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Serial IDE Interface - Survey — Parallax Forums

Serial IDE Interface - Survey

ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
edited 2001-08-08 15:43 in General Discussion
There is a project in the brainstorming stage to create a serial IDE interface.
At this point, some questions need to be asked.

1. Is there any demand for this device?

2. What applications would this device be used in?

3. What features would be desired/required?

4. What interface is desired or would multiple, user selectable options be the
way to go?


I'll post more questions as I think of them.



Barry


[noparse][[/noparse]Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Comments

  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2001-08-08 05:51
    Good luck on this project. I too looked into building this device
    some time ago and it is VERY complex. Accessing the drive and reading
    raw data to/from the drive is trivial. Supporting FAT16/32 so you can
    read/write to the disk with a standard PC with Windows is the hard
    part.


    --- In basicstamps@y..., "Barry Michels" <bmichels@e...> wrote:
    > There is a project in the brainstorming stage to create a serial IDE
    interface. At this point, some questions need to be asked.
    >
    > 1. Is there any demand for this device?
    >
    > 2. What applications would this device be used in?
    >
    > 3. What features would be desired/required?
    >
    > 4. What interface is desired or would multiple, user selectable
    options be the way to go?
    >
    >
    > I'll post more questions as I think of them.
    >
    >
    >
    > Barry
    >
    >
    > [noparse][[/noparse]Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2001-08-08 09:02
    Hi Barry,

    The applications are many, and demand could be high. A cheap, reusable way
    to store data, would be really great for those now using EEPROM devices.
    Features could be a simple serial protocol, 9600 baud, to send blocks of
    data to it - the StampMem example is quite good, you can write up to 64
    bytes in one command.
    I'm not particularly fussed about supporting FAT16/32, it would be nice, but
    not the end of the world if it didn't happen.

    There is a video compression board, the MKV128, that supports FAT interface
    to a HD to store images, you could take a look at that to see how it's
    done - maybe a specialised IC.

    Good luck,

    Mike

    >
    Mensaje original
    > De: Barry Michels [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=2LAgf7m2-hMQk3l4oAqW1IwqdtVYk2-hOPcFGB_kIQCq0JgUh5XmJOjZ2ScLxo8w3veYpHfma1llQA]bmichels@e...[/url
    > Enviado el: martes, 07 de agosto de 2001 12:33
    > Para: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
    > Asunto: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] Serial IDE Interface - Survey
    >
    >
    > There is a project in the brainstorming stage to create a serial
    > IDE interface. At this point, some questions need to be asked.
    >
    > 1. Is there any demand for this device?
    >
    > 2. What applications would this device be used in?
    >
    > 3. What features would be desired/required?
    >
    > 4. What interface is desired or would multiple, user selectable
    > options be the way to go?
    >
    >
    > I'll post more questions as I think of them.
    >
    >
    >
    > Barry
    >
    >
    > [noparse][[/noparse]Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
    >
    >
    > To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
    > basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
    > from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the
    > Subject and Body of the message will be ignored.
    >
    >
    > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
    >
    >
    >
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2001-08-08 14:07
    My interrest is in data logging.
    50 points each minute, 7 days is over 500,000 readings.

    If I had a disk in the field for storage and
    a Stamp in the office, I could do the data transfer
    in a proprietary manner. not bad at all.

    If I could download in the field with a PALM or other
    portable device, (Stache Walkabout??) that too
    would solve the data transfer needs.

    Has anybody tried to connect to the HOBO(r) Transport
    http://www.onsetcomp.com/ that uses the Palm ??

    or the HOBO(R) SHuttle
    http://www.onsetcomp.com/Products/Product_Pages/temperature_pages/2570
    _HOBOshuttle.html


