Amiga Optical Drive - Part 1

[@chrisshaw451]

Hope you can assist with but I would like to perform this mod to one of my 1200s but do not know what I need to buy, any chance that you could list me the parts etc that I will need to buy ? Thanks.

[@Ichinin]

That looked easier than i thought it would be, cool that there are converters today for laptop drives, and at least it's on the inside. Back in 94 i had the external Zappo Overdrive connected through the PCMCIA slot (and crapload of Aminet CDs) i remember that at the end before i sold my original 1200, the IDE interface on the back of the drive was lose and got disconnected from time to time (tried connecting hard drives to it by writing mount files) and the cable in between the two was about to fall apart and i had to tape it up so the guy i sold it to would be able to use it.

[@edponpon]

5:25 - Will this all work still if you use the Ultra IDE 40 pin cable?

[@LLavery]

Another interesting video Maddi. I'm now getting seriously tempted to get myself an A1200, hehe. And I still want that Lemming cut-out.

[@bamdadkhan]

what is that song playing around 10:30? it's so awesome..

[@tabuhuso1]

You must use ASIM cdfs for play cd audio track from amiga paula chip.

[@MsMadLemon]

Thanks for the suggestion, I must try this.

[@geoffplus1254]

Hi, Great video as always been watching for a while now, but do you have a link of the Adaptor you bought for the DVD ROM does it have to be PATA to 44 IDE or can you use a SATA to 44 IDE?

[@carlcalam]

Hi, Who sells that piece of connector please so that i can connect my CF and CD rom? Thanks. Keep up with the good work.

[@MsMadLemon]

Hi, a couple of the Amiga stores sell them, you're referring to the 4 way buffered interface: amigastore.eu/en/129-4xeide-99-interface.html

[@EduArana]

Great video. The composite and presentation is great too

[@MsMadLemon]

Thank you Edu!

[@MagicFerret69]

Could you put a link to where you got the pats to use converter? I can’t find the one you have. With the four pin floppy for power. Thanks

[@kulamario2]

Where u buy this adapter for cd drive ? All what I find is 7+15 SATA to IDE

[@MsMadLemon]

This is where I got the adapter from: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Laptop-Slimline-CD-DVD-to-IDE-Adaptor-UK-Seller/300337874711?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

[@onlineamiga]

Yes, next project. Put your Amiga online! Very easy to get PCMCIA wireless card and use MiamiDX to connect to home wifi. Only issue I had is that I couldnt get mine to work with any encryption greater than WEP. Or if you have your router nearby then an NE2000 compatible PCMCIA Ethernet card will do the trick. Its really awesome to be able to jump on IRC and browse the net on the amiga. (tho 99.9% of websites don't disply properly now of course). Also very useful to run an FTP server on the amiga and use it to transfer files to and from. Or run Samba and map network drives to/from the PC.

[@MsMadLemon]

That would be cool, I mean I have thought about connecting the Amiga to the wifi not for the internet but more for file transfer as now I use a CF card via the PCMCIA. Hmm you can only get WEP? I never thought about this issue until now. Still i'm curious to try.

[@onlineamiga]

Yeah youre way smarter than me, so might find a solution to get WPA working. But the driver I had for my wifi card would only support WEP. I did a messy workaround by hooking a second Wifi access point up to my main router with WEP encryption and only switch it on when i had the amiga on, and have it authenticate with that. It worked though :) I used to use the Amiga exclusively on the internet back in the day. So getting mine online was more of a trip of nostalgia especially with AmIRC and downloading from Aminet is of course still possible which is useful! Really powerful Amiga (060 and gfx cards) can use Netsurf browser which has a lot more compatability with modern websites than any classic amiga browsers have. But sadly ibrowse, voyager & aweb are pretty useless by todays standards!

[@GadgetUK164]

The easy way to get around this is to connect the Amiga via RJ45 to a router that has wireless connectivity - perhaps even its own dedicated repeater or something. Then it doesn't matter about WEP since all modern routers will do WPA. Although an adapter like this hogs your CF slot :P amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=116

[@MsMadLemon]

Actually, thats a point, what is the best browser for something like mine? ACA 030 (no graphics card) is ibrowse the best one (to browse these magazine CDs) or is there a better? Amiga and internet/browsing is completely new to me.

