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MicroProject - MicroSD to LPT Printer Port

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First post, by matze79

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Hi,

i made a little Adapter allowing connection of a microsd card to the lpt printer port.

due do the fact chinese microsd modules with levelshifter are cheaper then a single mmc slot, i used a ready made module 😀

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simple single sided PCB.

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For Homemakers:

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i used this Adapter:
https://www.ebay.de/itm/5Pcs-microSD-TF-Card- … 872.m2749.l2649

Note that this is not very fast, around floppy drive speed, depending on cpu speed.

And here is Nilquaders Driver, its most stable one i found.
There is also SPPD 1.1 Driver which runs also with some SDHC. i need to swap two Pin's in Code so both drivers can be used.

Swapping MicroSD is not possible without powercycle.

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Thanks

Matthias

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  • Filename
    dos_093.zip
    File size
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    Downloads
    223 downloads
    File comment
    Nilquader Driver - for Schneider Euro PC and PC XT/AT (Only SD, no SDHC!)
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception

https://www.retroianer.de - under constructing since ever
https://shadowcircuit.de - german retro computer board

Reply 1 of 18, by root42

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What IS this? I am intrigued. But... why? I mean, ok, back in the day we used parallel port Zip drives and the like.

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Reply 2 of 18, by stamasd

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That looks like it could be useful in particular situations. Very nice, thanks for sharing!

I/O, I/O,
It's off to disk I go,
With a bit and a byte
And a read and a write,
I/O, I/O

Reply 3 of 18, by matze79

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its very handy, very small but slow.

But its much better to install borland C 3.1 from microsd instead of changing several floppys 😁
Or if you have a XT Clone with floppy only.. or a XT with 360Kb floppy and you simply want to drop some files easily.

The "Nilquader " Driver needs only ~1,5k RAM and implents SPI in Software on LPT.

https://www.retroianer.de - under constructing since ever
https://shadowcircuit.de - german retro computer board

Reply 4 of 18, by Jo22

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Very nice! 😁 say, does it work with normal " full size" SD cards, too ?

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

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Reply 6 of 18, by matze79

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And now ? this driver will not work with this adapter unless its modified and pin's are matched in sourcecode.
Also it's a outdated version.

https://www.retroianer.de - under constructing since ever
https://shadowcircuit.de - german retro computer board

Reply 7 of 18, by matze79

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Jo22 wrote:

Very nice! 😁 say, does it work with normal " full size" SD cards, too ?

Yes if you add a normal sized shield, maybe connectors for different SD Shields can be added to the breakout PCB.

But not all cards won't work 😀

https://www.retroianer.de - under constructing since ever
https://shadowcircuit.de - german retro computer board

Reply 8 of 18, by Jo22

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Thanks for the info! 😀

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 9 of 18, by mcobit

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Also worth noting:
Not every sdcard module has a voltage regulator on board. Even if it might work without: a levelshifter on the datalines would also be recommended if not on the module. SD Cards work on 3.3V

Reply 10 of 18, by mcobit

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Here is my ghetto breadboard version of it 😀

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Reply 11 of 18, by Jo22

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Ghetto ? Looks fine to me! 😀

derSammler wrote:

Re: A thought: SD card reader via parallel port?

Thanks!! 😁

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 12 of 18, by matze79

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sdcard_lpt_next.png
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added 3 Resistors, fixing issues with my XT Computer, (SDCard not detected) added Select Jumper for Driver.
Simply switching the Pin's inside the sdppd Driver Source did not work, don't know why, and did no further investigation.
Used a 16GB SDHC with 32Mb FAT16 Parition and SDPPD Driver v1.1 😀

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    SDPP11(1).zip
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Last edited by matze79 on 2021-10-17, 10:30. Edited 1 time in total.

https://www.retroianer.de - under constructing since ever
https://shadowcircuit.de - german retro computer board

Reply 14 of 18, by matze79

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Only 1bit is used, so don't expect wonders.
speed depends on how fast your computer can bit bang spi.

Last edited by matze79 on 2022-04-10, 19:28. Edited 1 time in total.

https://www.retroianer.de - under constructing since ever
https://shadowcircuit.de - german retro computer board

Reply 15 of 18, by .legaCy

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matze79 wrote:

Only 1bit is used, so don't expect wonders.
speed depends on how fast your computer can bit bang spi.

Maybe using some shift registers etc would allow using 4bit's 3-4 times faster.. but also needs to rewrite the driver.

What about using a microcontroller to convert the SPI to the parallel?
of course the driver would need to be rewritten.

Reply 16 of 18, by LordMortiferus

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Here are two versions of the SDLPT-adapter by matze drawn in KiCad:

SDLPT.jpg
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The contacts of SPI-reader are directly solder onto the board.

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    SDLPT.7z
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Reply 17 of 18, by Hiddenevil

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Can these be bought anywhere?

There's an old android saying which I believe is peculiarly appropriate here. In binary language it goes something like this: 001100111011000111100, which roughly translated means: "Don't stand around jabbering when you're in mortal danger!"

Reply 18 of 18, by LordMortiferus

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Sort of...
Everything you need is in the attachment above. I can add gerber and BOM as well.
I probably going to distribute my surplus PCBs and parts when I find the time and motivation for it, but that may take a while.

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