Author Topic: CF to IDE Adapter for $2.00 (Read 4714 times)

IG-88 · « **on:** August 16, 2007, 02:50:34 pm »

I know a few of you guys use these and I stumbled across this just a minute ago. It's probably not the best quality but for $2.00 ea. and free shipping it couldn't hurt to try one.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.711

By the way this is the same place I got my Game Station from and I just love the thing. The web site looks a little shoddy but I've had good luck with them.

SirPeale · « **Reply #1 on:** August 16, 2007, 04:12:52 pm »

Nice. I just ordered five. At that price and free shipping it's hard to say no.

shardian · « **Reply #2 on:** August 16, 2007, 04:18:11 pm »

Cool! Does anyone have a source for cheap CF cards? I would totally use these in two upcoming mame projects if I can get 512mb or 1gb CF cards cheaply.

steveh · « **Reply #3 on:** August 29, 2007, 08:50:19 am »

i received my order yesterday. I have not had a chance to test them tho.

SirPeale · « **Reply #4 on:** August 29, 2007, 09:04:19 am »

I'd actually forgotten all about this! I'm guessing I should receive it today. Or at least soon.

Neilyboy · « **Reply #5 on:** August 29, 2007, 09:18:00 am »

how does that game station work do you throw roms on that data card that comes with it through some special data cable or what?

Neil

Kaytrim · « **Reply #6 on:** August 29, 2007, 09:45:42 am »

I used one of these with a 512mb card for Dad's Bartop. Loaded DOS and GameLauncher on the card with about 100 roms and it works just fine. If you get a 1 or 2gb card you can load TinyXP with your choice of front end and some choice rom files for a solid state system. It all works like it is the primary hard drive.

TTFN

xmenxmen · « **Reply #7 on:** August 29, 2007, 10:33:20 am »

How slow are they?

BobA · « **Reply #8 on:** August 29, 2007, 10:36:37 am »

Quote from: Neilyboy on August 29, 2007, 09:18:00 am

how does that game station work do you throw roms on that data card that comes with it through some special data cable or what?

Neil

GS loads via small cartridges that plug in the top. 99 in 1 comes with it.

Neilyboy · « **Reply #9 on:** August 29, 2007, 02:42:56 pm »

thanks boba. they look interesting anyone hack one yet for a mini cab?

Neil

IG-88 · « **Reply #10 on:** August 29, 2007, 04:48:57 pm »

Quote from: Neilyboy on August 29, 2007, 09:18:00 am

how does that game station work do you throw roms on that data card that comes with it through some special data cable or what?

Neil

BobA is right. They are just multi-carts (& if I remember right they are under $5-6 bucks a piece). Mostly of the 8-bit variety of games. They do have an adapter for 16-bit games and I have one on order. What I really like about it is the cost or the unit, the nice bright LCD screen, and the fact that it uses 2 AA bats. It's no DS or PSP of course but for the price it can't be beat. And it seems to have some pretty good ports of old classic arcade games. I've been playing the heck out of Pooyan and Mappy lately.

SirPeale · « **Reply #11 on:** August 29, 2007, 06:14:04 pm »

I was right; arrived in the mail today.

I can totally see getting a bunch of stuff on that site.

BobA · « **Reply #12 on:** September 06, 2007, 03:54:50 pm »

Mine took a bit longer but arrived today. Customs form was marked LED flashlight so I was not sure what it was but is was 5 adapters. Great price and free shipping.

HaRuMaN · « **Reply #13 on:** September 06, 2007, 04:09:51 pm »

Quote from: BobA on September 06, 2007, 03:54:50 pm

Mine took a bit longer but arrived today. Customs form was marked LED flashlight so I was not sure what it was but is was 5 adapters. Great price and free shipping.

Oooooh. Gives me ideas....

IG-88 · « **Reply #14 on:** September 14, 2007, 09:46:48 pm »

So. Any of you tried these out yet? I can't seem to find that post on how these CF cards work. Can anybody describe how one goes about using a CF card instead of a HD? Can I just format it and install DOS or Win98 just like a normal HD? I was thinking of using Spytyles BootCd with DOS and Game Launcher if that would work.

From a little bit of research I've done, some cards aren't fast enough for a Windows O/S (paging?) and some cards don't like IDE interfaces. How's one tell the difference?

BobA · « **Reply #15 on:** September 15, 2007, 01:14:47 pm »

Put a large enough cf card in it for an op sys and programs and you boot from it just like a regular drive. It is set up just like a normal ata drive. Partition, format, install op sys

The card should already be partitioned and show up as another disk drive when you look at my computer.

DrumAnBass · « **Reply #16 on:** October 10, 2007, 03:16:19 pm »

Sorry to dig up a fairly old thread - but with these CF to IDE adaptors, do you have to supply power to the adaptor board?

I see it has a 4 pin connector thing on the back...

Thanks for any input!

