CF Works !?

CF Works !?

[Ralph Stickley]

Ok, 
After a long drawn out battle (mostly documented on these lists :-)
here's what I had to do to make my card boot. I got this working on 
the card I've been using all week - then pulled a fresh card
out of it's package and did the following:

(using PQI compact Flash card - 32MB; PC-Engines IDE-CF adaptor )

1. Set the BIOS to autodetect HDD #1...all others are "uninstalled"
2. run fdisk on /dev/hdb
  - delete any existing partitions (factory partition is DOS FAT16 <32M)
  - using fdisk expert mode, set cylinders to 31 (changed from default
8)
  - set heads to 32 (default was also 8)
  - set sectors to 63 (default was 1014)
  - create a new partition for cylinders 1-31
  - REBOOT!!! critical here ??!! NOT power off ??

3. format /dev/hdb1 as ext2
4. sync/umount  then fsck.ext2 /dev/hdb1 - checks OK
5. mount and copy file system (12M)
6. sync/umount
7. REBOOT - (this seemed like the biggest help)
8. mount / lilo
   - include "linear" flag (thanks for hint on that one :-)
   - give kernel hdd parameters append="hd=31/32/63"
9. sync/reboot/power off
10. REMOVE HDD - set CF adaptor for Master mode, power up and *poof* it
boots!
   
Notes:
The kernel boot "Partition check" still reports [32/32/63] for CHS
Initial access to the device *sometimes* generates "DriveReady
SeekComplete error"
fsck.ext2 doesn't seem to work after all the files are copied

==========

Geeze, what a pain. I fully expect this to NOT work for anybody
else...might
not work for me tomorrow...Your mileage WILL vary!

Anybody know something else to try??

Good luck
Ralph

P.S. FYI (not trying to sell anything here...FYI only)

The adaptor I used (the one that worked) was from PC Engines -
http://www.pcengines.com/

PQI cards can be found at:
http://www.pqiusa.com
(about 30% cheaper than SanSombody...support is a bit tougher...)

*** Linux - All Beta, All the time! ***


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Re: CF Works !?

[Kyle Harris]

Ralph,

Thanks for the update. I'm a little confused (not unusual :). Why is the
IDE-CF adaptor needed? Does the IDE CF not interface directly to a
standard IDE? What is the total cost of your 32MB solution?

Thanks, Kyle.

Ralph Stickley wrote:
> 
> Ok,
> After a long drawn out battle (mostly documented on these lists :-)
> here's what I had to do to make my card boot. I got this working on
> the card I've been using all week - then pulled a fresh card
> out of it's package and did the following:
> 
> (using PQI compact Flash card - 32MB; PC-Engines IDE-CF adaptor )
> 
> 1. Set the BIOS to autodetect HDD #1...all others are "uninstalled"
> 2. run fdisk on /dev/hdb
>   - delete any existing partitions (factory partition is DOS FAT16 <32M)
>   - using fdisk expert mode, set cylinders to 31 (changed from default
> 8)
>   - set heads to 32 (default was also 8)
>   - set sectors to 63 (default was 1014)
>   - create a new partition for cylinders 1-31
>   - REBOOT!!! critical here ??!! NOT power off ??
> 
> 3. format /dev/hdb1 as ext2
> 4. sync/umount  then fsck.ext2 /dev/hdb1 - checks OK
> 5. mount and copy file system (12M)
> 6. sync/umount
> 7. REBOOT - (this seemed like the biggest help)
> 8. mount / lilo
>    - include "linear" flag (thanks for hint on that one :-)
>    - give kernel hdd parameters append="hd=31/32/63"
> 9. sync/reboot/power off
> 10. REMOVE HDD - set CF adaptor for Master mode, power up and *poof* it
> boots!
> 
> Notes:
> The kernel boot "Partition check" still reports [32/32/63] for CHS
> Initial access to the device *sometimes* generates "DriveReady
> SeekComplete error"
> fsck.ext2 doesn't seem to work after all the files are copied
> 
> ==========
> 
> Geeze, what a pain. I fully expect this to NOT work for anybody
> else...might
> not work for me tomorrow...Your mileage WILL vary!
> 
> Anybody know something else to try??
> 
> Good luck
> Ralph
> 
> P.S. FYI (not trying to sell anything here...FYI only)
> 
> The adaptor I used (the one that worked) was from PC Engines -
> http://www.pcengines.com/
> 
> PQI cards can be found at:
> http://www.pqiusa.com
> (about 30% cheaper than SanSombody...support is a bit tougher...)
> 
> *** Linux - All Beta, All the time! ***
> 
> To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe mtd" to majordomo@infradead.org


