Hey, I'm Spanish too, where did you found this?

I have a similar adapter, but for the SCSI bus, and it does the job quite nicely on an older Apple computer and a Kurzweil K2500 keyboard.

Scylla wrote:

Hey, I'm Spanish too, where did you found this?

I have a similar adapter, but for the SCSI bus, and it does the job quite nicely on an older Apple computer and a Kurzweil K2500 keyboard.

I sent you a PM.

I use these CF adapter at the rear of the computer. They are also quite cheaper.

I have seen black front adapters for around 30-40 on eBay, but nothing in white. I do remember seeing white ones for the Amiga, so maybe do a search for that.

If you really want to go the PCMCIA route, it may be better to go with a full ISA->PCMCIA or PCI->Cardbus adapter anyway. Those usually cost about the same (maybe even less since they're a bit more common), and that way you could use any PCMCIA devices like wireless cards and such too, rather than being limited only to memory cards.

Old Thrashbarg wrote:

If you really want to go the PCMCIA route, it may be better to go with a full ISA->PCMCIA or PCI->Cardbus adapter anyway. Those usually cost about the same (maybe even less since they're a bit more common), and that way you could use any PCMCIA devices like wireless cards and such too, rather than being limited only to memory cards.

Yeah, but I read somewhere that the PCMIA route cannot boot from DOS. IS that correct? That drivers for DOS are quite difficult to find.

I work strictly in DOS....

Just got this for the 486 today. It is supossed to work both in Windows and Ms-DOS, it allows Hot Swap and can also boot in DOS.
It has 2 slots in the front: PCMCIA-ATA compatible with type I/II/III + HDD ATA.
I need some help because I'm completely lost here.
Where should I plug this?

a) as slave in the same IDE as the CD-Rom
b) as slave in the same IDE as the HDD

Also I guess I will need the DOS drivers for it? The hardware came with a CD with only Win98/ME and Win2000/XP drivers. From what I read in the hardware specs it supports DOS + booting. Any ideas?

To my beliefs you need to run this card on a single ATA cable without hdd or CDdrive attached, as this card uses both master and slave data from the cable when using the both the CF slots that is.
One CF card will turn the master and the other slave and vice versa when you jumper it around, you can easily change the master slave config and or CF boot drive.

So you are limited i think, if you were to connect it to a hdd, be aware it might corrupt your hdd and or CF partition.
If data loss is no issue please play around. 😀

The CF cards support 16bit ATA interface, so both CF's are tied with this card to the ATA bus by some buffers that protect the io voltage difference, but since CF can use 3.3v or 5v signals this would not be an real issue.
The bios might give you a hard time using the CF's the right way and or in the right PIO or UDMA speed config, CHS setting might be off., or use a add on IDE pci card.
You should have bought the scsi version if there is one.

JaNoZ wrote:

To my beliefs you need to run this card on a single ATA cable without hdd or CDdrive attached, as this card uses both master and […]
Show full quote

To my beliefs you need to run this card on a single ATA cable without hdd or CDdrive attached, as this card uses both master and slave data from the cable when using the both the CF slots that is.
One CF card will turn the master and the other slave and vice versa when you jumper it around, you can easily change the master slave config and or CF boot drive.

So you are limited i think, if you were to connect it to a hdd, be aware it might corrupt your hdd and or CF partition.
If data loss is no issue please play around. 😀

ummmm...so would it be possible to connect the cd-rom to the soundblaster instead of the board IDE so I have an empty spot?

Sure the SB IDE port has different ATA setting (IRQ wise) and you could easily use it for the CD drive data. if you can still use the SB port without conflicting with any other irq (is the SB a shitty PNP?)
Maybe the cddrive it wil turn out a tiny bit slower than any other pci ide interface with throughput wise.

You can try if it works, together with slave CDdrive, but i think none will be showing up, or weird things will happen.
Or you could use just one CF card as master and use the CDDrive as slave.
If you intend to use use both CF slots, than the other device attached to the ata cable would have to be exiled.

