Two CFFA3000's in one GS ?

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Two CFFA3000's in one GS ?

Postby Ken C » Mon Nov 02, 2015 8:03 am

Is this possible ? If so, how to access each card ?

I currently have a CFFA1000 and a CFFA3000 in the GS and would like to replace the 1000.

Ken C

Not enough info, sorry,

I know each card can be accessed by booting the slot it's in. I'm wondering if both cards can be accessed simultaneously. Can GSOS recognize both cards ? Say, boot into 6.01 from slot 7, any way for the desktop show stuff from the other card in slot 4 as well ?

Not a big deal if not possible, I'll boot GSOS 6.01 (6,03) from one and Dos from the other.
Ken C
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Re: Two CFFA3000's in one GS ?

Postby dlyons » Mon Nov 23, 2015 6:59 am

Yes. There should be no software/firmware problems(*) with using two CFFA3000 cards in one computer, though I'm not sure I understand the need, especially if you would boot GS/OS from one and DOS 3.3 from the other: A single CFFA3000 can already do that! For example, put the card in slot 7, and configure the "Disk II slot" to be slot 6 (with no physical card present), and the same card will act as a set of SmartPort (ProDOS) devices in its actual slot, plus 5.25" Drive 1 and Drive 2 in the virtual slot.

If you do use two separate CFFA3000 boards, each one just does its own thing (neither one knows about the other, and doesn't need to), but each one takes care to identify itself so that you can keep them straight. In the IIgs's CDA menu you'd see two separate entries, such as "CFFA3000 (Slot 4)" and "CFFA3000 (Slot 7)", and when you're in in the menus it tells you which card's menus you're in (at the top right of the screen).

ProDOS or GS/OS will look in all the slots for available drives, and it will find the CFFA3000's drives no matter whether you've booted from that slot or not. (You might find a case where the card being booted appears in the CDA menu, but the other one doesn't show yet. The 2nd one would appear as soon as anything tries to access that slot. And you can always enter a card's menus using a CALL or a Cn30G, as documented.)

(*) Hardware: Depending on what other cards are plugged in, and what USB devices are connected to the CFFA3000s, it's conceivable you could run into a power-supply limitation. I wouldn't expect a problem, but I have seen USB thumb drives that are thirsty for current and get quite warm, even when not being accessed.
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