 PIN 2.5 MALE IDE TO SD CARD ADAPTER AMIGA 600" off eBay. Seeing that it was advertised as fitting for Amiga sounded good enough.

When the item arrived, I thought it wasn't the correct 2,5 inch as "promised", but smaller. But after opening the Falcon (the first time) it turned out this was exactly right for the IDE cable/connector that was inside the computer.

IDE cable at centre. Note the absence of a cradle for HD.

So, I couldn't even have used my CF-IDE adapter without another adapter.

Possibly, a doohickey 90-degree adapter might exist somewhere that would get rid of the cable entirely.

For the SD card I used a Kingston 8gb HC "20x" card.

For setting up the disk I simply followed instructions, and here I'm largely just repeating what people have said elsewhere, mostly the second option in this Youtube video.


Opening the Falcon and fitting the card adapter

The Falcon cover is held together with a bunch of screws. Underneath, there is a metal panel that needs to be removed. The second metal panel (under the keyboard) can be left attached.

The topmost metal part should come off by creatively bending and wiggling it, even if it at first looks like it might not.

This Falcon did not have the original cradle for the hard disk, so I can't really comment about that.

This also meant I'm somewhat out of options as to where to put the card reader. It's so light it could just dangle at the end of the IDE cable, but the danger here is that it might hit something delicate on the motherboard.

I feel that the creators of SD card readers could make the circuit boards a bit larger just to make them easier and safer to attach inside the computer. I mean if it's supposed to replace a 2,5 or 3,5 inch hard drive, it doesn't need to be the size of a postage stamp...

For a while I kept the card like in the image below, but then I felt it might hinder the air flow. Probably not, but anyway it ought to fit more firmly into place.

In the end I turned the cable and the card "upside down" on itself and fastened a wire around the IDE cable so although the adapter isn't screwed or fastened in, it won't sail away on its own accord.


Partitioning the drive

After physically connecting the card reader using the IDE cable, the card needs to be partitioned using the Atari (not formatted).

I went for the ICD driver route, as people have reported it should work just fine with the CF cards and like. "Somebody" said SD cards might be more reliable so that's why I went there too.

I downloaded the ICDP655A.ZIP on Linux, likewise unpacked it on Linux and copied the resulting folder to a HD floppy disk that I had formatted on the Falcon.

Using ICDBOOT.PRG the relevant driver becomes present (it ought to recognize the card and  display its name even at this point). Then, using the ICDFMT.PRG the card can be partitioned.

Note again that "format" has no relevancy here. Instead, "Clear" the suggested default setting, and then use the "split" command to give a suitable number of portions.

The suggested GEM partition size tends to be overtly small, I suppose there's no sense to keep it smaller than the other partitions. Still I kept it at 20mb just to avoid cramming files there.

The partitioning should be almost instantaneous, but the program will check for bad sectors and this will take some time. After this the system will be rebooted.

You should be able to see the partitions on the desktop after running ICDBOOT.PRG and using Install Devices from the GEM menu.


Making the drive bootable

As the computer can't boot from the drive yet, you'll still have to rely on the floppy.

To make Atari drive C bootable, run the ICDBOOT.PRG again to activate the driver and then use HDUTIL.PRG for enabling the boot.

I bothered to snapshot the desktop on the Atari, a hilariously long-winded process

This part was a bit confusing, and I didn't get it right the first time, possibly because the floppy behaved a bit badly.

You can choose a partition for the boot drive, then the drive should be set for booting and the driver will be installed on that partition. It's possible to fiddle with the boot options, and I did some too.

Not sure about these. I guess I checked the "Falcon" for Boot Res and that's it.

Don't copy the ICDBOOT.PRG to the AUTO folder of the hard disk, it does nothing there.

After the boot works, You can Install Devices from the desktop menu and then Save Desktop. The Falcon should now boot to the system and show the partitions on the desktop.


Reaping the rewards

Strangely enough the disk drive (or the floppy) started working erratically during the process. But I managed to get the XYZ.TTP onboard after which I could leech off everything over the serial on 9600 speed.

After getting DRVIN.PRG, SCC.PRG, XCONTROL.ACC and SERIAL.CPX I could get the faster 57600 speed. The DRVIN.PRG, SCC.PRG and FPATCH2.PRG are to be placecd in the AUTO folder whereas the ACC files belong to the main folder. Make a CPX folder for the SERIAL.CPX, although you probably have to config the XCONTROL.ACC to find the files from there.

I've been toying around with this setup for a few weeks now, adding and adjusting things, and the card appears to work ok. More about Falcon later...