User`s manual
occur that some SD cards do not work properly. Reasons, therefore, may be incompatible supply
voltage ranges or cards with block sizes different from 512 bytes. The supply voltage is 5V and is
connected beside the ACSI and SCSI bus signals to the 26 position HD-D-Sub header. To connect
the GigaFile to the Atari ST or to any SCSI interfaces, use the respective cable adapters or one of
the PCB adapters which are separately available at Inventronik GmbH. To connect the GigaFile to
the Suska-III-C board, use a 1:1 wired 26 pos. HD-D-Sub cable (male - female) or connect it
directly, that is without cable, to the ACSI header of the Suska-III-C. The GigaFile is inactive if
there is no SD card inserted. As in the SCSI-II specification parity check is enabled by default. If
the GigaFile is operated on a hardware which does not support the parity bit, this option is disabled,
if the configuration bridge PAR_EN (siehe 2) is closed.
Operation of the GigaFile
LED-Signalling
Once connected to the host computer and an SD card is inserted, the GigaFile is ready for
preparation or use without any further action required. Both LEDs (green and red) will indicate
information about the operating condition. Each of the two LEDs indicate two operating conditions
as follows:
The green LED starts flashing for about 5s after a system start or after the SD card was removed
and is inserted again. The flash frequency depends on the type of the inserted SD card. If an SDSC
card is detected which relies on the SD card specification 1.x, the frequency is about 1Hz. 2 Hz
results from SDSC cards relying on the SD card specification 2.x. SDHC and SDXC cards cause a
frequency of about 4Hz. After five seconds the LED is switched on permanently, but with reduced
intensity, indicating correct operating condition of the GigaFile.
The red LED is switched on with reduced intensity after a system start up and if the SD card is
inserted. The same condition occurs if the SD card is removed and inserted again. This condition
means that the Card is operating with a reduced transmission data rate, which is important for the
TOS boot option and also to operate the GigaFile correctly on systems with slow direct memory
access (DMA) channels. Access to the SD card is indicated with light pulses of full intensity. Once
HDDRIVER become active, the transmission data rate to or from the GigaFile is switched to a high
value after the first INQUIRY command is executed and if TDR is not closed (see above). With this
trick booting from TOS operating systems in a reduced speed mode is possible.
Inserting and Operation of SD Cards
SD cards in standard form factor are inserted upside down (contacts on top) into the GigaFile SD
card slot. Removing and inserting works with a push-pull mechanism. As soon as an SD card is
removed and another one is inserted, it will be initialized immediately and the card parameters are
switched transparently to the hard disk driver.
The GigaFile reads the Write Protection Sliders of SD cards, so the respective warnings will be
shown if there is an attempt to write to a protected card.
Attention! If the cards are removed during read or write access, a complete data loss cannot be
ruled out. If cards are set up with HDDRIVER and the option, TOS/WIN compatible partitions, it is
possible to exchange data from the GigaFile to any personal computer without restarting the host of
the GigaFile. Do not remove cards and insert different cards. In this way there is also the possibility
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