[@onlineamiga]

Probably Ibrowse or Voyager I would say. Its what I used on the internet back in the day. But they're not going to browse many websites properly today with lack of css support. Ive ran Netsurf on emulated amigas but it'll probably be too painfully slow on an 030. I just use Ibrowse on my own real Amiga 030

[@Capturing-Memories]

You probably need an audio card D/A in the Amiga for the CD audio to work.

[@GregDaniel78]

Awesome! I cannot tell you how much I paid for my external SCSI cd drive for my A1200! It came with a rubbish phono splitter and basically put two L&R inputs together before outputting to the hifi!

[@MsMadLemon]

I ALWAYS used to dream about the external SCSI CD drives and zip drives back in the day haha what I wanted most always was a Squirrel SCSI interface. They were always expensive as you say. Once I got my Amiga towered, I went all IDE on it, CD drives and zip drives!

[@AttilaTheHun333333]

Hi Maddi! I'm no Amiga expert, but you basically need the audio out on the CD-Rom drive because the Amiga doesn't have a digital analog converter for CD-Audio aka CDDA. Drives with an analog audio output simply have the digital to analog chip inside the drive, so they do the converting work beforehand. Unfortunately a lot of these slim style CD/DVD drives won't have analog audio outs. BTW...The fourth pin on those cables was the digital audio out, which one could adapt to a chinch cable and connect to the coaxial digital input of an audio device like an AVR or something. As of my knowledge there was an experimental Amiga program to decode CD audio by software, but it was extremely laggy and had bad audio quality to say the least...the Amiga cpu was simply not up to the task.

[@MsMadLemon]

Yes you're right, I managed to find and order another adapter board which has the analogue output option on it, so continuing with that :o)

[@RetroBoxRoom]

Interesting video(s) that at least proves it's possible. I'm wanting to install an external CD/DVD drive on my Amiga 1200. Sadly I don't understand enough about the drivers. I get as setting up my SD card and PCMCIA card, but then everything screws up when trying to access my DVD drive.

[@scapeyblah4367]

Hi, i have been pondering over doing this very same mod, however i can`t seem to find the correct converter for the pata to ide adaptor, would you be able to send me in the right direction with a link maybe where i can get one, many thanks in advance :)

[@MsMadLemon]

Sure :o) I hope this helps: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Laptop-Slimline-CD-DVD-to-IDE-Adaptor-UK-Seller/300337874711?hash=item45ed884717:g:lUQAAOxyiBpSKN9x

[@scapeyblah4367]

It sure does, many thanks for your help and as always a pleasure :)

[@discoHR]

Both your SanDisk and CD drive were shown as they support PIO4 but you're using PIO0 (slowest). Is it possible to change them to a faster PIO? Would that make sense on Amiga? How fast is EIDE'99? Please benchmark your SanDisk in the next part. I'm using PATA SSD connected to original IDE port (very slow, about 2 MB/s) and am thinking about getting the EIDE'99 which could speed things up.

[@MsMadLemon]

You're right! I just watched it again and noticed now. I just glazed over it haha, I could try that actually and see what happens. Sysinfo would show the benchmark info for the CF card? If not which program would I use?

[@discoHR]

Sysinfo is fine but people say EIDE'99 doesn't increase the speed at all so you should get around 2 MB/s if that's true.

[@MsMadLemon]

That's interesting, it's worth a shot and i'll show sysinfo next time too. However i'm very curious about what pops up at 11:50 that it can perform faster with FastATA MK IV CF/SATA controller.

[@discoHR]

FastATA is the one that boosts the speed. I always mix those two. EIDE'99 is just a buffering interface which supports longer IDE cables and, obivously, more devices connected at the same time.

[@Darryl603]

You have a ribbon cable with a primary and secondary connector on it. Could you just use that and eliminate the PCB? Try a desktop cd rom. ait should have a two wire connector on the back for audio. Thanks for sharing : )

[@MsMadLemon]

It's because on Amigas, (unless it's an Amiga 4000) you need a buffered interface, to connect more than one device (or if you want to use long cables). I assume the IDE port was designed for 1 single hard drive to be used only. Adding more than one device without the PCB circuitry can apparently damage the IDE port. And my pleasure :o)

[@ThePeter7071]

Very nice video.Looking forward to part 2 and what adapter you are going to use for the audio.I have an IDE drive like the one you show in the video and was wondering how to connect it to the Amiga.Hopefully not too long until we find out. Thanks for the video.

