Suska GigaFile

User's Manual

Rev.1.0November2012
Subjecttochangewithoutnotice.
W.Frster
TranslationbyJohnKolak
withsupportofMatthewWaller

Contact
InventronikGmbH,Finkenstrae48,70199Stuttgart.
Internet:www.inventronik.de;www.experiments.de.

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Email:info@inventronik.de

Iwanttothankallpeoplecontributingtothisproject.
HaveFun.
WolfgangFrster

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TableofContents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................................5
Description.......................................................................................................................................5
CompatibilityIssuesconcerningSDCards.....................................................................................6
OneWordabouttheTransmissionDataRate..................................................................................6
Features............................................................................................................................................6
OperationoftheGigaFile.....................................................................................................................7
LEDSignalling................................................................................................................................7
InsertingandOperationofSDCards...............................................................................................8
PowerSupply...................................................................................................................................8
ConfigurationoftheACSI/SCSIIdentificationNumber.................................................................8
BusTerminationintheGigaFile'sSCSIMode................................................................................9
TricksandLimits.............................................................................................................................9
Annex..................................................................................................................................................10
PinOutofthe26pos.ACSI/SCSIConnector...............................................................................10
PinOutofa19positionDSUBACSIConnector.........................................................................11
PinOutofa25positionDSUBSCSIConnector.........................................................................12
CableAssemblyACSIGigaFile....................................................................................................13
CableAssemblySuskaIIICGigaFile..........................................................................................14
CableAssemblySCSIGigaFile.....................................................................................................14
GigaFileconnectedtotheinternalBusofSTEandStacy.............................................................15
Notes...................................................................................................................................................16

IndexofTables
Table1:AchievableDataTransferRates..............................................................................................6
Table2:IDConfiguration....................................................................................................................8
Table3:PinOutofthe26pos.HDDSUB.......................................................................................10
Table4:ACSIPinOutofa19pos.DSUB........................................................................................11
Table5:SCSIPinOutofa25pos.DSUB........................................................................................12
Table6:CableAssemblyGigaFileACSIInterface............................................................................13
Table7:CableAssemblyGigaFileSCSIInterface.............................................................................14
Table8:MegaSTEJ402(andStacy,J11?)30pos.HeadertoGigaFileHDDSub............................15

IndexofFigures
Figure1:GigaFilePCBToView..........................................................................................................5
Figure2:GigaFilePCBBottomView..................................................................................................5
Figure3:Layoutofthe26positionHDDSUB.................................................................................10

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Introduction
Description
SuskaGigaFileisasolidstatedisk,intendedtoworkonAtariACSIorSCSIinterfaces.The
physicalmemorySDcardsareforeseen.Inthisway,theGigaFileiswidelyconfigurableusing
SDSC(cardswithsmallcapacityupto2GiB),SDHC(cardswithhighcapacityfrom2GiBto32
GiB)orSDXC(cardswithcapacitiesgreaterthanorequal32GiB).Sothisproductshouldmeetany
individualrequirements.
ThefocusofdevelopmentoftheGigaFilewasthecompatibilitytobothbusprotocols,theAtari
ComputerSystemInterfaceACSIandtheSmallComputerSystemInterfaceSCSI.The
Configurationofthedesiredbusprotocolisdoneviatheconnectingcableoradapter.Theelectronic
circuitryisplacedonadoublesidedmountedprintedcircuitboardwhichhasanareaof50x40mm.
TheboxedGigaFilemeasures60x55x30mm.Thereforeithasavolumewhichisafactorof80
timessmallerincomparisontoAtari's20MiBharddiskdriveSH205!Besidethe26positionHD
DSUBconnectorandtheconnectorfortheSDcard,theGigaFileisequippedwithtwoLEDs
indicatingtheoperationstatus.
ThedevelopmentoftheGigaFilewenthandin
handusingthecurrentversionoftheHDDRIVER
harddiskdriverfromUweSeimet.Optimizations
forthisdriverareimplementedinthedigitallogic,
soitisrecommendedtousearecentversionof
HDDRIVER(8.45+)withtheGigaFile.
Thefunctionalityandthetechnicaldatadescribed
inthismanualrefertotheGigaFileSlimR.01.
Thisversionnumberisindicatedwhilebooting
withHDDRIVER.

