Amazing (new to me) Atari ST hard drive emulator - ACSI2STM

[@mikecaster4612]

I have just finished backing up my old hard drive and 315 floppy disks to my Ultra Satan. What a task! The hard drive was sealed, and everything came through. The (30 year old) floppies were a different story - I would estimate I have captured 85% of the stuff. Some floppies went through the copy process just fine and the 15% were either partly, mostly or totally unreadable. Just love the double SD card slots of the Ultra Satan, I can put one SD card in with 13 partitions and the other SD card has one. The idea is the second SD card is the "transfer drive" so I can make multiple copies to more than one SD card. I also like the NetUSBee for getting stuff from one hard drive to another - The Ultra Satan does not have a pass thru and I don't think there are dip switches inside.

[@timcross3461]

Great video again! Love the ST content. Definitely need more of that on KZbin. Since ACSI2STM is open source, I wired up an internal device that connects to the Mega ST's internal ACSI connector. Think I will try to design a board for it. I saw an internal design on the Github for the Mega STE but that is a different pinout compared to the regular Mega ST. I would also like to design a Mega ST door with an RGB2HDMI port and maybe a microSD slot.

[@DaveVelociraptor]

I admire not just your consistency in choosing Ultima IV for a test, but also that you chose Ultima! I really enjoy the calm pace of your videos

[@powerofvintage9442]

Ultima IV isn't the most challenging of test games, but it's my nostalgic favorite.

[@DaveVelociraptor]

Ultima IV on my STFM was my first Ultima.

[@powerofvintage9442]

@@DaveVelociraptor for me it was Ultima IV on my friend's Atari 800xl....and was so stoked to finally get it for my 520ST a few years later.

[@DaveVelociraptor]

@@powerofvintage9442 I have then all behind me on my shelves, Ultima 1 to 9 and the underworld and worlds games. I love them

[@DeadCat-42]

For me it was Ultima III on my 800xl, then Ultima IV on the 520 STFM. I went as far as to write a rip off of the game, I got fairly far. I had the scrolling world down, loading the map from a disk directly, enabling a far larger map than Ultima IV. I made a map editor program. I wanted to allow user made maps (that would have been a first I think) I wanted to allow you to build your own town/castle. My friend Pete was going to write the music for it. But then I got the ST and dropped the project to learn to program on it.

[@danielktdoranie]

I would love to see some PiStorm ST content

[@TheVirtualFuture-By-WB]

Hey brother.. got mine i the mail from UK... ;-) not so bad. Up and running. Do you know if there was a way to pull the 5+V from the ST itself somewhere? There has to be a supply to tap from somewhere (using a Diode) Tanx

[@thetechnoshed]

The ASCI2STM has come a long way! I still use my point-to-point protoboard ACSI2STM (one of my early videos) as my main HD device on the STs. I really ought to look at a better board or updating the firmware, but if it ain't broke, you know? :)

[@powerofvintage9442]

Agreed, I have been so satisfied with my ultrasatan that I haven't gone actively looking at other options. That said, I picked these two up to add to 2 of the 9 Atari's I'm refurbishing. I might just keep one of the ACSI2STM's because of how cool it is....I wasn't expecting it to be able to work driverless.

[@TPau65]

Nice little device this ACSI2STM. It somehow looks like my Ultrasatan Mini but with three micro-SD slots. Which brings me to a question: Why does it have three slots? I would understand if there are two (like US Mini), one for the main TOS system, the other card TOS/DOS formatted for data transfer from PC. But why do you need three slots? 🤔

[@powerofvintage9442]

Maybe because 3 > 2? If you're using all 3 as Gemdrives, you cannot partition them so with 3 you get 3 partitions.

[@tradinglive]

This is the best thing you can buy for your Atari ST/STE + 2MB of memory and you are done... I wish I could use ACSI2STM with my Falcon... the Spanish developer who sold my device doesn't think it is compatible with Falcon 030... and Falcon's CF/IDE is not an easy solution to write the card from your modern PC

[@powerofvintage9442]

No it isn't compatible with the Falcon. The Atari Falcon ditched the ACSI port in favor of the internal IDE and the external SCSI ports.

[@danielktdoranie]

@@powerofvintage9442so BlueSCSI would be an option for the Falcon owner?

