Introducing SCSI2SD V5.2 - Now assembled in Canada

[JDW]

While the intent of this was to use these pins for SPI, they are true General Purpose pins, and could be used in a variety of different ways. Looking down the road, we've also added a place for SPI NOR flash (in two different footprints), which you can see below, where the silk screened text shows U302 and U303. Once firmware development is complete, and we're happy with the results, this will enable us to, as an example, ship SCSI2SD's with pre-bundled software. Current NOR flash components are available in capacities up to 256 megabits (32 megabytes), at a cost of only several dollars each.

The above statement implies we should probably wait until your firmware development is complete and subsequently wait to see what flash options and accessories you will offer before making a purchase.  At least, that is my own personal logical interpretation based on what you wrote.

Also, can you provide specific examples of how SPI will be used?  (You merely said, "a variety of different ways.")

To be honest, I've never purchased a SCSI2SD.  I've quietly been reading and watching what others have done in the background.  But the expandability of your new product has me quite curious, hence my questions.  Thank you.

 

[rabbitholecomputing]

The above statement implies we should probably wait until your firmware development is complete and subsequently wait to see what flash options and accessories you will offer before making a purchase.  At least, that is my own personal logical interpretation based on what you wrote.

SCSI2SD V5 firmware is very mature at this point, having been iterated and improved upon since ~2014. Around ten thousand V5.x boards are in use in the wild, and V5.2 uses that same firmware, so to somehow twist that in to "it's not ready yet, I should wait" is a bit laughable. V5.2 can do everything the previous V5 boards can, so judging it purely on the basis of future functionality seems...odd, at best.

You shouldn't ever buy a product for features that don't exist when you make the purchase.  That said, the pins on the Cypress PSoC 5LP microcontroller that is used in SCSI2SD V5.x are flexible. They can be assigned, at firmware compile time, to perform a variety of different functions (SPI, I2C, I2S, etc.), hence the "a variety of different ways" comment. That said, our envisioned used cases for the V5.2 with the GPIO pins configured in SPI mode are the following:

1) SPI NOR flash, either 128 megabits or 256 megabits, to enable a flash-equipped V5.2 to be a boot-able, read-only System 6/7 environment, with disk partitioning/formatting utilities bundled.

2) SPI Ethernet modules, build around the Microchip ENC28J60, a widely available SPI to 10Mbit/sec Ethernet part which is inexpensive and widely available. Chinese-manufactured SPI boards that incorporate this part (also used by Scuznet) cost around $5-7/each. Example photo below. The pinout of the SPI headers, P301 and P302, on SCSI2SD V5.2, are identical to the pinout of these ethernet modules.

SCSI2SD is largely the product of one man, Michael McMaster, but the firmware was and remains fully open source. Anyone can build and modify the firmware to make SCSI2SD do anything they are capable of implementing. All that's required to do so is a willingness to get one's hands dirty, and learn new things.

Also, can you provide specific examples of how SPI will be used?  (You merely said, "a variety of different ways.")

To be honest, I've never purchased a SCSI2SD.  I've quietly been reading and watching what others have done in the background.  But the expandability of your new product has me quite curious, hence my questions.  Thank you.

View attachment 39106

View attachment 39107

 

[cheesestraws]

Don't have much to add to this discussion behind congratulations on the release, this looks like a nice solid iteration of the device.  Well done to all involved.

 

[funhouse]

SCSI2SD V5 firmware is very mature at this point, having been iterated and improved upon since ~2014. Around ten thousand V5.x boards are in use in the wild, and V5.2 uses that same firmware, so to somehow twist that in to "it's not ready yet, I should wait" is a bit laughable. V5.2 can do everything the previous V5 boards can, so judging it purely on the basis of future functionality seems...odd, at best.

You shouldn't ever buy a product for features that don't exist when you make the purchase.  That said, the pins on the Cypress PSoC 5LP microcontroller that is used in SCSI2SD V5.x are flexible. They can be assigned, at firmware compile time, to perform a variety of different functions (SPI, I2C, I2S, etc.), hence the "a variety of different ways" comment. That said, our envisioned used cases for the V5.2 with the GPIO pins configured in SPI mode are the following:

1) SPI NOR flash, either 128 megabits or 256 megabits, to enable a flash-equipped V5.2 to be a boot-able, read-only System 6/7 environment, with disk partitioning/formatting utilities bundled.

2) SPI Ethernet modules, build around the Microchip ENC28J60, a widely available SPI to 10Mbit/sec Ethernet part which is inexpensive and widely available. Chinese-manufactured SPI boards that incorporate this part (also used by Scuznet) cost around $5-7/each. Example photo below. The pinout of the SPI headers, P301 and P302, on SCSI2SD V5.2, are identical to the pinout of these ethernet modules.

SCSI2SD is largely the product of one man, Michael McMaster, but the firmware was and remains fully open source. Anyone can build and modify the firmware to make SCSI2SD do anything they are capable of implementing. All that's required to do so is a willingness to get one's hands dirty, and learn new things.

View attachment 39106

View attachment 39107

You say the pinout of the SPI headers, P301 and P302, on SCSI2SD V5.2, are identical to those of ethernet module Microchip ENC28J60 but there is a problem, there are 12 pins on the Microchip ENC28J60 board and only 10 pins on the SCSI2sd V5.2 board...

Please advise us all....?

 

[rabbitholecomputing]

You say the pinout of the SPI headers, P301 and P302, on SCSI2SD V5.2, are identical to those of ethernet module Microchip ENC28J60 but there is a problem, there are 12 pins on the Microchip ENC28J60 board and only 10 pins on the SCSI2sd V5.2 board...

Please advise us all....?

Our original response to this seems to have been lost during the Great Forum Database Implosion(tm) of 2021, so we'll re-state here. The module we designed for is the "Mini ENC28J60", which is a ten-pin module, not 12-pin.

 

[rabbitholecomputing]

Yes it would!

I really appreciate the effort you put into improving the products and still endeavoring to accommodate some of the niche requests.

And now it exists! We just received the first 18 fully-assembled SCSI2SD V5.0c's. Another 150+ of them will ship soon. These are the first SCSI2SD's we've assembled in the US. We just put them through their paces, and if anyone else is interested in them,

SCSI2SD V5.0c runs unmodified V4/V5 firmware, and continues the compact "red board" SCSI2SD tradition. If you've got questions that are V5.0c-specific, please ask them in the thread I just create in the hacks & development sub-forum here: SCSI2SD V5.0c - Assembled in the US