Making & Using a BlueSCSI v2

[@RetronautTech]

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[@helfire23]

Hi- Eric from the BlueSCSI project - thanks for taking the time to share your experiences using BlueSCSI! A lot of Amiga work has gone in lately - namely a WiFi network driver and soon some native Amiga apps to help you interact with your BlueSCSI. Disk Jockey just had a release today with a bunch of Amiga goodies in it as well. Quick note is that the headers have a short side - if you install them down and long up it'll fit in the case.

[@RetronautTech]

Wow, the WIFI network driver will be an amazing addition, its not something I covered in my videos to date (lack of support on THOSE the videos subject) but its a great feature of the BSv2, its potential to provide a WIFI network connection. Very welcome news :) It's a great project Eric, but certainly more tools on the Amiga front would be welcome. I love retro Macs as well, but of course big box Amiga's and even side-car equipped ones, like my A500 sport SCSI adapters. I find the BlueSCSI v2 very easy to use, once you get used to the flow. But some native apps would be amazing. Ill bear in mind the jumper direction tip, for future projects!

[@symosys]

Where in the UK can we get the BlueSCSI external SCSI assembled with the case?

[@markvandesande8855]

Sir, your technique of transfer soldering is not correct. You would get the correct strength of the solder joint from heating the pin, then feeding the solder joint with solder. With new electronics or through hole, flux in the solder should be sufficient. Also, yes, there is flux Inside the solder. Sometimes use extra expensive flux is a false economy.Generally i only use flux to finish or on old electronics or for surface mount components.Just a side note the extra long legs on the raspberry pi can be cut with a good set of side cutters.This is from a 35 year plus electronic technician.😮

[@dh2032]

but if your a non soldering sort of person, heating pin is recipe desaster, the there a lot plastic on the pins, warm/melting, going to be one long problem, if you are going pick holes, and for beginner, and not the best place to start, the PICO is a surface mount part, stand off are not needed , just place PICO on the main board lining up the pins hole (there not called that, something else), and solder away along the edges as you do!, not not easy to-do some skilled needed, assuming that why it not explored in this video?

[@zvpunry1971]

Don't put solder on the soldering iron to move it to the pin. Think of the solder on the soldering iron as a "thermal paste" to close the gap between the tip of the soldering iron and the pin and pad on the board. Then move the solder from the opposite side to the gap between pad/hole and the pin. Then the flux that is inside the solder is enough, no additional flux needed. This also doesn't waste energy, if you do it often you will get a feeling for it and you can just drag the tip along the pads and pins and the solder from the other side. There is then also no need to clean excessive flux. The wrong method shown here causes the flux that is in the solder to just burn up, the solder then oxidizes and won't flow without additional flux. Also 400°C is probably way too hot or the soldering iron isn't calibrated. At 400°C you can expect flux to burn away really fast. I usually use 250°C to 300°C depending on the solder. And stay away from cheap noname solder, stay with reputable brands. Melting points and the internal flux depend on the alloy, old Sn Pb based solder usually melts at 180°C and has a fairly mild flux and give shiny solder joints. Old lead-free usually melts above 230°C and has a very aggressive flux and produces dull grey solder joints, which can easily be confused with cold solder joints. Newer lead-free solder melts around 220° and there are even low-temperature lead-free options with melting points comparable to those of lead-based solder or even way below. Chip Quick's original product (at least what I know them for) is a solder with the same name, it is bismuth-based and its melting point is so low that it can be used to desolder components by just adding it and heat it up.

[@markbrown8097]

I've always used Flux on the joints as well as Flux core solder. Usually pre-tin the components also. Using his method could lead to "cold" solder joints. It's better to heat the joint with the iron on one side and feed the solder in from the other. The solder should flow on the heated components, not hopefully to them causing gaps and voids where the oxidation and other impurities don't allow for proper bonding between the metals.

