polpo wrote on 2026-02-05, 06:46:

I've had the idea in my mind to create passive plug adapters so PicoIDE could serve as an XTA hard drive or Panasonic or Mitsumi CD-ROM drive. It's certainly capable of being either one of those, just some signals need moving around. But that's one of those things I'm not going to get around to working on until after the public release, probably after I take a stab at simultaneous 2 device emulation.

The 2 device simultaneous emulation is what I am hoping for.
XTA drive support would be great as well.

There is one question that I don't immediately see answered in the FAQ or specs, unless I'm overlooking it.
That is Master/Slave/Cable Select selection.
Is it present or can the picoide only work as a single device on the ide bus ?

weedeewee wrote on 2026-02-05, 16:13:

The 2 device simultaneous emulation is what I am hoping for. XTA drive support would be great as well. […]
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polpo wrote on 2026-02-05, 06:46:

I've had the idea in my mind to create passive plug adapters so PicoIDE could serve as an XTA hard drive or Panasonic or Mitsumi CD-ROM drive. It's certainly capable of being either one of those, just some signals need moving around. But that's one of those things I'm not going to get around to working on until after the public release, probably after I take a stab at simultaneous 2 device emulation.

The 2 device simultaneous emulation is what I am hoping for.
XTA drive support would be great as well.

There is one question that I don't immediately see answered in the FAQ or specs, unless I'm overlooking it.
That is Master/Slave/Cable Select selection.
Is it present or can the picoide only work as a single device on the ide bus ?

There's a jumper block with positions for M/S/CS: https://picoide.com/docs/getting-started/#jum … r-configuration
Once 2-device mode is implemented, the idea is that you just leave the jumper off when you use that mode.

polpo wrote on 2026-02-05, 16:16:

weedeewee wrote on 2026-02-05, 16:13:

The 2 device simultaneous emulation is what I am hoping for. XTA drive support would be great as well. […]
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polpo wrote on 2026-02-05, 06:46:

I've had the idea in my mind to create passive plug adapters so PicoIDE could serve as an XTA hard drive or Panasonic or Mitsumi CD-ROM drive. It's certainly capable of being either one of those, just some signals need moving around. But that's one of those things I'm not going to get around to working on until after the public release, probably after I take a stab at simultaneous 2 device emulation.

The 2 device simultaneous emulation is what I am hoping for.
XTA drive support would be great as well.

There is one question that I don't immediately see answered in the FAQ or specs, unless I'm overlooking it.
That is Master/Slave/Cable Select selection.
Is it present or can the picoide only work as a single device on the ide bus ?

There's a jumper block with positions for M/S/CS: https://picoide.com/docs/getting-started/#jum … r-configuration
Once 2-device mode is implemented, the idea is that you just leave the jumper off when you use that mode.

Thanks .
That's great !

Oh, that is a really smart implementation. Thanks for that!

polpo wrote on 2026-02-05, 06:44:

Whether IORDY is asserted or not doesn't have to do with SD card access. PicoIDE de-asserts IORDY while the host reads the vario […]
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douglar wrote on 2026-02-01, 13:57:

Is PicoIDE going to assert and de-assert IORDY or assume it is always fast enough? PicoIDE actively asserts and de-asserts IORDY […]
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Is PicoIDE going to assert and de-assert IORDY or assume it is always fast enough?
PicoIDE actively asserts and de-asserts IORDY to safely handle SD card latency and buffering. It does not assume it can always meet fixed PIO4 timing without wait states. IORDY can be disabled in the config file.

What are the fastest idle/active/hold/recovery times that you expect to handle?
PicoIDE is designed to do a 70 ns strobe active time and a 120 ns minimum cycle time. It does not attempt to support faster-than-spec or overclocked host timings.

Whether IORDY is asserted or not doesn't have to do with SD card access. PicoIDE de-asserts IORDY while the host reads the various status registers, etc., but because of DMA between the sector buffer and the IDE data pins it's fast enough that it does not need to deassert IORDY during reads/writes from the data register or when doing MWDMA. For example from /IOR assert the PicoIDE has the data ready on the pins in about 20 ns, so it's quite a bit faster than the 50ns required in the spec for PIO mode 4/MWDMA mode 2. Reads are accelerated because while data is being transferred to the host, the PicoIDE CPU is free to read the next sector from the SD card, so SD access is not a bottleneck for sequential reads.

douglar wrote on 2026-02-01, 13:57:

Can the end user change what is reported in ATA IDENTIFY DEVICE or SET FEATURES?
The config file lets you set PIO and MWDMA advertisement and IORDY . I don't see any setting that let me change the ATA device name without compiling my own firmware.

I haven't implemented changing the ATA device name or other IDENTIFY responses in picoide.ini yet, but I plan to by the initial public firmware release. It's one of those things that are simple enough that I haven't gotten around to it yet because I'm busy fixing hairier problems.

Thanks for the clarification. That should be fast enough for quality PIO4 if my 486 boards can keep up.
Can't wait to test the PicoIDE against all my VLB IDE cards and send you annoying reports--
And I can't wait to put put goofy names in the ATA Model Number field.

Phil got his intro video up today for the PicoIDE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNv3sf-rCAM

And when someone says "Harrier" problems, I think "round shadows" for some reason.

Can I use a 80 wire IDE cable with this as most rounded cables are 80 wire?

Doombringer4u2nv wrote on 2026-02-06, 13:42:

Can I use a 80 wire IDE cable with this as most rounded cables are 80 wire?

I don't see why that would be a problem. I can't recall ever crossing paths with a drive < ATA3 that had a problem with 80 conductor cables.

Yep, 80 wire IDE cables work fine and cable select works with them.

NeoG_ wrote on 2026-02-03, 03:58:

weedeewee wrote on 2026-02-01, 13:46:

Welp. Just noticed crowdsupply only accepts payment via credit card. I don't have a credit card. 😒

I thought similar to Australia, most banks in EU have a visa debit or mastercard debit facility attached directly to the bank account

Have you used it like that ?
It specifically mentions credit card information.
I've tried it before on other sites but that never worked for me.

weedeewee wrote on 2026-02-07, 09:52:

Have you used it like that ?
It specifically mentions credit card information.
I've tried it before on other sites but that never worked for me.

Maybe it's different, yes here if you have a bank card with visa or mastercard logo it works anywhere credit cards work and debits directly from the bank account without credit facility

I purchased my PicoGUS, WP32 McCake and Hayes 1200 conversion board from serdashop and tindie using my bank card with mastercard debit

Will the PicoIDE support XA/Mode 2 CD-ROM images?

I love my PicoGUS and have backed a PicoIDE as well, but I'm really hoping these images are supported. Many FMV and point and click games used these types of CDs and I'd love to have access to them in pure dos.

zipxavier wrote on 2026-02-07, 18:11:

Will the PicoIDE support XA/Mode 2 CD-ROM images?

I love my PicoGUS and have backed a PicoIDE as well, but I'm really hoping these images are supported. Many FMV and point and click games used these types of CDs and I'd love to have access to them in pure dos.

Mode 2 or XA Form 1 images are supported fine. I've parsed every single cuesheet in Redump for PC games and all are compatible with PicoIDE's cue sheet parser and image loader. Mode 2 sectors in XA Form 2 or CDI formats are not supported but not a single PC game used that format.

After a little work this weekend, Mode 2 XA Form 2 is now working. VCDs for example now work.

This is great news! I can't wait to get my PicoIDE. Will these features make their way back to PicoGUS in the future? I've been using it for CD iso mounting in DOS and love it.