    Dave




    --- In basicstamps@y..., "Miguel Puchol" <mpuchol@w...> wrote:
    > Hi Barry,
    >
    > The applications are many, and demand could be high. A cheap,
    reusable way
    > to store data, would be really great for those now using EEPROM
    devices.
    > Features could be a simple serial protocol, 9600 baud, to send
    blocks of
    > data to it - the StampMem example is quite good, you can write up
    to 64
    > bytes in one command.
    > I'm not particularly fussed about supporting FAT16/32, it would be
    nice, but
    > not the end of the world if it didn't happen.
    >
    > There is a video compression board, the MKV128, that supports FAT
    interface
    > to a HD to store images, you could take a look at that to see how
    it's
    > done - maybe a specialised IC.
    >
    > Good luck,
    >
    > Mike
    >
    > >
    Mensaje original
    > > De: Barry Michels [noparse][[/noparse]mailto:bmichels@e...]
    > > Enviado el: martes, 07 de agosto de 2001 12:33
    > > Para: basicstamps@y...
    > > Asunto: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] Serial IDE Interface - Survey
    > >
    > >
    > > There is a project in the brainstorming stage to create a serial
    > > IDE interface. At this point, some questions need to be asked.
    > >
    > > 1. Is there any demand for this device?
    > >
    > > 2. What applications would this device be used in?
    > >
    > > 3. What features would be desired/required?
    > >
    > > 4. What interface is desired or would multiple, user selectable
    > > options be the way to go?
    > >
    > >
    > > I'll post more questions as I think of them.
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > > Barry
    > >
    > >
    > > [noparse][[/noparse]Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
    > >
    > >
    > > To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
    > > basicstamps-unsubscribe@y...
    > > from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the
    > > Subject and Body of the message will be ignored.
    > >
    > >
    > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
    > >
    > >
    > >
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2001-08-08 15:29
    Actually, for me, the hardware is what I'm going to have the most trouble
    with. I've already looked into FAT16 and it looks very easy. I've already
    built a file entry by hand with a hex editor just to see if I could do it
    and make the OS read it.

    It was brought to my attention that there is already an interface that
    allows for low-level access to a drive. But, you have to manage head,
    cylinder and sector addressing and you have to read/write the whole 512 byte
    sector at once. I have in mind a higher level approach where you just tell
    the interface what file you want to read/write and it will handle the
    addressing for you. And, you can read/write as little or as much as you
    want. The interface will store data in a static ram chip temporarily until
    it needs to be written to disk or until a new sector is needed from the
    drive.

    The only application I could think of is data logging. Bill Weller
    mentioned code storage so you could swap code modules and increase the
    capability of a stamp. It would be nice to know what other uses there are
    so the features could be set before construction starts. Application may
    dictate the hardware approach.

    I read through the I2C spec last night and it looks like the way to go. The
    stamp can support it, there's no limit to the data per packet (except any
    limit by the stamp), the speed is quite fast (81kbps) and the slave can
    pause the master if it needs to - all on 2 pins.



    Message: 3
    Date: Wed, 08 Aug 2001 04:51:50 -0000
    From: tbanez@h...
    Subject: Re: Serial IDE Interface - Survey

    Good luck on this project. I too looked into building this device
    some time ago and it is VERY complex. Accessing the drive and reading
    raw data to/from the drive is trivial. Supporting FAT16/32 so you can
    read/write to the disk with a standard PC with Windows is the hard
    part.
    ___________________________________________________________
    ________________________________________________________________________

    Message: 8
    Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2001 10:02:38 +0200
    From: "Miguel Puchol" <mpuchol@w...>
    Subject: RE: Serial IDE Interface - Survey

    Hi Barry,

    The applications are many, and demand could be high. A cheap, reusable way
    to store data, would be really great for those now using EEPROM devices.
    Features could be a simple serial protocol, 9600 baud, to send blocks of
    data to it - the StampMem example is quite good, you can write up to 64
    bytes in one command.
    I'm not particularly fussed about supporting FAT16/32, it would be nice, but
    not the end of the world if it didn't happen.

    There is a video compression board, the MKV128, that supports FAT interface
    to a HD to store images, you could take a look at that to see how it's
    done - maybe a specialised IC.

    Good luck,

    Mike
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2001-08-08 15:43
    This is a "DOS-drive" RS232 interface to CF cards, formatted with ATA
    FAT tables:
    http://www.csm.de/en_dosdrive.htm

    And one that just logs data in proprietary format:
    http://www.csm.de/en_ddlogger.htm

    These are in the $500 price range. Up to 8 gigs on a sandisk card.

    -- Tracy
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