[@RetronautTech]

I must admit, this was an experiment, I am aware of the method you outline above. On this occasion, no issues, both cards work, both run cool, and the internal card has pretty much zero stress. The external device however, WILL be plugged in over and over, so lets see how that goes. For now, it works... However, I'm not saying its a textbook method. In terms of solder, I'm using some that came with an old iron, as its thin. I do have some I bought, but its much thicker. I'm no expert on soldering, learning as I go along, and any and all advice welcome ;)

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

what about using a SCSILVD to SATA adapter then you can connect them to the Motherboard of your computer

[@RetronautTech]

What would be the advantage of this. Bear in mind, for 1980s retro computers, anything of massive capacity is massive overkill? Willing to hear more...

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

@@RetronautTech You would be able to use a 256GB CRUCIAL SSD.

[@RetronautTech]

@@DAVIDGREGORYKERR Yes, but for an Amiga 500 thats a bit overkill. There is a game collection for Amiga called WHDLoad, which includes games from the 1990s which an A500 CANNOT run. Even if you installed EVERY game it could run, then it would probably only take 32GB of disk space. File sizes back then were based on floppy disk use, so its only when you want to host say CD-Rom images that you would need 32GB+ hard disks. Still, its an option. I used SATA to IDE on my IBM PC Ergo Pro, and perf on that was very good. But this was a Win98 machine, so I would maybe reserver SATA drive use for those machines. But you can of course use SATA to IDE on an Amiga 600, 1200 and 4000 if you wished.

[@j.tann1970]

Your soldering method is dodgy! You said it yourself that you are not heating the pin very much. That means the solder will not go into the hole properly which can cause dry joints later down the road. It's better to heat the pin from one side a bit then introduce the solder on the opposite side. The solder you are using already has flux in the core so the syringe of flux is not needed. It takes practise to get used to putting the right amount onto the pin and not holding the iron on it too long or it will melt the plastic the pin is in, though that does have high heat tolerance, but not sustained.

[@kane587mad]

That's some really bad 3d print quality.

[@TheLemminkainen]

GVP Impact II HD8+ is SCSI2 unit 3.52mb sec but 68000 will slow it down. Maybe you can get 2mb-3mb with ASYNCHRONOUS DATA. I got 1mb with SCSI2SD v5

[@mikedefoy]

You might try a better flux/solder and a hotter iron, otherwise they won't reflow properly, resulting in those "cold" solder joints.

[@hypercube33]

Yep. The solder looks like its sitting on the joint - it should suck solder into the hole and not sit on the pin like it is.

[@RetronautTech]

BTW, if anyone is interested. It appears the driver for the WIFI on BlueSCSI v2 is already in the wild. It appears to be new, possibly a little untested, but it does seem to work. Some issues reported on the GVP SCSI controller though. I'm going to get this ASAP and give it a whirl. Expect a new video on this in the bear future!

[@hypercube33]

Wish there was a cheap open source SCSI to USB these days.

[@RetronautTech]

USB to SCSI? not sure how that would work, there is logic specific to the SCSI standard, and it can handle 6 devices or so, so, all of those devices data would have to go down a single serial connection. I guess someone could make one. But would it be cheap?

[@hypercube33]

They exist(ed) for a while in the early 2000's or late 1990s for scanners and printers and other stuff. They go for like $400 on ebay. There is also SCSI over USB protocols so its not a huge stretch for even modern SAS stuff - but in my case, I wanted to hook up an old scanner that still works fine for what its designed for. Instead, I keep an old Windows 2000 pc around to run an adaptec card.@@RetronautTech

[@hypercube33]

Also you have the right method down, but you want to use more solder vs having a blob on the iron since if its not heated it'll still pull in since there is solder mask and flux in play. For anyone watching, there are awesome USB-C irons out there that probably outperform any station I've used --TS-80p@@RetronautTech

[@tenminutetokyo2643]

Adaptec!

[@RetronautTech]

Adaptec, where? On a PC? If so, yes, indeed. In this video, kzbin.info/www/bejne/rKrMnquVabyieck, I go over putting an Adaptec SCSI controller in my Ergo Pro Win98 PC...