SJ1SJ2SJ3

TDR2TDR1

Figure1:GigaFilePCBToView

Figure2:GigaFilePCBBottomView

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CompatibilityIssuesconcerningSDCards
AllSDSC,SDHC,SDXCcards,whichcanhandleblocksof512Bytesize,aresuitedforthe
operationintheGigaFile.SomeSDSCcardswithacapacityofmorethan1GiBmaynotwork
properly.ThisbehaviourisdescribedindetailinthesectionTricksandLimits.Toverifyifacardis
suitableornot,itcanforexamplebeinsertedintoacardreaderconnectedtoaWindowsPC.Open
theformattingdialogue.Thereisasetting,'ClusterSize'.InconjunctionwiththeFATfilesystem,
youshouldseeclustersizesof8192Bytesorless.InthiscasetheSDcardisusableintheGigaFile.

OneWordabouttheTransmissionDataRate
TheGigaFileisbasedonblockorientatedmassstoragedevices,SDcards.Thesecardsarereadand
writtenblockwise,soonceitstartstoreadorwriteablock,thereisnowaytointerruptatanytime
untiltheblockiscompletelytransferred.If,forexample,10blocksarewritten,theconnectedhost
computermustdeliver5120byteswithoutanyinterruption.AlthoughtheGigaFiletheoreticallymay
readandwrite2MiBpersecond,itisadjustedinsuchawaythatthedirectmemoryaddress(DMA)
channelsoftheconnectedcomputers(Atari,Suska)cankeepupwiththeGigaFiletransmissiondata
rate.Thusthefollowingdatatransferratesresults:
AtariSTread AtariSTwrite
600kByte/s

500kByte/s

SuskaIIIC
read

SuskaIIIC
write

TTread

TTwrite

1200kByte/s

1000kByte/s

1800kByte/s

1600kByte/s

Table1:AchievableDataTransferRates
Tomeetthecorrectadjustment,theTDRismeasuredduringthefirstaccesstotheGigaFile.Inthis
wayitisensuredthattheDMAchannelsarenotoperatedbeyondthemaximumtransmissionspeed.
Howeveritmayoccurthatincaseof'exotic'workingsofDMAlogicthatthemeasurementfails,
resultinginerrorsduringreadorwriteoperations.ThereforeitisrecommendedtotesttheGigaFile
carefullybeforeusingitin'dailybusiness'.IfthemeasurementoftheTDRisnotworkingcorrectly,
thereisafallbacksolutionusingthetwoconfigurationbridgesTDR2andTDR1locatedatthe
bottomsideofthePCB(see2)foramanualconfigurationoftheTDR.Thefollowingtableshows
howthesettingsaffecttheTDR.Ifeitherofthebridgesisclosed,theautomaticmeasurementof
theTDRisdisabled.
TDR2

TDR1

TDR2

TDR1

TDR2

TDR1

Closed

Closed

Closed

Open

Open

Closed

HighTransferRate

MediumTransferRate

LowTransferRate

Features
TheoperationoftheGigaFileinprincipleispossibleatanySCSIorACSIbuswithanyharddisk
driver.TheACSIbushaslimitationsconcerningthemaximumsizeoftheinsertedSDcards;the
maximumusablesizeislimitedto1GiBwhenSDSC,SDHCorSDXCcardsareusedin
conjunctionwithanyharddiskdrivers.Toremovethislimitation,theGigaFilecanoperatein
conjunctionwithmodernharddiskdriver(HDDRIVER)SCSIIIcompatiblecommands.Thusitis
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possibletouseSDcardswithhighercapacitiesthan1GiBatfullcapacity.Therearealsolimitations
ofthemaximumsizeofapartitionandthemaximumnumberofpartitionsoftheoperatingsystems
used(TOS,MINTetc.).Again,thedetailedinformationinthisdocumentationisbasedontheuseof
acurrentversionoftheharddiskdriverHDDRIVERfromUweSeimet(version8.45orabove).The
reasonforthischoiceisontheonehand,thefactthatHDDRIVERistheonlyonewhichhasbeen
inactivedevelopmentformanyyears(from1989tothepresent),andontheotherhandthe
developmentoftheGigaFilehastakenplacebyintensiveuseandtestingwithHDDRIVER.The
GigaFiledetectsthetypeoftheinsertedSDcardautomatically.Inprincipleitispossibletoremove
theSDcardduringtheoperationattheACSIport(forexampletoexchangedatawithanotebook)
andreinsertitforfurtherusewithoutarestartoftheAtaricomputer.
GigaFilecanoperatealltypesofSDcards.Therearenolimitationsduringtheoperationif
HDDRIVERisused.SDSCcardsareconfiguredduringthestartupsequenceoftheGigaFileto
handleblocksof512bytes.SDHCandSDXCcardsalsoworkwithablocksizeof512bytes.Itmay
occurthatsomeSDcardsdonotworkproperly.Reasons,therefore,maybeincompatiblesupply
voltagerangesorcardswithblocksizesdifferentfrom512bytes.Thesupplyvoltageis5Vandis
connectedbesidetheACSIandSCSIbussignalstothe26positionHDDSubheader.Toconnect
theGigaFiletotheAtariSTortoanySCSIinterfaces,usetherespectivecableadaptersoroneof
thePCBadapterswhichareseparatelyavailableatInventronikGmbH.ToconnecttheGigaFileto
theSuskaIIICboard,usea1:1wired26pos.HDDSubcable(malefemale)orconnectit
directly,thatiswithoutcable,totheACSIheaderoftheSuskaIIIC.TheGigaFileisinactiveif
thereisnoSDcardinserted.

