The
SIO2IDE is a sio device that can mount up to 8 drives with atr file. SIO2IDE
has very good built in configuration software. Can
Mount
IDE
Drives, IDE to Compact Flash, and ISO9660 CD-ROMs. SIO2IDE can be configured
in a master Slave configuration. Two SIO2IDE can run on one Atari 8-Bit. It
has two really neat features; a swap out drive can be configured. If SIO2IDE
is equipped with an optional chip a jumper or switch can swapped the sio2ide
to an usb drive that can be attached to your pc. The PC board is of good
quality. The only negative thing I can say about this device is it did not
have an option for a case. How eve its layout will fit easily inside a 130xe,
800xl, 1200xl. The designer of this device provide technical support.
I
Rate this device a 9!Losing one
point for not having a case.
The SIO2IDEis a simple interface that allows you to attach any IDE Disk Drive
or CF Card1) to your 8-bit
Atari computer. Latest interface version has the following main features:
ATARI side:
uses
standard Atari SIO at a speed of 19200 baud
works
with Atari High Speed SIO (US and Happy) at a speed of 52000 baud
emulates
Atari disks D1: to D8: disk D1: can be swapped with Common disk D1:
(HD1_ZW jumper, drive D9: in config file)
can
be used with any Atari DOS and OS
can
be used without any problems with other SIO devices (disk drivers,
printers, modems, SIO2PC, second SIO2IDE etc)
can
be easy installed inside your Atari with 2.5' laptop HD or CF card
is
easy to configure via special fdisk.com utility software (changing disks
sequence and active directory)
it
use ATR files to emulate real floppy disk or hard drive
1) You have to use CF2IDE adapter to be able to connect CF
card to SIO2IDE
IDE device
side:
all
IDE ATA/ATAPI devices can be used: Disk Drives (2.5' and 3.5'), Compact
Flash cards etc.
supports
PC file systems, FAT16 and FAT32
supports
CD file system, ISO9660
supports
ATR disk images (SD, DD up to 16MB)
supports
directory change (multiconfig)
is
easy to configure, many text configuration files (sio2ide.cfg) can be
stored in different directories
disk
configuration can be checked by special checkfs.exe PC utility
NOTE: checkfs.exe does NOT work with HDD connected via USB port
standard
system disk utilities can be used (defrag.exe, scandisk.exe etc)
Long
File Name (LFN) support for HDD
TEST
mode for checking HDD initializations
supports
Master/Slave IDE devices
disk
defragmentation is not required
USB port
side:
interface
works as Mass Storage Class device (removable drive)
no
drivers are needed for Windows 2K, ME, XP
driver
for Win98 is included in this SIO2IDE package
SIO2IDE
in USB mode is not working with Linux !!!
What is included in SIO2IDE kit:
SIO2IDE interface with or
without USB controller
DVD rom with software (almost
4GB ATR files with games, programs and demos) and documentation.
The SIO2IDE interface is original invention of Polish electronics engineer and
programmer Marek Mikolajewski.
My personal advice about SIO2IDE:
SIO2IDE with USB is nice but
works only with Windows and is slow so better buy it without USB
especially if you using SIO2IDE with CF card
Use only good brand CF cards
(most people use
Kingston
)
Don't use big disk drive or CF
cards, because it's no point
Don't forget about Support
section, there is few good documents about SIO2IDE
SIO2IDE Review