[@fourbypete]

Does anyone know if this will work with a laptop slim sata to ide converter?

[@MsMadLemon]

As far as I know it will as its standard IDE, however make sure the converter has audio support and has separate connections for audio.

[@fourbypete]

@@MsMadLemon I'll have to solder some wires to the Audio port as the cd rom only has an internal connector and the slim serial port for connections.

[@scothohl4586]

I guess using a plug and play external CD ROM would not work? The issue I have with many of the newer laptop optical drives is no room for CD'S that have the stick on labels. Not enough clearance inside them. Love your laugh! 😄

[@MsMadLemon]

Hahah :oD I'm figuring if you have the rapid road USB add-on for the A1200 then yes you could :o) .. or if you wanna do it oldschool way, a squirrel SCSI interface with an external CD-ROM drive (expensive though)

[@LemonTubeAmiga]

I've been staying up late as well, perhaps in the winter time its good to get up later and tinker with things until late at night. :) Its so hard to break off and do something else when its a computer matter, especially an Amiga matter, because you cant sleep unless you know its all set up and running. Its like magic, the closer you get to making it work, the more exciting it gets. Very interesting you have a few original CDs. I bought a CD drive just because Amiga Format and C.U Amiga Magazine decided to give away a vast library with each issue (in the days before the web as we know it today), and this was like an Aminet of content every month. :) Very much looking forward to seeing how you cut the case without leaving marks. btw, any progress with Rick 2? :) We'd love to see more newbies join round one. :)

[@MsMadLemon]

I've always been curious about Amiga and CD, i'm glad I got one back then and lived the later AF cover CD issues (Not sure where most of my magazines went from back then) but the CDs I still have thankfully :o) Yes, I remember the Aminet CDs and the Weird science ones too! I never got one of those though they seemed interesting, especially the sound and music one. Oh i'm working on Rick 2 :o) it was actually going to be wednesday's Nostalgia time but my computer decided to go funny on me, it stopped booting after an update, at one point I thought I had lost everything (backups became corrupted) which made me spend the entire day and night trying to get it up and running (Thankfully the backup worked and i've made more) ALL IS FINE! Phew!!! Not to mention I was ill and feverish at the same time and kept having to rest. Wednesday and half of Thursday were just pure nasty! Rick 2 be coming soon! :o)

[@LemonTubeAmiga]

I can remember I had the CDPD vol 1, Weird Science "Sounds Terrific" vol 1 and 2, and the 17bit Collection for the CDTV. Most of the others were cover mag CDs, but I know I cant remember the half of them I had now. Maybe I have a list somewhere... Sorry to hear you have been fighting germs from the winter hibernation, but hopefully you are now well. Really happy to hear to still want to play games with us. Sometimes the computer (or the brain) refuses to work at just the wrong moments, and I cannot rest until its all running and happy again. Today it would not find any of my microphones, so I had to 'load last setup which worked' from the F8 windows boot options to restore my previous settings. I dont allow windows updates as most of the time a friend gets Mac updates, he says its ruined something on his machines, so I use an old SP0 version of win 7, stripped down to run as fast as possible. I hate the super slow operating systems of today, and prefer the days when Workbench came on one 880k disk, and the system rebooted in about 3 seconds.

[@GadgetUK164]

Great =D I thought about doing this but not sure I would use the CD enough to justify it. I would also be tempted to mount the drive external to the 1200 - just so you don't have to damage the original case etc. I think one of the problems when trying to play CD32 games is there's a missing Akiko chip that the CD32 had which the 1200 doesn't. That said, I am sure lots of CD32 games probably don't use Akiko and they will probably work OK? Maybe there's even a way to emulate Akiko in a 1200 - no idea? A fun and interesting video though =D

[@MsMadLemon]

Yes I was thinking about mounting the drive externally, it was so hard to cut that case! :o) But I have done this before on a previous Amiga and kinda liked it. I have quite a few magazine cover CDs, a few CD32 games and a cake full of CD and DVD R discs with stuff on them so I guess I can justify it personally. The original software i had which came with the buffered interface (IDEfix97) came with a CD32 emulator, I managed to run the few discs I have. Haha nice memories of Beneath a steel sky with vocals :oD I may have to dig out IDEfix97 just to get the emulator or find another, it didnt seem to come with Allegro CDFS

[@104d_3rr0r_vince]

GadgetUK164 You just need a 2.5 to 3.5 cable. Better make one. You also must not connect the 4 upper pins on amigas ide. Connect to the middle one you master hdd and at the end of the cable your slave dvd. New dvds have enough buffer to burn without errors and achieve good speeds on a 030 amiga without buffered ide devices.