Kaytrim · « **Reply #17 on:** October 10, 2007, 03:25:56 pm »

Quote from: DrumAnBass on October 10, 2007, 03:16:19 pm

Sorry to dig up a fairly old thread - but with these CF to IDE adaptors, do you have to supply power to the adaptor board?

I see it has a 4 pin connector thing on the back...

Thanks for any input!

Yes, it uses the smaller floppy drive power connector.

SirPeale · « **Reply #18 on:** October 10, 2007, 09:00:46 pm »

Feel free to bump this thread any time. I keep sending these guys more of my money because they have cool cheap stuff.

Ed_McCarron · « **Reply #19 on:** October 10, 2007, 09:53:16 pm »

Quote from: Peale on October 10, 2007, 09:00:46 pm

Feel free to bump this thread any time. I keep sending these guys more of my money because they have cool cheap stuff.

That is one dangerous site.

ptpeter · « **Reply #20 on:** October 10, 2007, 10:26:09 pm »

how could i use this in a jukebox application?

DaOld Man · « **Reply #21 on:** October 11, 2007, 05:32:46 am »

Ive just ordered two of these. My computer junk box is getting a little low, plus I was thinking of using it on a jukebox myself.
Biggest problem I see for a juke box would be storage size.
You can get a 4 gig CF card fairly cheap, but Ive seen an 8 gig that was very high, compared to hard drives.
But by using two 4 gigs on the two IDE channels, Im thinking OS and juke box software on one card and the MP3's on the other.
4 gig is about the size of a dvd. That should hold a lot of MP3's.

Wienerdog · « **Reply #22 on:** October 11, 2007, 01:11:44 pm »

I just ordered a couple 4gb microdrives from geeks.com for about $15 each.

Chris · « **Reply #23 on:** October 11, 2007, 01:24:23 pm »

If you use a DOS jukebox it saves a lot more room for music and boots faster.

DrumAnBass · « **Reply #24 on:** October 11, 2007, 02:54:51 pm »

Yah I am attempting to use one of the $15 4gb microdrives from Geeks.com myself. The problem I have is that the mobo I am using doesn't seem to have a 4 pin floppy power connecter. Trying to find a cheap molex to floppy power adaptor.

Wienerdog · « **Reply #25 on:** October 12, 2007, 09:37:08 am »

$.80 plus shipping for one. I would get this one becasue it has two floppy connectors. Be careful with shipping if you get multiple cables. Sometimes you can add on a $.50 cable and it increases your shipping by $2.00! That is just a warning because it is tempted to buy extras when the prices are low. Just search on Molex at monoprice to get the other adapters if this one isn't right.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10228&cs_id=1022802&p_id=1314&seq=1&format=2

DrumAnBass · « **Reply #26 on:** October 12, 2007, 01:20:00 pm »

Sweet, thanks for that link WeinerDog!

ahofle · « **Reply #27 on:** October 12, 2007, 03:07:42 pm »

Wow, there are some cool items on that site. This thing is screaming to be hacked into an optical spinner:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2695

BORIStheBLADE · « **Reply #28 on:** October 12, 2007, 09:55:44 pm »

Quote from: ahofle on October 12, 2007, 03:07:42 pm

Wow, there are some cool items on that site. This thing is screaming to be hacked into an optical spinner:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2695

thats pretty slick!

quarterback · « **Reply #29 on:** November 19, 2007, 06:43:02 pm »

Quote from: Wienerdog on October 11, 2007, 01:11:44 pm

I just ordered a couple 4gb microdrives from geeks.com for about $15 each.

Anybody have any luck with these? I'm interested to see what people have done with them. I have a couple of the CF to IDE adapters that I bought a long while ago because I thought they'd be cool, but I never put them into use. Those 4gig microdrives are darn cheap ($15.50 right now) that I might hop back on this bandwagon.

DrumAnBass · « **Reply #30 on:** November 19, 2007, 08:11:32 pm »

I still haven't been able to get mine to work. I have the Hitachi 4gb; it requires drivers but I am a mac geek and don't know much about windows and haven't been able to figure out how to install them to make it bootable...

See my post in the software forum:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=72413.msg746284#msg746284

The 80s Man · « **Reply #31 on:** December 03, 2007, 08:08:41 pm »

I bought a 6 Gig Micro drive from Geeks.com for $18.99
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=ST660211CF-R&cpc=SCH
I tried it with my PSP (which I have a Compact Flash to MSPro Duo card adaptor) and formated it with the PSP and now my 6 gig Micro Drive only works like a 4 Gig micro drive. I have tried and tried to reformat the drive and I can only get it to act like a 4 gig drive.
Does any one know how to reformat it back so all 6 gigs shows up?

saint · « **Reply #32 on:** December 03, 2007, 08:40:01 pm »

Pop it into a Windows box and delete the partition (disk manager), repartition it, and then format it. Reformatting a 4 gig partition gets you... 4 gigs

The 80s Man · « **Reply #33 on:** December 03, 2007, 08:48:06 pm »

It Worked! Thanks saint for the help.


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