[@dav1dbone]

I had an ide to SD card on my falcon and it worked perfectly, there's a windows app that can access the first partition on the card- provided it's formatted correctly,

[@powerofvintage9442]

@@danielktdoranie Yes but you'll need a port adapter as the SCSI port on the Falcon is not the typical used by BlueSCSI. Great forum post in Exxos' forum on this topic: www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=7050

[@madigorfkgoogle9349]

the CF/SD/IDE solution is perfect and inexpensive solution for Falcon, you dont have to move data directly from and to PC via card reader. You have two simple solutions: 1. you get just one CF/SD/IDE solution that stays permanently in Falcon, and get some network cartridge (NetUSB i.e.), so you move your data to PC via network. 2. you get dual CF or two SD/IDE solution, where one card is formatted for native Falcon use (boot drive) and the other is formatted with bite-swaping, yes that is slower but can be red/written on both Falcon and PC as a data transfer medium. Im using the first option, since the NetUSB is valuable for many more tasks.

[@james5583]

Thank you for presentation 🤩 ordered one on ebay 😊. Btw do you know any modification of det Megafile hard drive?

[@powerofvintage9442]

I would expect that you could replace most Megafile drives with either a SCSI2SD or a BlueScsi. It seems that if they didn't have a SCSI drive already in them, then they converted ACSI to SCSI to MFM (which is what they did in my Atari SH204 hard drive). I have a SCSI2SD in my SH204 hard drive and it works great.

[@james5583]

@@powerofvintage9442 I'll better have a look what I have. It's been a few years since I opened it up. If it's okay I can send you a picture

[@powerofvintage9442]

Sure just send to the contact email in the channel information.

[@winstonsmith478]

I wonder how many numbers of other than 520s and 1040s were sold because anything other than those two in the ST line are insanely expensive.

[@YouTude000]

From where would one obtain a magical SD card chock-full of fun?

[@powerofvintage9442]

Just buy an SD card and fill it with downloads from the awesome PPera's adapted games library: atari.8bitchip.info/ASTGA/astgam.php

[@winstonsmith478]

So RJ11 telephone cables are "flipped over/reversed"? Why did they design this hardware to not allow the use of such a common and cheap cable? To make it proprietary?

[@powerofvintage9442]

I do think that straight through wiring is/was fairly commonplace too. It’s easy to pick up a line from Amazon that is straight wired.

[@rustandmagic]

I got almost the same ACSI2STM but mine only has 2 usb connectors, works nice, the ultra satan is great but this is much cheaper.

[@powerofvintage9442]

For a first hard disk emulator, you cannot beat the ACSI2STM. I love my ultrasatan and it's the "standard", but this is a fantastic option.

[@TheVirtualFuture-By-WB]

Wheres a good place to buy the ACSI2STM Hard Drive Emulator ? They are all coming from Europe on Ebay. (Im in Colorado)

[@powerofvintage9442]

I picked up mine from Europe. Since it's open source, you can also build your own too.

[@LeeMillican]

Hi Ive got an ste with 4mb and gotek, not used for an couple of months and yesterday I powerd up and the mouse is not working correct? it only going up and right? I changed the mouse with another both origional atari and still the same, I then changed the keyboard with a spare stfm and still the same? have you got any Ideas? thx Lee

[@powerofvintage9442]

Easiest thing is to isolate if it's the mouse or the computer / keyboard. Did you try the original problematic mouse with the STFM? Did it work there? Since you changed the keyboard it seems like unlikely to be the solder joints for the mouse port (most common reason for that issue) or the keyboard controller IC. Can you properly move the mouse cursor with ALT + arrow keys?

[@LeeMillican]

Hi The stfm is dead Im keeping for spares?

[@powerofvintage9442]

Ok, then it could be that both have some dry solder joints...it's pretty common among ST's / STE's or one of the lines in the mouse cable is broken. It's less likely that one of the sensors in the mouse failed. If you're up for reflowing the solder joints on the mouse / joystick port connectors. If you have a multimeter you could check for continuity from the endpoints of the cables. Given how difficult it can be to unplug these mice from the underside of the keyboard, the constant wiggling can damage the solder joints or the mouse cable lines.

[@LeeMillican]

Hi I can solder quite well so i will check tommorow with the multi meter? is there a chip that controls the mouse and joystick as the joystick works fine?

[@powerofvintage9442]

@@LeeMillican The keyboard IC controls the keyboard, mouse and joystick. I've never seen that chip fail (I'm not saying it can't) but more often seen the solder points have issues and seen a mouse broken line twice before. (I've refurbished 50 or so Atari ST's)

[@tenminutetokyo2643]

Hey a G4 cube.

[@powerofvintage9442]

Yep, I also collect PowerPC macs. I have examples of most of the 2000'ish era PowerPC desktops and laptops. Also fun computers to collect.

[@user-Atamigaputer]

Hiya, I have an ultrasatan but this looks easier to use. Is that SD card your own construction or is that set available somewhere online?

[@powerofvintage9442]

It's literally just a 32gb microSD card that I copied an organized library of hard drive adapted games (I downloaded them and grouped them by name) by the fantastic PPera found here: atari.8bitchip.info/ASTGA/astgam.php