In case of hdd on the slave port probably your partition data would be F@$ked up CHS wise and the fat table to be miswritten (just like two same configured master or slave drives on one ATA port). if you use win95 or later strange things happen.
Dos would probably be ok to try to boot, unless you start writing/changing data to you drive.
But probably it would not see any of the slave CD/HDD mixed with CF drive at startup.

JaNoZ wrote:

Sure the SB IDE port has different ATA setting and you could easily use it for the CD drive data. Maybe a tiny bit slower than a […]
Show full quote

Sure the SB IDE port has different ATA setting and you could easily use it for the CD drive data.
Maybe a tiny bit slower than any other pci ide interface with throughput.

You can try if it works, together with slave CDdrive, but i think none will be showing up, or weird things will happen.
Or you could use just one CF card as master and use the CDDrive as slave.
If you intend to use use both CF slots, than the other device attached to the ata cable would have to be exiled.

In case of hdd on the slave port probably your partition data would be F@$ked up CHS wise and the fat table to be miswritten (just like two same configured master or slave drives on one ATA port). if you use win95 or later strange things happen.
Dos would probably be ok to try to boot, unless you start writing/changing data to you drive.
But probably it would not see any of the slave CD/HDD mixed with CF drive at startup.

wow..I'm quite confused now...your information is very clear Janoz thanks a lot., It is me that doesn't understand, new concepts of old school hardware. My intention is to just use 1 CF card as a floppy disk, that is, to pass info from my daily based pc into the 486.

In any case, I do need to find drivers so device is recognized in DOS right?

I may go with the add on IDE pci card if it will make things easier. haha I'm a complete beginner on this! I thought I knew about computers + hardware now I'm realising I don't know jack shit! This is going to take me a lot of hours!

no need for drivers, just do not use a too big of a CF card, it will be detected as a normal hdd without any cache ram.
You can plug in CF, detect in bios and ready to boot.

You will have to make an active partition though, and if you need to use a multi partition, you will need to change the CF information.
Because the CF is detected as removeable instead of a fixed ide drive, you will have to make fixed CF card for multi partitions.
You can use a program ATCFWCHG.COM to change in between to set the bit wise flag for fixed type drive as industrial CF cards normally are.

JaNoZ wrote:

no need for drivers, just do not use a too big of a CF card, it will be detected as a normal hdd without any cache ram. You can […]
Show full quote

no need for drivers, just do not use a too big of a CF card, it will be detected as a normal hdd without any cache ram.
You can plug in CF, detect in bios and ready to boot.

You will have to make an active partition though, and if you need to use a multi partition, you will need to change the CF information.
Because the CF is detected as removeable instead of a fixed ide drive, you will have to make fixed CF card for multi partitions.
You can use a program ATCFWCHG.COM to change in between to set the bit wise flag for fixed type drive as industrial CF cards normally are.

I'm using a 4gb CF, I'll check if it works.
So, I can have both the HDD and the CF Device working at the same time right? HDD in C: and CF Device maybe in F: depending on the partition I make + CD-Rom running through the Add IDE-to-PCI if I understood correctly.

In the BIOS I would have too look for the CF as SLAVE DRIVE as I have the HHD in MASTER.

Yes it would work, but i would move the cd (because it is a read only device) on the cf ide cable and the hdd on the pci ide add on card (maybe even speeds thing up when changing the hdd sometime).
Otherwise you would have to make sure that when you jumper your device to pin 1 and 2 master mode that you use the right slot for this cf card you are going to use as slave if the hdd is master.
Because if you move it to the upper or lower slot for example and it would become master and you have suddenly two masters or two slaves then youre into trouble.

Better safe then sorry, or backup.

How many IDE controllers does your mobo has? Many many 486 boards with onboard controllers have two IDE channels, which means you have two IDE ports to connect a total of 4 IDE devices. even if this is not the case, you can always slap a Promise IDE PCI IDE controller on it.

This means, you can connect your HDD and CDROM to the first channel, and connect this device to the second. I'm sure it will populate both master and slave position of that channel, you cannot add anything else.

In short:

IDE controller 1: HDD master, CDROM slave
IDE controller 2: This device as both master and slave for two CF cards.

