SCSI2SD ... ZuluSCSI ...

[mgmac]

hi,

is there a completely open project to order some PCBs and be able to solder yourself some SCSI to SD or CF or HDD PATA / SATA card ... cheaply? SCSI2SD ... ZuluSCSI ... projects are very interesting, but they cost a lot !!!

I would like something that handles SCS1 well and possibly SCSI2 as well

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

bluescsi is your best bet for that
website

 

[mgmac]

thanks
I had read something about this time ago
Does it work well as compatibility and is the project frequently maintained?

 

[Skate323k137]

BlueSCSI is well maintained if you want an open source solution. The ZuluSCSI is capable of faster speeds, but if your use is 68K macs, a BlueSCSI is probably fine.

 

[mgmac]

thanks, I'll look at it

 

[cheesestraws]

BlueSCSI also overdrives its microcontroller badly and generally has questionable engineering quality. I wouldn't recommend using it for anything that matters.

 

[mgmac]

ah so there isn't ATM an open good solution

 

[mgmac]

and instead some valid new or used product, but cheap? I remember Acard cards once existed

 

[Chopsticks]

bluescsi is probably you cheapest and easiest to build option, its code base is regularly updated, pretty sure CD-ROM iso support is available now. however @cheesestraws bring up a real issue, overdriving a. cpu to get better performance probably isn't a good idea in terms of reliability and such. while its probably fne, its seriously a bad practice for production devices of any kind particularly when data is concerned. overall R/W performance isn't to bad for a vintage Mac

ZuluSCSI and SCSI2SD are bother great options if you have the money, both should perform the best at R/W though someone should confirm that in case in remembering wrong.

RaSCSI is another option that uses a raspberry pi, but has added features available like networking. I haven't used one myself but Its on my 'to buy and mess around with' list. it does take a few seconds to boot though so depending on you setup that could be a deal breaker or not. again the R/W is meant to be good too. a raSCSI is probably more practical for those needing network support atm, but if you check the wiki there's lots of potential things that can be done with it beyond just a scsi hdd emulator.

the last option would be the Scuznet by @saybur , it also has networking built in and initial CD-ROM support is there too. I run one on my Mac se/30 daily drive and get around 1.5mb Read and 1.3mb Write performance. however the firmware still has a few minor issues in some use cases in respect to performance as well as some future features still to be added. last time I spoke to Saybur he said he plans to work on the firmware more when he has some time. so while it works fine for me, this also may or may not be a deal breaker.

another option too depending on what Mac model you have would be to use a CF to IDE adaptor

 

[mgmac]

Hi, a lot of information, thanks!
my interest is only as SCSI harddisk emulation, but it works well not only with retro Mac computers, but also with other retro platforms, so atari, amiga computers
I have some Acard SCSI, but now also these cards are very expensive
For this reason I was looking to find a very cheap open solution to build myself

 

[pfuentes69]

Another one here suggesting BlueSCSI as starting point. Is cheap enough to give it a try. I've built 7 or 8 already, and it just works. There's people having success with non-Mac systems, but it was meant initially to be used on Mac and probably SCSI2SD is the best general-purpose HD emulation. AFAIK ZuluSCSI is a good option as basically is an SCSI2SD that took the idea of drive images of other projects such as BlueSCSI and RASCSI, but not so mature at this point.

I personally prefer to use RASCSI, because it gives me more flexibility and features (i.e. network card emulation). You can't easily make it totally yourself as it has a lot of tiny components, but you can get the boards from JLCPCB with most of the SMD done and just complete it.
The RASCSI board itself has a reasonable cost but nowadays getting a Raspberry PI can be tricky.

 

[Chopsticks]

@mgma bluescsi is probably the cheapest option cost wise and while I can't speak for working on other systems the code behind bluescsi was originally written by a Japanese guy for the sharp X68000 if memory serves correct. id strongly advise to not use the overclocked firmware though.

realistically though as long as the retro systems conform to the SCSI standard then these devices should all work with hdd emulation.

one thing to note though is that if you aren't very good at SMT soldering you many have some difficulties.
as far as I know bluescsi is available as through hole pcb, im not sure if RaSCSI is but you can at least buy boards with the SMT parts pre soldered. As you probably know the SCSI2SD and ZuluSCSI are both commercial products, there is a scsi2sd v4.2 pcb file out there on the net somewhere but not sure if the main IC is still being madero even available due to global chip shortages .
the scuznet though uses some pretty small smt parts so I really wouldn't recommend that unless you are good at soldering 0603 parts and fine pitch QFP parts