OperationoftheGigaFile
LEDSignalling
OnceconnectedtothehostcomputerandanSDcardisinserted,theGigaFileisreadyfor
preparationorusewithoutanyfurtheractionrequired.BothLEDs(greenandred)willindicate
informationabouttheoperatingcondition.EachofthetwoLEDsindicatetwooperatingconditions
asfollows:
ThegreenLEDstartsflashingforabout5safterasystemstartoraftertheSDcardwasremoved
andisinsertedagain.TheflashfrequencydependsonthetypeoftheinsertedSDcard.IfanSDSC
cardisdetectedwhichreliesontheSDcardspecification1.x,thefrequencyisabout1Hz.2Hz
resultsfromSDSCcardsrelyingontheSDcardspecification2.x.SDHCandSDXCcardscausea
frequencyofabout4Hz.AfterfivesecondstheLEDisswitchedonpermanently,butwithreduced
intensity,indicatingcorrectoperatingconditionoftheGigaFile.
TheredLEDisswitchedonwithreducedintensityafterasystemstartupandiftheSDcardis
inserted.ThesameconditionoccursiftheSDcardisremovedandinsertedagain.Thiscondition
meansthattheCardisoperatingwithareducedtransmissiondatarate,whichisimportantforthe
TOSbootoptionandalsotooperatetheGigaFilecorrectlyonsystemswithslowdirectmemory
access(DMA)channels.AccesstotheSDcardisindicatedwithlightpulsesoffullintensity.Once
HDDRIVERbecomeactive,thetransmissiondataratetoorfromtheGigaFileismeasuredand
correctparametersareadjusted.Iftheconnectedcomputeriscapableofhandlinghighdatarates,
theweakredLEDisswitchedoff.ThishappensforexamplewhentheGigaFileisconnectedtothe
Suskahardware,toTTcomputersoroverclockedSTs.Iftheconnectedcomputercannotperform
highdatatransmissionrates,theredLEDindicatesthiswithaweakred.
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InsertingandOperationofSDCards
SDcardsinstandardformfactorareinsertedupsidedown(contactsontop)intotheGigaFileSD
cardslot.Removingandinsertingworkswithapushpullmechanism.AssoonasanSDcardis
removedandanotheroneisinserted,itwillbeinitializedimmediatelyandthecardparametersare
switchedtransparentlytotheharddiskdriver.
TheGigaFilereadstheWriteProtectionSlidersofSDcards,sotherespectivewarningswillbe
shownifthereisanattempttowritetoaprotectedcard.
Attention!Ifthecardsareremovedduringreadorwriteaccess,acompletedatalosscannotbe
ruledout.IfcardsaresetupwithHDDRIVERandtheoption,TOS/WINcompatiblepartitions,itis
possibletoexchangedatafromtheGigaFiletoanypersonalcomputerwithoutrestartingthehostof
theGigaFile.Donotremovecardsandinsertdifferentcards.Inthiswaythereisalsothepossibility
ofacompletedatalossontheinsertedcard.
Iftheuserisnotcompletelyawareofthebehaviouroftheoperatingsysteminconnectionwiththe
harddiskdriver,itisstronglyrecommendedtochangethecardsafterthehosthasbeenshutdown.

PowerSupply
ThereareseveralpossibilitiestopowertheGigaFile.Thismainlydependsonthesystemtowhichit
isconnected.Inprincipletherearethefollowingthreeoptions:
1. ConnectedSuskaIIIC
2. Connectedtoa19pos.ACSIport.
3. AsSCSIdevice,forexample,inconjunctionwitha25pos.DSUBadapter.