[@GadgetUK164]

You can play Beneath a Steel Sky CD32 version with the vocals straight from your HDD with WHDLoad! If you want I can zip up the WHDLOAD collection for you. Just let me know.

[@MsMadLemon]

Thanks :o) Yes I have the WHDLoad of Beneath a Steel Sky but it takes literally about half an hour to load? Either that or i'm doing something wrong. I have the WHDload though i'm not sure if it's the latest one or where to get that.

[@104d_3rr0r_vince]

Ms Mad Lemon if you have enough ram you can enable preload option from icon's tooltypes.

[@nathanaelmaillard3805]

Hey. Good job for all your videos. I learned a lot from you. Kisses from France

[@electronscape]

where did you get the CDROM drive controller board from?

[@MsMadLemon]

IDE buffered interface, You can get it from Amigakit. amigakit.amiga.store/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=532

[@ojbeez5260]

You should get a gotekmount from riscman!! ... riscman on ebay does an awesome switch and bracket for DF1 / DF0 selection. Also, amazing gotek mounts and other 3D printed parts such as an awesome mount for Compact Flash cards both internal and external. All non-destructive case parts -Amazing stuff!!! You can see the LCD really easily with his mounts...perfect!!! And it looks really cool!! check out the Mk3 3D printed gotek mount...amazing!!

[@konsolendoc]

Cool Video

[@robbieaussievic]

........ You must be a CYBORG ! (Industrial knife built in to the tip of your thumb). It beats Dave Jones knife.

[@MsMadLemon]

Hahah girly nails always come in handy ;o))

[@sircompo]

Thumbs up for the EEVBlog reference!

[@FranciszekF1]

Bardzo fajna przejsciowka . Trzeba kupic ;)

[@majorgify]

Another great video Maddi. You have excellent presentation skills and always add some humour. Do you ever sleep? :-)

[@MsMadLemon]

Thank you! and I try to sleep ;o)

[@majorgify]

But you're not sleeping now.

[@majorgify]

I've just seen your photos on Flickr Maddi. Wow, you're very talented.

[@MsMadLemon]

I know, i'm not sleeping, beacuse i'm doing something or other ;o) And thank you! i'm glad you enjoyed the photos.

[@majorgify]

I can fully understand you Maddi. There are times when you either want to complete something even though it's late, or you suddenly get inspiration in the middle of the night and know that if you don't get up and do the task, you won't sleep anyway. I hope you slept well.

[@Vanni_stelrooij]

link for buy please...

[@MsMadLemon]

You can get the buffered interface here: amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=194

[@studiokadaver]

Don't feel bad my A600 isn't properly screwed together either.

[@MsMadLemon]

Haha i'm glad i'm not the only one :o))

[@MaurizioCasolari]

nice demonstration :)

[@DrVektor]

where is your tea? with curved glass? 🙂

[@TYNEPUNK]

awesome vid, yes ben vost :)

[@MsMadLemon]

Thanks Gareth :o)

[@GPeter7]

I like your videos about Amiga, I'm also in repair & mods, I just finished to mod my Amiga 1200 if you interesting here is a video @

[@ozantek1900]

i like your videos Ms. Madi ;)

[@41stetson]

Awesome 👏

[@wimwiddershins]

Sleepy drunk.

[@kuyutemelkuyutemel9699]

Mis halo

[@RetroHawk]

Your such a butcher and a pirate :P tut tut

[@MsMadLemon]

You're a crouton :op

[@RetroHawk]

Lol amiga chop shop innit ;)

[@marecheck9603]

Nice movie - Regards from Poland ! Sub added ! Look at me sometimes;)

[@KRAFTWERK2K6]

You need more sleep, Maddi x3

[@MsMadLemon]

Tell me about it! I need to chill :o)