New SD2IEC from NKCElectronics

brain · Post by **brain** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 10:17 pm

nbla000 wrote:Hi,

Which I should buy ? an uIEC with a daughter board (already assembled) seems a good solution but nothing from Jim at the moment

I should have more stock in a few weeks.

My dream is a complete unit with a full case/shell like a 1541-III, what about appearance other then substance ?

I'm working on casing, but it's a more expensive proposition

These units are excellent for embedding projects but when stand-alone requires (solders/adaptors/wires/tricks) not so nice and I don't like to see hardware without cases.

Well, uIEC comes ready to plug in, no adapters needed. Yes, a wire is needed, but it's needed on any such design (either use a PSU or the cassette pigtail, like printer interfaces of old

Btw by remaining on the substance, Jim said:
brain wrote:uIEC/IDE+CF will soon offer SD support (it's in the sd2iec main codebase now, just no HW built as yet. That's probably as close as I'll come.
Any news ?

The SD support is in the main firmware downloads now, and I'm working on a uIEC/IDE+CF redesign to include all of the newer features (SD, RTC, etc.) Iwas basically waiting until uIEC/IDE stock was depleted.

Jim

brain · Post by **brain** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 10:21 pm

Diddl wrote: Why? I'm using SD2IEC.
µIEC has Atmega32 or Atmega128, not Atmega1284 ...

All production uIEC units use the M1281, which has the required number of pins for IDE/CF + SD

Jim

brain · Post by **brain** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 10:26 pm

All recent uIEC/SD units come with a daughtercard as well:

http://www.jbrain.com/vicug/gallery/uIEC/uIEC_SD

Diddl · Post by **Diddl** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 1:19 am

brain wrote:All recent uIEC/SD units come with a daughtercard as well:

http://www.jbrain.com/vicug/gallery/uIEC/uIEC_SD

Very nice! So small!

And with this 1281 controller would be enough Pins to controll the IEEE-488 bus also. So it would be possible to have a µIEC for my CBM8296!!

When is it available to buy?

nbla000 · Post by **nbla000** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 5:10 am

brain wrote:I'm working on casing, but it's a more expensive proposition

Yes custom cases may be expensive but what about a generic plastic shell like this, with some holes just for power/serial/sd connectors ?

brain wrote:All recent uIEC/SD units come with a daughtercard as well:

http://www.jbrain.com/vicug/gallery/uIEC/uIEC_SD

Why you don't use a tape connector like this ?
It will be easy to plug/unplug it and you prevent also wire unsoldering.

orion70 · Post by **orion70** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 5:25 am

Diddl wrote:When is it available to buy?

Quote

.

nbla000 · Post by **nbla000** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 9:58 am

And regarding cases/shells, what about a generic HDD 2,5" External Case ?

Take a look to this case:

You may use the SATA port for the SD, the (enlarged) Power port for the serial connector and the miniusb port for power (you may use both a Motorola charger for mobile phones or a hand made adapter from tape port for example)

And what about this case for a future uIEC/SD-CF:

brain · Post by **brain** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 10:50 am

Diddl wrote: When is it available to buy?

I will have stock in 2 weeks. (Normally, I keep stock at all times, but I am finishing the JiffyDOS HW, and it was cheaper to batch the shipment of both items from the assembler)

brain · Post by **brain** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 10:55 am

nbla000 wrote: Yes custom cases may be expensive but what about a generic plastic shell like this, with some holes just for power/serial/sd connectors ?

Well, quite honestly, the UIEC/SD was intended for embedded uses, so I was/am mainly concentrating on uIEC/IDE+CF+SD casing. Yes, stock hammond cases are fine, but they need to be machined to hold the connectors, and time is scarce here. I am getting pricing on machining stock cases.

Why you don't use a tape connector like this ?
It will be easy to plug/unplug it and you prevent also wire unsoldering.

That's the same connector as I use, just wrapped with a DB25. The DB25 in that picture has been custom machined. I am planning to simply attach a small PCB to the cassette port connector, like printer interfaces of yesteryear did. It will allow folks to piggyback other cassette port connectors.

brain · Post by **brain** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 10:58 am

nbla000 wrote:And regarding cases/shells, what about a

Nice cases, but they drive up the price, and honestly, it's not been a huge request from customers. Like I said, I am looking into machined stock cases (and the 2.5" HDD cases are some I'm looking at), but most customers are asking for firmware updates (DNP support, GEOS support, LCD, USB, Ethernet, etc.), and seem to imply that if I can handle the firmware, they will tackle casing.

I admit uncased projects are less desirable, but I have to prioritize the requests, and casing has not been a huge request.

nbla000 · Post by **nbla000** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 4:46 am

brain wrote:I admit uncased projects are less desirable, but I have to prioritize the requests, and casing has not been a huge request.

Yes "hardware" guys normally take care just for substance, this is right but the form is also important in my opinion.

I remember that I insisted a lot with 6502dude to "persuade" him to reduce the Mega-Cart PCB in any way to fit it on a common CBM shell and for a nice packaging (excellent ral-clan artwork) and I think that something like this is much more attractive then a thing like this and costs are not too high if you find a nice solution but no one will tell you this

PS: It was very hard to "persuade" 6502dude, right Brian ?

brain · Post by **brain** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 10:09 am

nbla000 wrote:
Yes "hardware" guys normally take care just for substance, this is right but the form is also important in my opinion.

No, I think you misunderstand. I truly do want a case for the uIEC/IDE+CF+SD, but there are significant issues:

I am currently reworking the uIEC/IDE design, to incorporate more features and add the SD slot on board
People keep pressing for functionality updates (DNP support, GEOS support, more fastloaders, etc.) As they are the paying customers, I have to take their requests into account.
It's hard to guess what people want to do with the uIEC/IDE to decide on a case size. Some people want just the CF portion, but others want a PSU and HDD. Finding a case that matches both of those extremes is very difficult.
Some people have argued *against* a specific case, as they intend to install the uIEC/IDE in their machine or HDD or somewhere else.

The uIEC/SD, even though I specifically designed it for embedded use, seems to be a big hit with folks who just want a small SD-based drive. So, I am rethinking my approach there and might work on a case for it, since it has fewer size options.

Jim[/list]

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 10:59 am

You could also seek a partner who develops different forms of casing and sell separately. Perhaps you can even have a small batch in your warehouse for people who want to save shipping by ordering everything from the same dealer. Just that your product is the interface itself, and that "other" person puts all their effort in bringing the casing, custom leads, power supplies and so on.

brain · Post by **brain** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 11:22 am

carlsson wrote:You could also seek a partner who develops different forms of casing and sell separately. Perhaps you can even have a small batch in your warehouse for people who want to save shipping by ordering everything from the same dealer. Just that your product is the interface itself, and that "other" person puts all their effort in bringing the casing, custom leads, power supplies and so on.

I love that idea. Any takers?

Jim

Diddl · Post by **Diddl** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 12:22 pm

brain wrote:I will have stock in 2 weeks. (Normally, I keep stock at all times, but I am finishing the JiffyDOS HW, and it was cheaper to batch the shipment of both items from the assembler)

How to order? Does you make an WEB Shop or simply by email?

How much is it? And what are the cost of Jiffy Roms?