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Re: CF Works !?

[Ralph Stickley]

Kyle Harris wrote:
> 
> Ralph,
> 
> Thanks for the update. I'm a little confused (not unusual :). Why is the
> IDE-CF adaptor needed? Does the IDE CF not interface directly to a
> standard IDE? What is the total cost of your 32MB solution?
> 
> Thanks, Kyle.
> 
The CF cards come with a small 50 pin (1mm ??) connector on the edge of
them.
To make the connection with a standard 0.1" IDE connector requires an
adaptor
that has both connectors. AFAIK, the CF pinout is not the same pinout as
IDE...

Total cost for quantity "1"  is about $60 for the adaptor and $89 for
the card
(something like that, I didn't buy them, so I don't know exactly).

In the end, we'd like to layout our board to include the CF connector
directly on our board. I don't know what the cost of CF connector is, 
but the volumes that CF cards are manufactured in ensure their price 
will remain as cheap or cheaper than just buying the flash chips.  

CF design decisions...not just cost:

Availablity is a big problem with flash chips...we've seen them go out 
to 6 months on allocation!  Flash is one of the most difficult chips
to manufacture...for example, MicroChip has recently delayed some new 
"flash" based devices for over 8 months because of yield problems. 

Of course, in due time, you won't be able to buy something as small as
32MB (just like trying to buy a 4GB (or is that 6GB this month ?) hard
drive...
they aren't manufactured anymore!) but we can live with that :-)

Multi-sourced  devices are always going to be cheaper than sole 
sourced devices (like M-Systems)...

Also, the ability to remove and replace the media is worth it for our 
product design.  Added cost of connector may bring this design to same
price as M-System (doubt it) but the replaceability is handy for user
upgrades...(compare with..."ok, now insert screw-driver under that big
chip...")

Good luck,
Ralph


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Re: CF Works !?

[Kyle Harris]

Ralph Stickley wrote:
> 
> >
> The CF cards come with a small 50 pin (1mm ??) connector on the edge of
> them.
> To make the connection with a standard 0.1" IDE connector requires an
> adaptor
> that has both connectors. AFAIK, the CF pinout is not the same pinout as
> IDE...
> 
> Total cost for quantity "1"  is about $60 for the adaptor and $89 for
> the card
> (something like that, I didn't buy them, so I don't know exactly).

Ooouuccchh! :-O

Does the adaptor have active components, or is it simply changing the
form factor and pinout? Or is it more like a carrier for easy swapout?
$60 is a lot for an adaptor cable!

[snip]
 
> Availablity is a big problem with flash chips...we've seen them go out
> to 6 months on allocation!  Flash is one of the most difficult chips
> to manufacture...for example, MicroChip has recently delayed some new
> "flash" based devices for over 8 months because of yield problems.
>

Yep, we even have problems getting NOR flash not just NAND.
 
Later, Kyle.


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Re: CF Works !?

[Sebastien Huet]

Kyle Harris a écrit :

> Does the adaptor have active components, or is it simply changing the
> form factor and pinout? Or is it more like a carrier for easy swapout?
> $60 is a lot for an adaptor cable!

Some links you may find interresting:

http://www.aemme.net/Publikationen/CFtoIDEpinout.html
http://www.projectplasma.com/cf2ide/

Hope it helps.

Bye

Seb
---
http://linux-embedded.com




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