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expanding memmory to 5gb — Parallax Forums

expanding memmory to 5gb

ThePenguinMasterThePenguinMaster Posts: 89
edited 2007-05-30 16:56 in Propeller 1
hey guys..
·· ok so ive awalys wanted to be able to controll a hard drive with a chip. the propeller has enough i\o's and i believe it is fast enough. the first project im planning on using this for is an mp3 player for my car. I was just wondering if anyone has done this yet? if so, what are some good resources for hard drive pinouts and protocall?·i know this has been done with the amtel but i havnt found any really clear resources. if i do figure this out id be more than happy to create an object for it. i think even for a robot it could be usefull.

ok ill go into a little detail of what it is i want to do.

i want to make an mp3 player compact enough to fit into the dash board
the propeller will manage the mp3 data and send it to an sta chip
a wi-fi wireless module will be included so i can 'click and drag' songs from my house to my car scool.gif


this is a long term project but my first step is interfacing with more than 5 gigs of memmory. any links on hard drive technical data would help out a lot!

Comments

  • BaggersBaggers Posts: 3,019
    edited 2007-05-25 18:58
    how about a Compact Flash breakout board? that'll also save you worrying about the head and bumpy roads [noparse]:)[/noparse]
    or the SD route, we already have drivers for that, although they only handle root directory files at the moment. and no file seek.
  • boeboyboeboy Posts: 301
    edited 2007-05-25 19:19
    Here is one site of pinouts in·general http://www.technick.net/public/code/pinouts.php
    Here is a ATA harddrive pinout http://www.technick.net/public/code/cp_dpage.php?aiocp_dp=pinconhdd_ata_int
    Here is a IDE·harddrive pinout http://www.technick.net/public/code/cp_dpage.php?aiocp_dp=pinconhdd_ide_int
    Here is·the·compactflash pinout http://www.technick.net/public/code/cp_dpage.php?aiocp_dp=pinconbus_compact_flash

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    My computer, http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=630466
  • ThePenguinMasterThePenguinMaster Posts: 89
    edited 2007-05-25 20:11
    well the advantage to the hard drive is that i can potentially store up to 500gb of music and maybe someday movies onto the player. hmm.. an sd memmory card dose however sound a lot easyier. well as for the bumps, i think ill need a good amount of memmory for buffering. but that will come later. i think i need to get each basic part working seperateally first.
    ok talking about this is making me feel ovwewhelmed lol.. okokok one step at a time.
    as for a fat table.. i think im going to make up my own system of keeping data in order.. this way i can keep it simple. i should be able to throw data on the drive however i want right? as long as i can keep track of where it is right?
  • Bob the Builder on a C64Bob the Builder on a C64 Posts: 112
    edited 2007-05-25 20:28
    If·people at these forums got·500 gb flash drives and interfaced them with the propellor, I bet there might just be 8 bit films·for the propellor·in the future.·wink.gif
  • inakiinaki Posts: 262
    edited 2007-05-25 22:40
    Pick a copy of the book 'The SCSI Bus and IDE interface'. It contains a clear explanation of the hardware and software interface for an IDE disk.
    Note however·that many new high capacity disks are Serial ATA which is a completely different interface.

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  • computer guycomputer guy Posts: 1,113
    edited 2007-05-25 23:36
    ThePenguinMaster

    If all you are wanting to do is interface a hdd to a propeller to play back music I would recommend a USB drive and the following product.

    www.vinculum.com/prd_vmusic1.html
  • PyrotomPyrotom Posts: 84
    edited 2007-05-26 01:45
    A buddy of mine whose opinion on such things I highly respect says that the USBwiz from GHI Electronics is a better implementation than the Vinculum. No personal experience, just the opinion of someone who has worked with both.....

    http://www.ghielectronics.com/products.php
  • computer guycomputer guy Posts: 1,113
    edited 2007-05-26 02:15
    Pyrotom

    I was originally going to recommend he look at the USBwiz however upon searching for the USBwiz I found the VMusic.
    Thank you for your friends opinion, will take that into consideration if I ever need to add usb to a project.


    ThePenguinMaster

    I like your idea of wi-fi transfer. That really makes the idea cool. cool.gif

    Post Edited (computer guy) : 5/26/2007 2:19:49 AM GMT
  • ThePenguinMasterThePenguinMaster Posts: 89
    edited 2007-05-30 16:56
    hey guys.. its been a few days since i could get on. ok hmm.. i see what you mean about the usb interface. it would make life a lot eayier. i dont think that would slow things down too much would it.. well seeing as how external harddrives run fine on usb it shouldnt be an issue.

    the wifi transfer is actually the only practical way i can see of getting the music to the hard drive without having to constantally pull the drive and putting it back in.. that would just suck. i know i could use an sd card but for majopr transfers og 10gb or more it could e a lot of running back and forth. the wifi transfer shouldnt be too hard.

    check out sparkfun. they have a module made for dealing with wifi.. however, it dose come with a pretty big price tag of about 100 bucks. i think it also runs java code? wow.. that could get interesting!
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