The SP2SD Project has begun! | Kero's Mac Mods

Kero's Mac Mods

Introducing my Macintosh and Apple II mods, writing in English and Japanese. Ask if you have any questions, about the same time, I have a post in the FB group.
Our website here:
https://www.kerosmm.com

If you are not experienced with vintage computers and buy that Apple IIc or IIgs that you've longed for in 2023, there will be difficulties in how to fully utilize it. Even if you grew up with it, it can be challenging to remember.

Of course, it would be nice if the floppy drive could be used as-is, but since it is a used computer, there may be cases where it breaks down. Moreover, exporting to floppy disks may be quite troublesome.

 

There are devices for vintage computers that can enable booting from an SD card, such as BlueSCSI, a SCSI HDD emulator that has recently become very popular. They are reasonably priced at 50 USD and simple to install.

 

What we strive for is a finished product that costs less than 50 USD, something anyone could easily create using a PCB that is freely open source.

 

  What is SP2SD?

 

It is based on an open source project called SmartPortSD

Created by Australian genius Robert Justice, SmartPortCFA was ported to Arduino hardware by Italian programmer genius Andrea Ottaviani.  to porting to Arduino hardware. It was improved upon by Katherine Stark of Canada. She made available its ability to access four ProDOS-formatted 32MB PO files stored on a FAT32-formatted SD card. When she did this successfully, many wanted to build it.

 

It is assumed that this program can be used on Arduino Nano by compiling it as is.

 

I first contacted my friend Katherine Stark, to get permission to build this device. At Katherine's urging, I also received valuable permission from the two geniuses who wrote the program for this project. Although this was a great project, it remained untouched for two years and no one was selling it. 

I was aware of the project about two years ago, but I was busy with other things and didn't pay much attention to it.

While my friend Katherine was using one of my other products, It suddenly reminded about the SP2SD project, so I thought I'd finally give it a try!

 

 

  About the hardware

 

 

 

Model SP2SD Mini

 

 

The SmartPortSD program was originally for the Nano, but I ported it to the Pro Mini and found it worked fine. This is because the Arduino Nano and Uno, as well as the 16MHz model of the Pro Mini, use the same chip. The main reason I used the Pro Mini was to make sure it wouldn't be wider than the DB19 port when laid down. The IIc has an RCA jack for video output right next to the DB19, so there is not much clearance.

With this in mind I added noise countermeasures and a protection circuit. The MicroSD card socket is made by Molex which is durable and does not lock.

For me, I liked a design that could connect directly to the DB19 of the IIc as I felt a cable connection was a nuisance. 

The SP2SD mini is a fairly small device, measuring H30xW40mm, which is probably the smallest device in this category.

 

 

DIY kit version

 

A DIY kit should be easy for enthusiasts to do their own soldering work. It shouldn't be too complicated to use either. 

I prefer DB19 when using it, but some people may prefer IDC 20pin depending on the situation. It would be nice to be able to both extend it with a cable or mount it directly on the back of the DB19. So I designed it like that.

 

The PCB consists of two pieces. All you need is an Arduino Nano board, a MicroSD card board, and just a few parts. Soldering was pretty easy and I didn't need anything superfluous. You can make it into any shape you like. This will be uploaded to my GitHub, and anyone can freely create it.

 

 

DIY DB19 connector

 

 

 

If you read Steve Chamberlin's BMOW's blog, you can learn more about his difficulties with manufacturing DB19 as these were discontinued years ago. Most pages you can find on the Internet listing the DB19 appear to be actively for sale, but when you contact the seller, you will receive a reply that they don't actually have any DB19 in stock…

 

 

*Common 3D printers that use filament have poor hole accuracy, so prepare 1.0mm and 2.0mm drill bits and set them in a pin vise to shape the hole.

 

 

We decided to make the connector ourselves as a practical solution. You can 3D print the base material and pull out the pins from a DB25 male connector and insert them, or purchase new pins from AliExpress. We have omitted unnecessary pins to make it simple for you to create. I will give out free .STL files that can be 3D printed.

 

 

 

*At the end of the article there is an STL file that we made that can be 3D printed.

  How to use

 

 

 

 

The disk image that can be used for SP2SD is a .PO file with a maximum size of 32MB. Place this file at the root of your FAT32 formatted micro SD card. Up to 4 files can be recognized (Thanks Katherine!).

If your disk image is in .HDV or another file format, you can use CiderPress V4 to convert it to a .PO file. CiderPressV4 can be done on Windows 7 and up. *For Win98/ME/2K/XP there is an older version

I think the most popular way to use SP2SD on the IIc is to use TotalReplay, a collection of arcade games. 

The IIgs supports GSOS. In this case, you can check all four files at the same time on the OS's finder. If you only have a IIgs, the SP2SD is the device with the best value for money.

And if you want to use it with Apple IIe, you can use it via Liron card.

 

 

 

*Apple IIc with SP2SD Prototype.

 

 

  To use IIc's smart port

 

For Apple IIc, Smartport will not be enabled if ROM 255 is installed. To check the ROM of your IIc, run the following program from the Basic prompt.

PRINT PEEK (64447)

If the output number is "255", the ROM needs to be replaced. The ROM versions that Smartport can use are "0", "3" and "4". For these numbers, ROM replacement is not necessary.

 

The replaced ROMs are available here.

There is also the useful hacked ROM4X.

 

My recommendation is ROM4X.

 

If you want to swap the ROM from 255 to another ROM, you need to change the solder jumpers "W1" and "W2". 

255 is 16KB while other ROMs are 32KB. Enable 32KB by changing Pin27, which is A14, from pull-down to pull-up. 

See below for solder jumper locations. (External site)

 

 

  Future prospects

 

 

Katherine and my team still have ideas to develop this device. What we're working on now is fully optimizing and commenting out this program. In the future, we are planning to make the SP2SD compatible with .dsk files, add an LCD screen and some physical switches to select files on the SP2SD itself.

 

My GitHub link:

 

3D printable DB19 connector STL file link:

 

 
Our Store:
A fully assembled SP2SD Mini is available in our store. It will probably be early October