New IDE card design interest check

[shift838]

If you voted on AtariAge, please do not vote here.

 

For the last couple of years, I have been tracing the current IDE card signals off and on to try and get a design that has mostly through-hole components.

I believe I have one ready for prototyping but wanted to check interest among the community.  Let me be clear, this new design does NOT offer any new functionality.

What it does is convert 95% of the SMD components to through hole with a few exceptions.  The 74F543 is still SMD, there is no current active through-hole part.  The F543 was made at one point for through-hole but it is obsolete.  I have found a supply of them, but I really want to keep the card using current 'ACTIVE' components.  The RTC, SRAM, a 3.3v voltage regulator as well as the CF Card connectors are all SMD.

I chose to go with dual CF Card connectors in order to have IDE1-4 on Master and IDE 5-8 on Slave CF Cards.  The whole unit will still be compatible with Fred Kaal's latest IDE DSR.  The card will still function the same.  If interest only shows for a single CF Card then I could convert that to through hole if needed, but more is better right?

Anyway, here is my first rendering of the card.  I thought about adding a battery charge circuit for a LR2032 to be used, but using the LR2032 can be tricky as I have found multiple suppliers and many of them have different charge specifications.  If someone replaces the LR2032 with one that does not have the same charging specifications that could result in frying the card, fire, and a slew of other issues.  So, I will stick with no charge circuit for this since the DSR takes about 1 minute to reload anyway.

I decided to go with CF Card connectors as lately I have purchased about 10 IDE drives and 6 out of 10 were bad.  Not a good ratio, and since CF Cards are completely compatible with no extra circuitry for IDE (Unlike SD cards), it seemed to be the logical choice.

Anyway, here is a render of the card along with the poll if you are interested.

Edited September 21, 2023 by shift838

[RickR]

I won't vote, mostly because I don't yet understand what this does or is for.  That's just because I'm a very casual TI owner and use it mostly for games. 

However, I can appreciate how cool this is and the time it took.  Bravo!  Very very impressive. 

[Justin]

12 minutes ago, RickR said:

I won't vote, mostly because I don't yet understand what this does or is for.  That's just because I'm a very casual TI owner and use it mostly for games. 

However, I can appreciate how cool this is and the time it took.  Bravo!  Very very impressive. 

My thoughts exactly. Clearly this is an impressive product and I hope it’s successful 👍

[- Ω -]

It looks like a nicely designed card, I'd have to say no though, not because of the product, but because I already use a TIPI for 95% of my storage needs and the other 5% is on the Lotharek.  Like @RickR, I've also become more of a casual user these past few years, sometimes months can go by before I turn it on.  

[shift838]

4 hours ago, RickR said:

I won't vote, mostly because I don't yet understand what this does or is for.  That's just because I'm a very casual TI owner and use it mostly for games. 

However, I can appreciate how cool this is and the time it took.  Bravo!  Very very impressive. 

This card is used in the Ti PEB or the 838-PEB.  This card allows IDE hard drives to be connected to the TI and you can use up to 2 physical units.  250mb per partition, 4 partitions per unit.  (IDE1-8) drives.

 

 

[shift838]

I rendered a version with the F543 as through hole as a stock has been found. This render also has the standard 40 pin IDE and 44 Pin IDE headers.  I have also added a jumper for 5v and GND to be easily tapped into if needed and a 3.5 molex type male power connector.

[shift838]

Looks like the standard 40 pin IDE connector won for the vote from the sites I posted it on.  I have rendered the final card in this latest photo.  I am keeping the 44pin IDE connector on there as well for additional connection options.

I have gone through the traces on an unpopulated IDE board I have and compared them to my schematic I have hammered out probably 10 times.  I did find a few errors or missed connections, fixed those so all seems good now.  I have ordered a prototype run of 5 boards today.  Should see them in the next couple of weeks.  Tomorrow I will order the components I don't have in stock.  Keeping my fingers and toes crossed all will be good.

[- Ω -]

On 9/27/2023 at 7:31 PM, shift838 said:

I have ordered a prototype run of 5 boards today.  Should see them in the next couple of weeks.  Tomorrow I will order the components I don't have in stock.  Keeping my fingers and toes crossed all will be good.

Good luck on your project Chris! 

[ElectricLab]

On 9/27/2023 at 7:31 PM, shift838 said:

Looks like the standard 40 pin IDE connector won for the vote from the sites I posted it on.  I have rendered the final card in this latest photo.  I am keeping the 44pin IDE connector on there as well for additional connection options.

I have gone through the traces on an unpopulated IDE board I have and compared them to my schematic I have hammered out probably 10 times.  I did find a few errors or missed connections, fixed those so all seems good now.  I have ordered a prototype run of 5 boards today.  Should see them in the next couple of weeks.  Tomorrow I will order the components I don't have in stock.  Keeping my fingers and toes crossed all will be good.

I didn't get a chance to vote, but this would've been my choice 🙂 I'll definitely get one when available.

[- Ω -]

On 10/28/2023 at 12:43 PM, ElectricLab said:

I didn't get a chance to vote, but this would've been my choice 🙂 I'll definitely get one when available.

I'd like to hear your input on it when you get it.  I seriously need something to re-ignite my TI fire.   With so little related activity here, my TI remains setup, but not hooked up since I move in six months ago.  My TIPI has has the old chip, and I'm even forgetting how to do some things.  My memory has been declining over the past five years and if I don't do things often, I forget how.