Sorry another CARD READER thread, but i'm HELPING

ok i'm back from the lab and i have GOOD NEWS!!!

my 99p reader was a roaring success and pretty much everything went smoothly. i was rushing so i wasnt able to take photos unfortunately but i can summarise what happened, give you a couple of warnings and tips and if you need any more info then pm me. ok here goes:

updated to OS 1.20 no problems

be careful when you unscrew the mpc, it's quite fussy about similar-looking screws going back EXACTLY where they came from

protect your data slider!!! use a pillow/cushion. we used a beach towel and broke the stem (anyone know where to get replacement?)

as said before, make sure your card reader is set MASTER

we removed the floppy drive ribbon cable altogether to make space

we used a standard pc drive/cd-rom ribbon connector for the ide connection from mpc to card reader - MAKE SURE this is plugged in fully - it "clicks" when done correctly!

we snipped off the floppy drive power plug and connected it via a plastic "terminal block" to a modified PC power connector splitter. was v easy, just use the outermost red and black cables, snip and seal off the unused cables on the splitter with insulating tape

we tested before reassembling the cae, obviously take care whenever you have the lid off your mpc!!!

it recognised the reader fine first time, so we reassembled.

wanted to take full advantage so i chopped a break in recycle 2.1, exported the slices as an .akp file, opened this in Awave 9.2 and "saved Instument as" an mpc2000xl .pgm file - saved it to the smartmedia card which was hooked up to pc via cheap usb reader

booted mpc, plugged in the card and hey presto! chopped break bits on the pads ready to go! HURRAH! loop was set to "on" for some reason (it said OFF in awave) but no biggie

thanks again to all who helped with patient explanations. its early days and i'll let you know if we have problems long-term, but this seems like one of the best things you can do for your 2000xl

peace

Good to hear the install went fine sorry bout the data slider though... a towel is indeed not thick/soft enough to protect the date slider nor the data wheel.