ConfigurationoftheACSI/SCSIIdentificationNumber
OnthetopoftheprintedcircuitboardoftheGigaFiletherearethreeconfigurationbridges(solder
types,see1).TherespectiveIDnumberisselected,shorteningthesebridgespartiallyorentirely.
ThefollowingtablelistsallpossibleIDnumbersandtherespectivesettingsofthebridges.The
defaultfactorysettingoftheGigaFileisID0.
SJ1

SJ2

SJ3

ID

SJ1

SJ2

SJ3

ID

Open

Open

Open

Closed

Open

Open

Open

Open

Closed

Closed

Open

Closed

Open

Closed

Open

Closed

Closed

Open

Open

Closed

Closed

Closed

Closed

Closed

Table2:IDConfiguration

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BusTerminationintheGigaFile'sSCSIMode
Acorrectbusterminationisaprerequisiteforastableandaccurateoperation.TheGigaFileisnot
equippedwithaninternalbusterminationcircuitry,sothereisaneedforanexternaltermination.
Thisispossiblewithasingleendedtermination,forexample,fromthehost'sside.Thisispossible
whenthecableisshort.Anotherwayistouseexternalbusterminators.Pleasebeawarethatthere
maybeonlytwoterminatorslocatedoneachendoftheSCSIbus,evenifmorethantwodevicesare
connected.Deselectallinternalbusterminationswhicharenotrequiredtomeetthisarrangement.

TricksandLimits
ThischapterdescribessomeknownissuesconcerningtheoperationoftheGigaFileinconjunction
withtheconnectedhardwareandtheharddiskdriverused.Thecontextsareoftennottrivialand
sometimesitseemsthattheSDcardsortheGigaFilewon'tworkcorrectly.Thefollowingthings
werefoundduringintensivetesting.
1. SDSCcardswithblocksizesgreater512Byte:SomeSDcardsseemnottohandleblocksof
512bytes.ThisdoesnotconformtotheSDcardspecification.Amongtheseare,for
example,2GBSDSCcards.TheSDSCspecificationreserves12Bitaddressesanda
maximummultiplicationfactorof512.Sothereareamaximumof2*512=2.097.152
blocks.Tocreate2GBcards,theblockssizeisnot512MBbut1024MB.Thosecardsarenot
possibletooperateintheGigaFile.UseSDHCcardsinstead.
2. DuringthebootprocessfromtheGigaFile,thetransmissiondatarateoftheconnected
computerwillbemeasuredasdescribedabove.ThisistoallowtheTOSoperatingsystemto
bootfromthecardcorrectly.ThereasonforthisfeatureisaraceconditioninTOS.Booting
fromharddrivesisnotpossibleifthedataisreadtooslowortoofast.AlthoughtheGigaFile
isdevelopedcarefullyandwithintensivetestingtomeetthisrequirement,thereisno
guaranteethatallthedifferenthardwarewillbootfromSDcardineverycase.Aworkaround
istouseHDDRIVERbootedfromafloppydiskdriveorfromanotherharddiskconnected
totheIDEport,whichcanbefoundinSTEs,StacysorSTBooks.
3. TheGigaFilesupportstheHDDRIVERoption,FastACSI.IfHDDRIVERisusedwiththis
setting,thereadandwritetransmissiondatarateisabout15%higher.
4. IfbigSDcardsareconnectedandpartitionedwithHDDRIVER,thereisaneedforthe
option,ICDcompatibility.Otherwisepartitionswhicharelocatedbeyondthe1GBlimitare
notdetectedandthereisnowaytoaccessthem.InthiscaseHDDIVERgivesawarning
duringthebootprocess,Errorwhilereadingthepartitiondata.
5. EvenifmorethanonepartitionisinstalledwithTOS/Wincompatibilityduringpartitioning
withHDDRIVER,theWindowsoperatingsystemdetectsonlythefirstone.Thisisnotan
error,butmoreapoorfeatureofWindows.
6. DuringPartitioningorFormattingtheSDcards,thereareunwantedwarningsorerrors:in
thiscasehavealookonthewriteprotectionslideroftheinsertedSDcard.Perhapsitis(by
accident)switchedtowriteprotection.

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Annex
PinOutofthe26pos.ACSI/SCSIConnector
PinNo.

