2kxl insane journey and enlightenment

Ok so I got my 2kxl a week ago it had memory upgrade cf reader and I was excited ... was excited. So I go to pick up cables, turntables and preamp, records get back start making some good stuff. I CANT SAVE ANYTHING. So I go thru the forum and find the cf reader needs o's 1.4 or better. I got 1.0 with no floppy drive. So I spend the week looking for a "40pin" ide atapi floppy drive. No luck anywhere. But after all the research I got a better understanding of the technology.

As a software engineer I feel SO dumb about all of the hardware stuff loll

Long story short- Ata is standard hardware (floppy, hdd) of the era and uses ide connections. Atapi is for the "advanced"/later stuff of the era cd, DVD, zip, jaz drives that could be removable or ejected and uses eide connestions. SCSI "skuzzy" is the way these devices could talk to our machines... its the translator of signal, code etc. So while our ide/ata based 2k/xl was being used with more advanced stuff SCSI translated so that the ata could become ataPI (at attachment-packet interface) using the Edie (extended ide)=40 pin. Ide=34 pin. The SCSI in the back for zip etc has the translator built into the hardware for use without using the eide 40 pin inside. No direct board translation its already translated.

So... knowing what I know now I am going to get an ide device so that I can upgrade to using an eide device through atapi using SCSI as a translator. Now all I need is for this to work flawlessly

http://www.microcenter.com/product/2932 ... ront_Panel

I'll have to partition and assign it a drive so that its not seen as removable, but I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Wouldn't you be better off copying the OS from your computer to CF card instead?

not sure if that device will work (please let us know), it would be awesome if it did. the xl can be picky about which devices it uses.

having said that...a floppy drive should not be hard to find...goodwill, an old computer. i am getting the impression you are overthinking this, but if it ends with that device working in the xl, then you have my support and props.

eideideatafloppyscsi.... that is what i read...

get a cheap or free floppy drive, put the os you need on a disk and install it... avoid zip and jaz drives.. and get a cheap IDE to compact flash adapter on ebay for a dollar or two and make yourself a cheap DIY enclosure for it.. call it a night.

So I just got back from the store and the pin count on that device is 44 (34 for the standard ide and 10 for the eide components added to it) so my theory was off. It looked like it had only 6 extra pins in pics when researched it after the post. So I got a standard floppy from the store. in my week long search to find places that had them in the city laying around none of the stores including goodwill, pawn shops and other charity places didn't have them. I didn't want to wait another few days forshipping it so the plan now is to use the floppy to do what I have to and return it then head to my moms during a routine visit and get the floppies out of my old towers for os insurance #cheapskatemoves

I'll let you know how the process goes

mr_debauch wrote:eideideatafloppyscsi.... that is what i read...

get a cheap or free floppy drive, put the os you need on a disk and install it... avoid zip and jaz drives.. and get a cheap IDE to compact flash adapter on ebay for a dollar or two and make yourself a cheap DIY enclosure for it.. call it a night.

It came with the cf, but since the OS is old it won't recognize it so I have to go through this to get to work lol sorry for all the extra

tapedeck wrote:not sure if that device will work (please let us know), it would be awesome if it did. the xl can be picky about which devices it uses.

having said that...a floppy drive should not be hard to find...goodwill, an old computer. i am getting the impression you are overthinking this, but if it ends with that device working in the xl, then you have my support and props.

The extra pin count killed the idea

distortedtekno wrote:Wouldn't you be better off copying the OS from your computer to CF card instead?

From my understanding in reading forum topics the OS has to be there for it to recognize the CF. I'll give it a shot first to see if that works though. Then I can just take back the floppy and we all could benefit from the kowledge

You've overcomplicated it.
Get a regular floppy drive from an old computer. Put the os on a disk.
Install the floppy drive in the mpc using a 34 pin ribbon, to the floppy connector
connect the power connecter (may need splicing)
Install the os from the floppy disk.
Re-install the card drive.

AFAIR the os will only install from a floppy on the floppy port.

Update: for some reason the floppy disk won't load. 2kxl says "insert mcp2kxl disk" fml.

HA! Used the floppy with all the extra readers and it's giving me the "loading: mpc2kxl.bin" fck yeah!!!

*Pilchard* wrote:You've overcomplicated it.
Get a regular floppy drive from an old computer. Put the os on a disk.
Install the floppy drive in the mpc using a 34 pin ribbon, to the floppy connector
connect the power connecter (may need splicing)
Install the os from the floppy disk.
Re-install the card drive.

AFAIR the os will only install from a floppy on the floppy port.

I know I know it's a flaw I have. But it helps me when I go to the tech stores and they're like "are you looking for a kalamazam or a bridgerydee" then I'm sitting there like

OK just went through with the update and on the home screen it still says Now:001.01.00 is it supposed to say 001.2.00 or whatever I updated to?

No I really suggest you read the manual
What you are looking at is the sequencer

Press [SHIFT] and [8] [OTHER]
Then press the third tab [VERSION] to see the version that you loaded.

Ah crap! I missed that part. Thanks Pill!