You will not need any DOS drivers, since CF(s) will be recognised as HDD(s) by the BIOS and it also will allow you to boot from it, but forget about hot swap under DOS. It will recognize it as a fixed drive of certain parameters at BIOS level during boot up, and anything else you will connect to it afterwards will cause problems.

If you have auto HDD detect function in your BIOS, let it find the parameters for your CF cards. If you will not parttion your CF card, max. size you can use for DOS will be 2GB and no more.

tayyare wrote:

How many IDE controllers does your mobo has? Many many 486 boards with onboard controllers have two IDE channels, which means yo […]
Show full quote

How many IDE controllers does your mobo has? Many many 486 boards with onboard controllers have two IDE channels, which means you have two IDE ports to connect a total of 4 IDE devices. even if this is not the case, you can always slap a Promise IDE PCI IDE controller on it.

This means, you can connect your HDD and CDROM to the first channel, and connect this device to the second. I2m sure it will populate both master and slave position of that channel, you cannot add anything else.

In short:

IDE controller 1: HDD master, CDROM slave
IDE controller 2: This device as both master and slave for two CF cards.

You will not need any DOS drivers, since CF(s) will be recognised as HDD(s) by the BIOS and it also will allow you to boot from it.,but forget about hot swap under DOS. It will recognize it as a fixed drive of certain parameters at BIOS level during boot up, and anything else you will connect to it afterwards will cause problems.

If you have auto HDD detect function in your BIOS, let it find the parameters for your CF cards. If you will not parttion your CF card, max. size you can use for DOS will be 2GB and no more.

Teşekkürler tayyare for your answer. Yes the mobo has two IDE channels. I will try what you said! I have to wait for a 4gb CF card to arrive though.

No problem at all, but 4GB is 2GB more than any version of DOS will rightfully read (except 7.1, ie. w98 DOS)

You either need to buy a 2GB one (actually two, since your card reader has two slots and will occupy the second channel in anycase, even if you will have only one CF) or need to partition that 4GB you are expecting.

I would prefer 2pcs. of 2GB.

By the way, I appreciate your thanks to me in my native language,and I really amazed that you can manage to type it with proper "ş" and "ü", too... 🤣

tayyare wrote:

By the way, I appreciate your thanks to me in my native language,and I really amazed that you can manage to type it with proper "ş" and "ü", too... 🤣

Yes hehe, google makes magic- No for real, I have a friend that just came from Turkey has he is completely in love with Estambul.
He listens roman havasi music all day long! Even trying to dance it!

i have bought some of these
http://www.ebay.nl/itm/170715265801?ssPageNam … 984.m1423.l2649

and
http://www.ebay.nl/itm/180700617340?ssPageNam … 984.m1423.l2649

they are single cf slot, but i soldered spare cf socket on the back because the traces for secondary cf slot are there, then then both can be switched between master slave just like your device, bover some ata controllers do not correctly detect the cf device size and or speed settings, but this also depends on the cf cards themselves.
i have an 8 an a 16 gb cf card running udma4 😀

they support cf capable of udma.
if i were you id trow in a udma capable ata controller and some udma capable cf cards together with your cf slots bay thingy.
btw these cf cards are not designed for hotswap when directly tied to the ata bus, it will hang your system or kill your ata channel.
but your have buffers in between so your relatively safe.

i you are only wanting to use the older dos and fat16 you can still partition several 2gb partitions onto a bigger 4g or more drive.

JaNoZ wrote:

if you are only wanting to use the older dos and fat16 you can still partition several 2gb partitions onto a bigger 4g or more drive.

Great buy Janoz. I was going to buy one of those as well- but I wanted one with the 3.5 bay case to fill in the gap I had in the front.

So, does UDMA speed up things a lot? What is your system specs Janoz? Not all motherboards support UDMA do they?

And yes Janoz, I'm just planning on using it in a DOS 6.22 environment. No Windows in my system! Maybe 3.3 but just because of games.

I don't know if my bios can handle 2gb though or if it has the 500mb limit! I'll have to check.
If not, I may have to figure out all the Xtide Bios bussiness.