Function

DataBusBitD7

GND

DataBusBitD6

SCSI_ATNn

DataBusBitD5

GND

DataBusBitD4

GND

DataBusBitD3

10

SCSI_DPn

11

DataBusBitD2

12

GND

13

DataBusBitD1

14

GND

15

DataBusBitD0

16

GND

17

ACSI_SCSIn

18

SCSI_IOn

19

VCC

20

ACKn

21

REQn

22

CSn_DCn

23

RSTn

24

CA1_MSGn

25

INTn_BUSYn

26

CRWn_SELn

Figure3:Layoutofthe26
positionHDDSUB

Table3:PinOutofthe26pos.HDDSUB
Remark:ThepinnumbersarenormallymarkedontheDSUBconnectors.Ifnot,takecareofthe
factthatthenumberingisascendingincomparisontootherheaders,andnotalternating,butrow
wise.
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PinOutofa19positionDSUBACSIConnector
PinNr.

Function

DB0

DB1

DB2

DB3

DB4

DB5

DB6

DB7

/CS

10

/INT

11

GND

12

/RESET

13

GND

14

/ACK

15

GND

16

A1

17

GND

18

R/W

19

/DRQ

Table4:ACSIPinOutofa19pos.DSUB

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PinOutofa25positionDSUBSCSIConnector
PinNo.

Function

/REQ

/MSG

I/O

/RST

/ACK

BSY

GND

DB0

GND

10

DB3

11

DB5

12

DB6

13

DB7

14

GND

15

C/D

16

GND

17

/ATN

18

GND

19

/SEL

20

PARITY

21

DB1

22

DB2

23

DB4

24

GND

25

TMPWR

Table5:SCSIPinOutofa25pos.DSUB

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CableAssemblyACSIGigaFile
GigaFile26pos. ACSI19pos.
1

11

13

15

17

10

n.c.

11

12

n.c.

13

14

n.c.

15

16

GND(0V)

17

n.c.

18

n.c.

19

VCC(+5V)

20

14

21

19

22

23

12

24

16

25

10

26

18

Table6:CableAssemblyGigaFileACSIInterface

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CableAssemblySuskaIIICGigaFile
TheGigaFileisbestfittedtoSuskaIIIC.ItispluggabledirectlytotheSuskaIIICACSIconnector
withouttheuseofacable.Ifacableshouldbeused,itisa1:1wired26pos.HDDSUBcable
assemblywithoneendhavingafemaleconnector,andtheotherendmale.

CableAssemblySCSIGigaFile
GigaFile26pos.

SCSI25pos.

13

12

n.c.

11

n.c.

23

16

10

10

20

11

22

12

14

13

21

14

18

15

16

24

17

18

19

25

20

21

22

15

23

24

25

26

19

Table7:CableAssemblyGigaFileSCSIInterface

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GigaFileconnectedtotheinternalBusofSTEandStacy

VCC +5V
26pol.HD-Sub-D Pin 19

VCC +5V
VCC +5V
frei

26pol.HD-Sub-D Pin 21

REQn

26pol.HD-Sub-D Pin 24

CA1_MSGn

26pol.HD-Sub-D Pin 20

ACKn
Data Bus Bit D7 >
Data Bus Bit D6 >
Data Bus Bit D5 >

Datenbus-Signale von (MegaSTE

U403 (74LS245)) kommend

Data Bus Bit D4 >

Data Bus Bit D3 >
Data Bus Bit D2 >
Data Bus Bit D1 >
Data Bus Bit D0 >

30
28
26
24
22
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2

29
27
25
23
21
19
17
15
13
11
9
7
5
3
1

GND
GND
GND

26pol.HD-Sub-D Pins 2,
4, 6, 8, 12, 14, 16

INTn_BUSYn

26pol.HD-Sub-D Pin 25

CRWn_Seln

26pol.HD-Sub-D Pin 26

CSn_DCn

26pol.HD-Sub-D Pin 22

RSTn

26pol.HD-Sub-D Pin 23

Data Bus Bit D7 >

Data Bus Bit D6 >
Data Bus Bit D5 >
Data Bus Bit D4 >
Data Bus Bit D3 >
Data Bus Bit D2 >
Data Bus Bit D1 >

Signalweiterleitung zur externen

19.pol ACSI-Buchse. Bei Fehlen
des internen Host-Adapters Pins
entsprechend brcken, damit
ext.ACSI funktioniert!
(2-1, 4-3, 6-5, 8-7, 10-9,
12-11, 14-13, 16-15)

Data Bus Bit D0 >

Mit freundlicher Untersttzung von U. Stapelkamp.

Table8:MegaSTEJ402(andStacy,J11?)30pos.HeadertoGigaFileHDDSub

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Notes

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